In today’s professional world, many people are recognising the power of mentoring and coaching. Without going into too much details about the what different approaches offer, I wanted to share my experience as a Mentor.
But before we do that, what is the definition of Mentoring?
As defined by the Oxford Dictionary:
Mentor (Verb) Advise or train (someone, especially a younger colleague)
In this context, I will refer to the word “younger” in terms of experience and not age.
Mentor (Noun) An experienced person in a company or educational institution who trains and counsels new employees or students
Where as if we look into the word “Coach”
Coach (Verb) Train or instruct (a team or player)
While it is usually used in the sense of world, the industry is evolving a lot in the employment world.
Coach (Noun) An instructor or trainer
Whether you are a Coach or a Mentor, you will hopefully agree with me that there is a difference between instructing and advising others. But today’s blog is not to debate those two definitions, but to provide few tips to help put the experience of you client at its maximum value.
Throughout my career, I had the pleasure to mentor others, but most importantly be mentored by someone who positively influenced my career growth. In 2017, I was accepted as a Project Management Institute Mentor for the UK Chapter.
This was a new area for me in terms of learning about other contexts in the industry. Having the knowledge is one thing. Sharing it is another. But making sense out of of it from the person receiving the information is the strongest measure of success. I was not sure how to start and then I decided to follow what I do in any off my new projects. And that is how it began.
Treating the relationship as a project is not meant to take the soul and human aspect out of it, but to bring some structure to it. This is a mutually beneficially relationship. If you do not have clear goals that you both want to achieve, then success could be hindered. Understanding what your mentee wants to learn, clearly knowing what you want to get out of mentoring is the key starting point. Then let the creativity flow.
I have prepared a short document that would give some tips to both parties.
Click on the PMI Mentoring Programme Tip Sheet to download it.
Have you been mentored before? or Have you mentored anyone? Please share your comments and thoughts on the document.
The Project EDIT 