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.