Leadership — Mentoring
Nobody traveled further without mentoring or mentored….
What is Mentoring ?
It’s a process of uplifting a he/she professionally, technically & personally. Though it is an ongoing process but the effectiveness of mentoring will be reflected immediately and mostly positive, if both parties are signing up whole heartedly.
What is the role of a Mentor ?
- Set a Goal
- Identify the gap
- Create milestones/roadmap
- Provide strategy to reach each milestone
Do’s of mentoring !
- Being open minded
- Less judgemental
- Commit time
- Listen
- Communicate clearly
- Follow up frequently as there will plateau time
- Break it down into small milestones, if original is too much to reach
Don’ts of mentoring !
- If you don’t know the subject, don’t mentor
- If you can’t follow your own plan, don’t mentor
- If you don’t have time, don’t mentor
- Don’t Abuse the opportunity
- Fear of your replacement
Have you mentored anyone ?
Ask yourself these questions to dig
- Tell me about a time when a team member didn’t meet your expectations on a project , what did you do ?
- Tell me about a time when you couldn’t meet your own expectations on a project, how did you ask help ?
- Tell me about a time when you had to tell someone a harsh truth , help them realize !
- Tell me about a time when you made a wrong hire. When did you figure it out and what did you do?
- Tell me about a time you coached an Intern ?
- Tell me about a time when you were coached by Alpha leader, was he tough, did he spent enough time, did he judge you ?
- Tell me about a time you got feedback to course correct your career ?
Books to learn key principles of mentoring( which I have read )
https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders-Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897
https://www.amazon.com/Things-Every-Engineering-Manager-Should-dp-1492050903/dp/1492050903/
https://www.amazon.com/HBRs-Must-Reads-Boxed-Books/dp/1422184056
https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Life-Work-Ray-Dalio/dp/1501124021
Behaviour Interview inputs
Everyone is NOT a great story teller. STAR approach is great guideline but your mind will go all around because you want to dump all, stop doing that
Use keywords
- 1 min honest story — is yours, Never fake. Please dig your experiences.
- In Task — Found the Gap, Coach, increase Morale, wanted to grow
- In Action — Listened,Feedback,Milestones,Guided,Spent time (frequency)
- Outcome — your honest story outcome, both positive or negative with stating Because
Disclosure:
Above is a guidance to become a better story teller given only 5 min.
