Preparing to Meet Your Mentor: Guiding Questions
Guiding questions to help craft an agenda in preparation to meet with your mentor.
The days leading up to a meeting with your mentor can introduce some anxiety. We all experience this feeling in anticipation of an encounter with someone with whom we usually discuss challenges and aspirations. There are two key ideas that, once internalized, will keep your anxiety at bay. First, comes the realization that an individual meeting with your mentor is an opportunity for growth. Either through constructive feedback, encouragement, or simply by putting things in perspective, meeting your mentor is always a step in the right direction for professional development.
Second, if you devote a couple of minutes to prepare in advance for your meeting, you’ll feel more confident that you’re maximizing the valuable time in which you have your mentor’s undivided attention. In my experience, some mentors will even give you pointers as to how to prepare for an upcoming meeting. In general, to best prepare for a meeting with your mentor, follow these guiding questions:
The quick check-in:
Instead of relying on small talk to cover the first few minutes of your meeting, consider utilizing this time to communicate to your mentor what are you most excited or concerned about. Also, consider:
Are there urgent items to discuss?
Are there any personal or professional achievements you would like to share?
The main discussion points breakdown:
Think about what the main topic of discussion would be and where you stand on the issue. For example, if you would like to discuss strategies to overcome impostor syndrome in your profession, think about:
What does this concept mean to you?
Do you have any assumptions about this topic?
What are your doubts?
What are the critical challenges in navigating this concept?
The objective of these questions is to challenge what you think you know and what you know you don’t know in preparation for an insightful discussion with your mentor.
Provide context:
Be prepared to articulate a big picture view of the topics to be discussed. Engaging in this exercise helps you communicate your point of view about the issue and to obtain tailored advice from your mentor. To do this, reflect on the following questions:
What triggered your interest in discussing the topic?
Why does it matter to you?
In what ways you think your mentor can help you?
So, what next?:
During your prep time, always think about what next. Anticipation serves a dual purpose. First, it shows a level of proactiveness from your part. Second, it helps your mentor guide you in the right direction if your next steps are not crystal clear to you.
How are you going to connect what you’ve discussed during the meeting with your future activities?
What is your plan to move forward in the short-term and long term? What could go wrong?
Expectations and accountability:
While your mentor can act as an accountability partner, building self-accountability is a leadership trait that will help you in the long run. Simply, as you approach the end of your meeting, make sure to state:
What should your mentor expect from you and vice versa?
In what ways are you going to hold yourself accountable for what has been discussed during the meeting?
One last thing:
Craft an agenda with your main discussion points and send it to your mentor ahead of the meeting. By doing this, you’re allowing your mentor to prepare for the meeting as well. Keep in mind that this simple action highlights your organizational skills and professionalism.
Have a meeting coming up?
If you’re ready to put this into practice, take advantage of this free template to help you organize your prep work.
Remember, a meeting with your mentor is a space where you’ll be introduced to new perspectives, challenges, and opportunities to move forward. Get excited!
