Man of Honour
- Joined
- 5 Jun 2003
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I'd be interested in hearing from your experiences of being a mentor and / or a mentee.
I've been both, and currently am a mentor to someone. I find it really interesting and exciting, but also quite a commitment but worthwhile. Though I found it harder being a mentee as I felt I had to do a lot of work to show the results of being mentored. I wasn't sure how else to measure my mentoring to see what I had learned as a personal development.
So a few question questions:
I've been both.
As a mentee, I liked the exposure to a senior manager/expert in their field. I was able to share with them what I was doing, and they were able to offer advice as what to read, which events to go to, what to study/practice. I've had 2 different type of mentors, one was very hands on, but almost felt like a teacher. Very structured meetings, almost like lessons.
The other was far more rhetorical in his approach, in that, he'd ask me a question to consider, and was more of sounding board. I organised the meetings when I needed them and they let me get out of it what I wanted with no agenda.
I enjoyed both, but I think I was glad that my first mentor was more structured (ex military) and more of a listen and learn and try approach. However, the 2nd was more like a friendship, where I could be candid and ask for help for certain projects, career development issues I was having.
As a mentor, I've only had one mentee so far (though I currently have another one) but it was a good relationship, and we still keep in touch, and he's doing really well for himself. I was more like the 2nd mentor I had. I let him come to me with problems/challenges and I acted as a sounding board, drew on my experiences. I didn't assign any work, but I'd ask whether or not he'd tried some of the suggestions, and if not, what he did to overcome his issues.
I've done MBTI with both of them just to get a feel of their natural behaviours so it helped me approach my behaviours in a useful way.
So I thought I'd start this thread for both mentees and mentors to share their experiences, tips, tricks and also just have a discussion as to whether or not mentor/mentee relationships are worthwhile and what you did or didn't get out of them.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and advice! (Despite being a mentor/mentee I'm very keen to learn from other's experiences so please do share yours, it might be beneficial to others in similar situations!).
Oh one more thing, I think if you're struggling with your career, or you feel you need impartial support/advice, I think having a mentor is excellent at challenging you, and helping to push yourself too. However, as a mentor, it IS time consuming and you do have to the put the effort it (sometimes doing some research to aid the mentee with their problems). AS a mentee, it does require commitment and it is important that you try to exploit the knowledge and experience of your mentee, and also realise that they are taking time out of their day to help you! Remember it's a 2-way relationship, just because a mentor may be more senior and experienced in a particular field, they are also there to help you and not to intimidate you!
I've been both, and currently am a mentor to someone. I find it really interesting and exciting, but also quite a commitment but worthwhile. Though I found it harder being a mentee as I felt I had to do a lot of work to show the results of being mentored. I wasn't sure how else to measure my mentoring to see what I had learned as a personal development.
So a few question questions:
Are you a mentee?
- If so what do you like about it?
- What did you (would you) want to get out of it?
- What didn't get out of it if you had a bad experience?
- Would you do it again?
- Do you have any tips to other mentees or other mentors you'd like to share?
[*]Are you a mentor?
- If so what do you like about it?
- How did you work with your mentee?
- Did you get anything out of it?
- How are your mentees doing since being their mentor?
- Did you set any tasks / work or were you just there as a sounding board for them and offer them a Devil's advocate view?
- Would you do it again?
I've been both.
As a mentee, I liked the exposure to a senior manager/expert in their field. I was able to share with them what I was doing, and they were able to offer advice as what to read, which events to go to, what to study/practice. I've had 2 different type of mentors, one was very hands on, but almost felt like a teacher. Very structured meetings, almost like lessons.
The other was far more rhetorical in his approach, in that, he'd ask me a question to consider, and was more of sounding board. I organised the meetings when I needed them and they let me get out of it what I wanted with no agenda.
I enjoyed both, but I think I was glad that my first mentor was more structured (ex military) and more of a listen and learn and try approach. However, the 2nd was more like a friendship, where I could be candid and ask for help for certain projects, career development issues I was having.
As a mentor, I've only had one mentee so far (though I currently have another one) but it was a good relationship, and we still keep in touch, and he's doing really well for himself. I was more like the 2nd mentor I had. I let him come to me with problems/challenges and I acted as a sounding board, drew on my experiences. I didn't assign any work, but I'd ask whether or not he'd tried some of the suggestions, and if not, what he did to overcome his issues.
I've done MBTI with both of them just to get a feel of their natural behaviours so it helped me approach my behaviours in a useful way.
So I thought I'd start this thread for both mentees and mentors to share their experiences, tips, tricks and also just have a discussion as to whether or not mentor/mentee relationships are worthwhile and what you did or didn't get out of them.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts and advice! (Despite being a mentor/mentee I'm very keen to learn from other's experiences so please do share yours, it might be beneficial to others in similar situations!).
Oh one more thing, I think if you're struggling with your career, or you feel you need impartial support/advice, I think having a mentor is excellent at challenging you, and helping to push yourself too. However, as a mentor, it IS time consuming and you do have to the put the effort it (sometimes doing some research to aid the mentee with their problems). AS a mentee, it does require commitment and it is important that you try to exploit the knowledge and experience of your mentee, and also realise that they are taking time out of their day to help you! Remember it's a 2-way relationship, just because a mentor may be more senior and experienced in a particular field, they are also there to help you and not to intimidate you!
