Permanent link for Mentoring Mondays 1-17-2022 on January 17, 2022

“National Mentoring Month”

January is National Mentoring Month and we want to urge you to celebrate the mentoring relationship that you may have at this time. If you are not in a mentoring relationship, we urge you to start one today.

Make a meaningful impact on someone’s professional development. In a 2019 report, 71% of mentors and 86% of mentees stated that mentoring impacted their professional growth and success. “In its ideal form, mentoring acts as a perfect circle – a mentor shares their expertise and guidance with a mentee, and the mentee returns the favor to mentor another.”

Great mentors must be able to both “talk the talk” and “walk the walk.”  According to an article from Forbes Magazine, below are the qualities of a good mentor: 

 

- A desire to develop and help others. A good mentor is sincerely interested in helping someone else without any “official” reward. Good mentors do it because they genuinely want to see someone else succeed.

 - The ability and availability to commit real time and energy to the mentoring relationship. Good intentions aren’t enough—mentoring takes time!

-  Current and relevant industry or organizational knowledge, expertise, and/or skills. The best mentors have deep knowledge in an area that the mentee wishes to develop.

- A willingness to share failures and personal experiences. Mentors need to share both their “how I did it right” and their “how I did it wrong” stories. Both experiences provide valuable opportunities for learning.

- A growth mindset and learning attitude. The best teachers have always been and always will be those who remain curious learners themselves. Would you rather be advised by someone whose mind is shut because he knows it all or by someone whose mind is open because she is always looking to deepen her knowledge?

- Skill in developing others. This includes the very real skills of: active listening, asking powerful, open-ended questions, self-reflection, providing feedback and being able to share stories that include personal anecdotes, case examples, and honest insight.

There is no better time than now to share your expertise – become a mentor today!  

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Forbes Magazine, Editor’s Pick, January 2019

 

Posted on Permanent link for Mentoring Mondays 1-17-2022 on January 17, 2022.