MENTORING

Jagannathan S
Mar-2015

The mediocre teacher tells. The good

teacher explains. The superior teacher
demonstrates. The great teacher
inspires.- William Arthur Ward

WHY MENTORING?
Have you been a Mentor?

What did your mentee learn?

AND
What did you learn?

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EXPERIENCE / GROWTH

Understand inflection points in

your career
Make the transition from
Quantity to Quality
Use a Mentor to navigate this
transition

Learn from someones

experience, no need to repeat
the same journey

WHY MENTORING?
Builds visibility to your work &
indirectly supports your growth
Helps identify the right opportunities
for your career

Career
counselling

Sounding board for any

decisions

COACHING V/S MENTORING

Coaching

Mentoring

Task-Oriented

Relationship-Oriented

Performance-Driven

Development-Driven

Immediate manager is a critical partner

Immediate manager is only indirectly involved

Outcome can be more easily quantified

Outcome is fuzzy and ROI analysis isnt easy

Focused on professional expertise of coachee

Focused on professional and personal traits of mentee

Often used for remedial purposes

Never remedial, focuses on the longer term

Uni-directional. Focused on coachees needs

Bi-directional. Both Mentor/Mentee gain

Goal is behavioral transformation

Goal is personal transformation

INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESSFUL
MENTORING

TRUST

WILLINGNESS OF
MENTOR

COMPETENCE OF
MENTOR

TRANSPARENCY

ENTHUSIASM OF
MENTEE

FINDING A MENTOR

Reach out to your personal and professional networks

Could be within the same org (preferred) or outside
Use the help of your manager/management chain to seek a mentor
Look for role model(s) who excel in your improvement areas
Find multiple mentors and in different areas (to avoid bias from a single
personality)

QUALITIES OF A MENTOR
Choose someone
Who
Who
Who
Who

is willing to give the time and share their experiences

loves to understand, motivate and encourage people

can ask difficult questions & provide hard feedback

is willing to listen and is approachable
Who doesnt feel threatened
Who is at least 2 levels above you (Recommended)

EXPECTATIONS FROM A MENTEE

Honest self-assessment
Enthusiasm and willingness to learn
Follow through
Respect mentors time
Build a relationship
Give back something in return for being mentored
Knowledge that is useful to the mentor!
Mentor others!

Knowing your career roadmap is a big

OTHER QUESTIONS
When must you get Mentored?
All levels of your career
What gets done differs at different levels

Frequency of mentoring sessions

It depends

How long is the mentoring relationship?

Could be Short term / Long term

Mode of communication?
F2F is most preferred
Next best is Video calls/Phone calls

Good Luck!
Six Habits of Confident People