Mentorship

What is Mentorship?

Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. The mentor may be older or younger then the mentee, but must have a certain area of expertise that they are mentoring others for. Mentoring helps to ensure that both mentor and mentee feel rewarded and valued. This leads to having more employees to stay and for business can prosper. That is why everyone should have a mentor. It also is a process that always involves communication and is relationship-based. Here are some interesting tips from an interesting source on how to be a good mentor:

• Don’t answer all the questions- this creates dependency when the goal is independence

• Share your experience and tell stories- it is the best way to impart knowledge, explaining both the good and bad experiences and how you handled the situations; what did you learn?

• Listen- listening is not just waiting for your turn to speak

• Understand- Get a clear and precise understanding of the issue- restate what the speaker is saying to make sure you are understanding what is being said if you are unsure you always have to make sure you are both on the same page

You both have to understand each other and the mentee that you are in the market for must have these characteristics: Motivation (look for a mentee that wants to succeed and is excited to do what it takes to get there), open to learning (if he or she think they already know everything or is unwilling to change, you're better off helping someone else), and confidence (very challenging to build confidence in someone who doesn’t have it). But the number one rule for choosing a mentee is: find someone who’s potential and personality energizes you. The right chemistry between two people is critical for making mentoring work. (Lake,