Committed to Your Success Coaching & Consulting

One of the best ways for someone to progress in their career is to find a mentor. A mentor is a wiser or more experienced person who can help to progress someone, or a protege, in their career, or can show the ropes, or can help the protege to develop and demonstrate competence. The mentors role consists of providing support and encouragement, helping the protege to think big and to set goals and action steps, to provide resources, to use coaching techniques, and to hold the protege accountable for the actions they take. The role of the protege is to brainstorm , to think big, to comply and carry out tasks that their mentor gives them. This can be a very benefical relationship between the generations, particularly between older and younger workers.

It is important to remember that there are phases of the mentoring relationship that one can judge their progress by and to help move them along in the process.  These phases are:

1. Initial or beginning phase - this is where the mentor and protege meet and start to establish a relationship and rapport; passions and purpose are discussed and uncovered which leads to goal-setting; action steps are then developed on how the goals will be completed; timelines are set on when to meet, how often to meet; and how the two will communicate - in person, by phone, fax or text. 

2.  Middle Phase - as the relationship continues, the mentor should be giving their protege tasks, or homework, to complete that will aid them on their way. The middle phase is the time for the two to meet and discuss how things have been going - it’s a “checkpoint” on progress.  Both sides should be evaluating how they are doing - are they both committed to the process, are goals set high enough, are the action steps being completed, are they both being honest about any struggles or barriers, is communication clear and often enough.

3.  Late Phase - this is another “checkpoint” as the mentor and protege evaluate how things are progressing. Does the protege feel that they are making progress and can they see the end result - the goal being completed; does the protege feel they have the appropriate resources to help them; does the mentor feel they are asking more of their protege.  This is also a time for the pair to set an end-date for goal completion and what is needed to get the protege up-to-speed to get them to the target date.

4. Termination Phase - the mentoring pair meets to discuss goal completion, or what was not completed; it is a time to evaluate what worked, what didn’t, what could have been done better, what resources could have helped, what did each partner feel they brought to the process and what could did they hold back on. The pair may decide they want to continue the mentoring relationship, which can be done formally, where the two decide to continue as they have been doing, or informally, with the mentor offering to help if needed in the future.

Mentoring can be very beneficial if there is trust, respect and open communication between the mentor and the protege, along with realistic expectations for goal setting and a commitment to take the time to the process.  Both will benefit: the mentor will be giving back and will be utilizing their knowledge and expertise; the protege will be benefiting from being shown the ropes and advancing in their career. It’s a ‘win-win’ situation!