I'm often asked about tips for mentees and mentors (and mentoring partnerships!).  So, this blog entry will be a Work in Progress (WIP) of useful coaching tips for mentees, mentors and partnerships to get the most out of their mentoring conversations. As the blog posting grows, we may look to split it into different sections, but for now, let's keep it all under the one umbrella.  As I post new coaching tips - I'll flag these as 'new' for ease of reference.

Ending a Partnership - Protocols and Courtesies

Just as you did at the beginning of your mentoring partnership, you took some time to get to know your mentoring partner and to agree upon how your mentoring partnership would work.  It stands to reason that the other end of your mentoring partnership also requires some attention.

If you've been involved in a formal mentoring program, it's likely that mentors (in particular) have volunteered their time and experience and mentees have committed to professional development. So it's always disappointing when people simpley 'fall or fade' out of contact.  It fact - it's one of the most commonly cited feedbak comments from mentees and mentors involved in formal mentoring program.

So how do you avoid this? 

Here are few tips to ensure you finish your mentoring partnership in a courteous, professional and confident manner.

1. Schedule a time to meet and review your original Mentoring Partnership Agreement.  At this time - share your experiences and identify:
   • Goals that were achieved - celebrate!
   • Goals that need further work and how the mentee might take this forward.
   • Goals or learning that happened but were not originally included in the Mentoring Partnership Agreement.
2. For mentees - take time to formally say 'thank you' to your mentor.  
3. For mentors - take the time to share your own learning with the mentee.
4. For you both - ensure you agree on the next steps for your mentoring partnership which could include:
   • Keeping the partnership going - if so - you'll need to reset your objectives.
   • Moving to an informal arrangement OR agreeing to the 'ad hoc' catch up.  Be sure that you both understand how you view this arrangement - remember to have shared understanding - even of informal arrangements.
   • Ending the partnership all together - saying thanks and moving on.

Remember - the aim is to end your mentoring partnership in a positive and professional manner.
 

Conversations on Career Decisions

A key part of many mentoring conversations is discussing what the mentee wants to do or pursue in a career sense.  Sometimes the conversation is prompted by a general feeling of disasitisfaction with the current job or career situation or that slight nagging feeling that perhaps there's more to their career than currently meets the eye.  Or perhaps, the mentee is consdering leaving the organisation because they do not work well with their current manager (sound familiar?).  Of perhaps a new role or challenge has come up (hooray!).

As you can imagine, this conversation could be HUGE (and HUGELY important)!  So where to start?  Here's a quick technique to fast-track your career mentoring conversation and to get you on the road to practical and smart results.

As 'career' enters the mentoring conversation, divide the conversation up into three areas:

• Personal
• Professional
• Environmental

I've always referred to this approach as the P2E mentoring conversation approach (for those of you who like a good acronym or two!).  Now - how to use the P2E approach.

Nearly all career decisions include elements of a personal nature; elements of a job or profession related nature; and elements to do with the work or career environment.  What's important is that any career related decision discussion takes the time to delve in, pull apart, and consider all of these three areas in leading up to a new decision.

So questions that you might use to explore the career decision, based on the P2E include:

• How do you feel about the situation personally?
• If you made a change, how would this impact you personally in a pro's and con's sense?
• What do you enjoy about the professional or job related aspects of what you currently do?
• What are your aspirations in respect of your profession?
• What aspects of the work environment make your smile? Which ones frustrate you?
• What do you value in a work environment?  What' a 'must have' vs 'nice to have' in the workplace?

Without giving you a list of 100 questions (although that may come) the idea with this question conversation coaching tip is to ensure that when 'career' comes up in discussion that you factor in all elements and don't just get stuck on one.

Ok - love your feedback on this quick tip - drop me a line.

Yours in mentoring

Gilly Johnson

Director & Founder