How to be a career-changing mentor

Nine mentors from Zalando’s product design community share their tips on how best to invest in others’ success.

Most of us can look back at our careers and pinpoint a few individuals who were instrumental to our success. Those that saw the potential in us, made space for us, shared their wisdom, and gave us a little push when we needed it. Mentors have many faces — they could be colleagues, friends, or role models who have walked the path we want to tread — but what the best have in common is a growth mindset.

A brilliant mentor is someone who knows that, whatever they have accomplished, they will never have all the answers, but that by committing to sharing what they have learned, they could make a big difference. They understand the great secret: at its core, mentorship is about mutual growth; the value both parties gain from it is the result of cultivating a meaningful relationship. “Sharing my experience has helped both my mentee and I to jump to the next level of our careers,” Principal Product Designer Simone Ihde testifies. “I would encourage everybody to do it.”

The feedback Director of Product Design Gloria Rupprecht received from her former mentee Adam Cochrane reflects how mentorship at Zalando is all about forming the close allyship that turns the wheels of our collective progress: “To the best mentor and long-time friend, who has made me more well-rounded and successful, and a better person. Thank you for all the time you have invested in me!”

From shaping a fruitful engagement to having an ear for opportunities, nine mentors from Zalando’s product design community share their experience of what makes a career-changing mentor.

Establish trust and purpose

Trust is the glue that binds all meaningful relationships. Successful mentorship relies on open communication and, in many cases, vulnerability. That’s why it’s essential that, before we dive into problem-solving, we take time to establish a rapport. Get to know each other as people. Use early conversations to talk about preferences and expectations. Ask your mentee how best you can support them, and be honest about what kind of support you can offer. Setting clear and specific objectives will help future sessions to develop in a purposeful manner, while allowing you to track your mentee’s progress more effectively.

“Before I enter into a mentoring relationship,” explains Market Research Team Lead Joanna Sides, “I ask, what are you expecting from me? What do you want me to bring to the table? How are you going to commit? Whether that’s bringing me a problem every week, or an update on a project. When the mentee is clear about what they want to achieve and the roadblocks they are encountering, I can also connect them to other people in the organization who I know might be helpful to them.”

“Part of being clear about what your mentee needs,” Gloria adds, “is figuring out whether they need a coach or a mentor, because they are not the same and shouldn’t be mixed up. I recommend reading Michael Bungay Stanier’s The Coaching Habit to understand the difference. Secondly, the mentee should consider their mentor’s needs and capacity. They should pick one concrete area in which they want to improve and tackle it with one person who is good at that. Another skill can be taught by a different mentor.”

Head of Product Design Ben Lowdon agrees. “If you don’t figure out in what specific area the mentee wants to develop, you may find yourself asking them unhelpful or even triggering questions.” Ben likes to assign his mentees a task at the beginning of mentorship to evaluate whether they are committed, such as writing a letter of intention or reading a book. “It’s important to ensure they are well organized and accountable to themselves, and that they appreciate that our time together is valuable. If they do not seem invested, I might coach them on this, or try to find them a different mentor. My mentee and I will also agree to review the mentorship every three months. It’s good to check in if the sessions are still useful, if they got everything they needed, or if you are still the right person for them.”

Listen deeper

Great mentors hear both what their mentees are telling them and what they are really saying, so that they can turn that information into the most appropriate guidance. Showing that you understand cultivates psychological safety — an optimal environment for growth. “You need to invest the time in really understanding your mentee,” says Gloria. “What excites them? What are their fears? Where do they want to go?”

Active listening includes paying attention to body language, providing feedback or asking clarifying questions, avoiding judgment or interruption, and upholding a curious and open mindset in general. While a mentee might be focused on the challenge they want to solve, listening deeper can help you to identify the root causes of the problem, or to discern opportunities they may be overlooking.

Principal Product Designer Thiago Hapner has a great example: “When someone tells me that something is not being done, or that something is missing, I tell them it’s an opportunity. If they identify a space that needs to be filled, then they can go and fill that space, or grow into that space, even if it is outside of their comfort zone. It’s a major aha-moment.”

