Why mentor
Mentoring gives you a chance to give back to the profession while broadening your network. As with any teaching role, you often learn as much as you share.
It also encourages reflection and continuous improvement—echoing John Dewey’s insight that “we do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.”
Mentoring can strengthen your listening, role-modeling, and leadership skills. Discussing others’ leadership challenges not only helps them—it also gives you fresh perspectives on your own work.
Mentor role and expectations
- Maintain confidentiality. Treat everything shared in the relationship as strictly confidential. Mutual trust is essential for honest discussion of workplace challenges and ethical concerns.
- Honor your commitment. Only accept a mentee if you can genuinely commit time and energy. Keep scheduled meetings, or communicate early if you must reschedule.
- Set clear goals together. Establish mutually agreed-upon goals and revisit them periodically.
- Put the mentee’s growth first. Supporting development may lead to new opportunities for the mentee. In the long run, people who feel supported and valued are more likely to stay and contribute.
- Listen more than you advise. Ask thoughtful questions that help mentees arrive at their own answers. People are more likely to change when they own the solution.
- Allow room for low-stakes failure. Encourage reasonable experimentation, then help your mentee reflect and learn from outcomes.
- Support networking. Help expand your mentee’s professional network through introductions and referrals.
- Clarify strengths, growth areas, and fit. Help your mentee identify strengths and gaps, roles where they can thrive, and a developing personal mission and direction.
Why be a mentee
Being a mentee can make you more effective in your current role while building the knowledge, skills, and network you need for future growth. Having a trusted mentor in your corner can reduce stress and increase confidence in making and implementing decisions.
Mentee role and expectations
- Maintain confidentiality. Treat all information shared in the relationship as confidential. Trust is essential for honest discussion and exploration.
- Commit to the process. Invest time and energy and be willing to change practices. Set clear, shared goals with your mentor.
- Be open and self-reflective. Discuss strengths and growth areas candidly, and experiment with new approaches.
- Respect your mentor’s time. Focus conversations on long-term development rather than day-to-day crises. Keep appointments, and communicate early if you need to reschedule.