Powering Your Career with Mentoring: A two-way street!

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Continuing our series on mentoring, lets focus this month on what you, as a mentee, can do to nurture the relationship and make it work. Mentoring is a two-way street. There are significant gets but there definitely are gives as well. A mentor learns as much as you do in the process. 

Here are a few things I learnt that could help you drive a win-win interaction with your mentor. 

1. Respect their time and be consistent:
Ensure that you keep the commitment to meet your mentors regularly (based on an agreed cadence) and respect their time. Get to the meeting a few minutes before time and send them a thank you note every time you have a conversation that helps you professionally or personally.

2. Set the agenda:
Another way to make the most of the time you have with your mentor is to set the agenda. Initially I would struggle with putting together conversation topics at the last minute which would result in aimless discussions that didn’t benefit anyone. Since then I started maintaining a note (I use Microsoft OneNote, of course!) where I jot down thoughts, questions and ideas as I go through a work week. This includes instances at work that I would like an opinion on or any new ideas that I want to bounce off my mentor. This ensures I have a set of topics ready when my meeting comes up.

3. Bring something to the table:
One of the things I also like doing is to discuss industry trends and news. When I read something through the week that I want to talk about, I make a note and have my reading recommendations ready to share with my mentor. Some of these discussions could lead to ideas for either of your work projects. For example, I remember a conversation on data driven marketing with a mentor that led to us creating a framework for a project that his team was working on.

Like I said earlier, mentoring needs to be mutually beneficial for it to be sustainable. As a mentee, you own the relationship and the conversation – how you drive it will ensure that everyone comes out gaining something from it. 

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This post was originally published in 2018.
I'd love to hear your experiences as a mentor or a mentee! You can leave a comment here or email me at poweringbrands@gmail.com