Sometimes all a mentee needs is validation; for someone to give them confidence in what they already know, or to help them reframe a problem so that they can find the answer on their own. “Mentorship is being a sounding board and a safe place to brainstorm and build,” says Joanna. “In the end, that person grows from the mutual trust you have established, and you find yourself learning and growing as well.”

Be an active role model

Other than offering guidance and support as a mentor, sharing your hard-won experience and resources cannot be underestimated. That can come in the form of personal stories, a library of useful documents, professional connections, career advice, or opportunities to see you in action. “I think it is fantastic when people in very high positions take on mentees who are just starting out,” says Gloria. “If someone is bold enough to ask, most people will make time, even if they are very busy.”

Head of Product Design, Lana Criggs, believes that role modeling is a very important, but often overlooked, aspect of mentorship. Lana mentored Fanni Fullar, who was changing careers from Campaign Manager at Zalando Marketing Services to Product Designer at Zalando Lounge. “From design research theory, we know the deep understanding that arises from participant observation — in other words, the apprentice model. I involved my mentee as a volunteer in workshops or classes I led at conferences or institutions. This gave her the opportunity to contribute, but also to see how I showed up. As Jerry Sternin wrote in The Power of Positive Deviance, ‘It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking, than to think your way into a new way of acting.’”

Proud of Fanni’s success, Lana wondered how they could use their former position as Design Operations Manager to scale “positively rubbing off on each other” to the community level. “To make finding a mentor easier, we now ask community members to state their openness to one-off or more stable mentoring, plus the topics they are strong in — if you as a designer were an ice cream, what would be your top scoop and bottom scoop of expertise? Additionally, our approach to professional development at Zalando emphasizes ‘learn-do-share,’ so that we can develop as a community, not just as individuals.”

Encourage multiple perspectives

Part of being an expert is seeing the bigger picture — whether that’s considering how a problem could affect colleagues or stakeholders, or evaluating how it might impact the future. Encouraging your mentee to see through multiple lenses ensures they gain a comprehensive view of their team, the organization, and themselves. As Senior Product Designer João Ramos shared in an earlier article, taking a step back to see the ‘why’ is a useful problem-solving technique.

Not having direct authority over the mentee’s work offers them another important, unbiased, external perspective, while allowing freer communication. Simone’s mentorship approach is to take the development areas suggested by the mentee’s team lead, and to use her personal design experience and knowledge of Zalando to help the mentee create a plan of action: “We have a look at their strengths and weaknesses and I see how I can support, or what tips I have in that direction.”

Establish an exchange

If we define mentorship as having access to people who help us to gain new knowledge, insight and connections, then there is more than one way to approach such a relationship. When Anna Voth joined Strategic Designer Serena Bonomi and the Circularity team as an embedded User Researcher, the pair discovered they could learn a lot from each other’s expertise, building on their shared passion, customer centricity. They began cross-pollinating their knowledge on circularity and user experience in weekly one-on-ones. In other words, they established a mentorship exchange.

Interested in creating such a partnership? Anna and Serena recommend sharing a base of knowledge or interest, but each having a different layer of expertise on top of that to offer. “We are mentoring and supporting each other with a lot of things, so it’s a win-win,” says Serena. “We started with our topical areas of expertise, and learned how certain processes or strategies work. Then it went into better understanding each other’s stakeholders, and how the design community works. I had joined the company eight months prior, so Anna was my go-to person for a lot of things.”

Anna and Serena’s partnership has not only developed into a space of mutual support and growth, but a valued friendship. “Our allyship grew really organically,” Anna enthuses. “It has been an essential part of my development.”

Key takeaways

Are you ready to establish an impactful mentorship? Add these insights to your checklist:

• Create a rapport, set clear expectations, and evaluate commitment
• Use active listening to reach a deeper understanding and to identify root causes or opportunities
• Share your hard-won resources and invite your mentee to participate in your work
• Encourage them to take a step back and consider other perspectives
• Mentorship comes in different forms; look out for people on your level who have the knowledge you need

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