We’re in This Together!

My Mentoring Style

Recently, I took an evaluation to discover what my ‘mentoring style’ is. That means, when it comes to my mentoring approach, what my personality and strengths are as the mentor. There were five possible (Letting Go, Active Listening, Advisory, Prescribing, and Cooperative) mentoring styles and the evaluation led me to discovering my most dominant mentoring style; the ‘cooperative’ style. Here’s my reflection:

Although I can demonstrate little doses of each mentoring style in different situations, my dominant mentoring style is “cooperative.” I’ve always enjoyed working in teams and believe that two heads are better than one, so this doesn’t come as a complete surprise to me. When mentoring, I like to think that we work as a team to help the mentee reach the goals they set for themselves. These goals are goals, I feel, that we create together; a goal that is awesome, yet realistic. I also want to make sure that this goal is something that the mentee’s heart is set on achieving and not something they think they should put down because someone else wants that goal for them. Also, as the mentorship progresses, I like to make sure the mentee and I are on the same page; that they know where I’m coming from, as the mentor, and I want to know where they are coming, from as the mentee. With this, I know that we are on the same page, that we know what to expect, and that there are no surprises. Being cooperative, the qualities of honesty, empathy, and adaptability are utilized at all times.

A limitation that I can see coming from having a cooperative mentoring style is having the need to want to find a middle ground with a mentee who might be very resistant and/or close-minded. It’s hard to work with a mentee that doesn’t want to try something new or doesn’t want to expand their way of thinking. I think that with this comes patience. As time progresses and the mentorship develops, the mentee can be able to trust you and your suggestions because you get to know them and they get to know you. So although this can be a challenge, it’s certainly something that can be worked on. Overall, I find the cooperative mentoring style to be very effective in relating to and working with the mentee.