Mentoring can be a critical part of your leadership journey over time. Many organizations today now offer a mentoring program for their employees. Even if there is no formal mentoring program in place, you may want to use this as an opportunity to develop a relationship with a mentor.
Mentors are typically a person separate from your supervisor who is able to provide insights around your role, best practices or industry. Mentors often provide you with an insider's view to how things get done, skills you really need and also the political navigation of an organization or industry. They may play a role of sounding board, story teller, connector or ad visor.
It can be useful to identify a mentor early on in your role. Questions to consider:
1. Who might bring a similar experience to what I need with this team leadership role?
2. What are my expectations around mentoring?
3. What role do I want my mentor to play?
4. What are my overall expectations around mentoring?
I recently wrote an article on Essential Elements for Mentoring, which is posted over at MentorRoadmap.com, mentor training services I offer with partner Susan Combs. You can read the article here.
For the last six or seven years I have worked with a variety of organizations and associations to either develop their mentoring programs, and/or train their mentors or mentees. This has included an industry award winning mentor training program I developed within the financial services.
Susan and I are offering mentoring skills training to a cross-section of organizations throughout Canada and the US. Our Mentor Roadmap Toolkit, a booklet filled with tools and ideas for the mentoring conversation, has become a favorite in the mentoring training we have rolled out in recent months. Click here to contact me to discuss how your organization could benefit from support around mentoring.
Mentors are typically a person separate from your supervisor who is able to provide insights around your role, best practices or industry. Mentors often provide you with an insider's view to how things get done, skills you really need and also the political navigation of an organization or industry. They may play a role of sounding board, story teller, connector or ad visor.
It can be useful to identify a mentor early on in your role. Questions to consider:
1. Who might bring a similar experience to what I need with this team leadership role?
2. What are my expectations around mentoring?
3. What role do I want my mentor to play?
4. What are my overall expectations around mentoring?
I recently wrote an article on Essential Elements for Mentoring, which is posted over at MentorRoadmap.com, mentor training services I offer with partner Susan Combs. You can read the article here.
For the last six or seven years I have worked with a variety of organizations and associations to either develop their mentoring programs, and/or train their mentors or mentees. This has included an industry award winning mentor training program I developed within the financial services.
Susan and I are offering mentoring skills training to a cross-section of organizations throughout Canada and the US. Our Mentor Roadmap Toolkit, a booklet filled with tools and ideas for the mentoring conversation, has become a favorite in the mentoring training we have rolled out in recent months. Click here to contact me to discuss how your organization could benefit from support around mentoring.
Jennifer Britton, MES, PCC, CPT
Potentials Realized | Teams365
Growing Team Leaders One Conversation at a Time(TM)
Leadership Development | Coaching | Retreats
(416)996-8326
Interested in developing a mentor program at your organization? Along with partner Susan Combs in Michigan, we've developed the Mentor RoadMap(TM) training, booklets and other supports for organizations who want their own mentoring programs. We offer turnkey training to organizations for your mentors and proteges, support throughout the program, and a rich toolkit to support your conversations. Contact us to discuss how we can support your mentoring program.
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