How To Be A Good Mentor

A mentor provides a positive, nurturing environment that benefits the other person. You can provide this environment by:

• Offering opportunities for skill development. Provide special projects and assignments that will build new skills. Or refer the person to books or articles about that skill.
• Helping the person recognize areas needing work. Often a gap exists between the person's existing skills and the skills needed to complete a project or to advance in a career. Draw attention to that gap, then let the person discover what he or she can do to close that gap.
• Providing helpful advice. Offer ideas or information, when asked, that will enable the person to find a solution: "It might be useful to look at the data from last year."
• Being a role model. We all listen to people we respect and admire. Know that people will watch you to see how you handle difficult or challenging situations.
• Encouraging people to think for themselves. Don't solve your protege's problems for him. Instead, encourage him to find possible solutions himself. "You have several options. Which one do you think is best?"

Characteristics Of Mentors

Effective mentors possess certain characteristics. A good mentor is:

• Available. You must have time to spend with someone, observing him or her, listening carefully and offering guidance.
• Patient. People learn at varying speeds, and some need more guidance than others. It's important that you are willing to provide whatever it takes to help.
• Sensitive. Tact and diplomacy are vital. As a mentor, your role is to motivate and encourage.
• Respectful. Everyone is different. A mentor respects the differences between herself and the other person.
• Respected. A mentor is recognized and admired by peers, by others higher in rank and, in some situations, even by people outside the organization.
• Flexible. Not everything happens according to plan. You must adapt and adjust to various situations and accept that your "student" may make decisions you don't agree with.
• Knowledgeable. Before you can help someone else, you must be experienced and knowledgeable yourself.
• Confident. You need to be self-assured and friendly.
• A good listener. A mentor listens carefully. Often just listening, without taking on the other person's problem, can be of great help, because you enable the other person to articulate the problem and sort things out.
• Concerned about others. You must care about other people and truly want to help them.

Evaluate Your Mentoring Skills

Serving as a mentor is both a challenge and an opportunity for personal growth. How are your mentoring skills? Take the following test.

Possible Points: Always = 3, Sometimes = 2, Never = 1

• I observe people to identify those with potential.
• I am a good listener.
• When people come to me with problems, I encourage them to think of and consider possible solutions.
• I have the time necessary to help someone develop their skills.
• I like to help others grow and advance in their careers.
• I am sensitive to the needs of others and am tactful.

Scoring: add up the numbers.

17-18 points, congratulations, excellent mentoring skills!
12-16 points, skills need some attention.
11 points or less, it's time to make some improvements!

As you complete mentoring projects, take the test again to see your progress.