Getting the Most out of Mentoring

I strongly believe in the power of mentoring in developing leaders. During my years with mentoring I have found that there are things you can, as a mentee, can do to get the most out of the mentoring sessions.

I have developed a MENTOR-model:

M – meet
E – explore
N – needs and requirement
T – time and resources
O – options
R – review

Meet. It is important to prepare everything ahead of the mm-meeting (the meeting between mentee and mentor), f.ex. when and where it should be, how much time you have,do you have an agenda and what are the mentees goals. Send it to your mentor before the meeting.

Explore. At the mm-meeting it is important to get an overview of the current topic, what have the mentee done since the last meeting. Check whether the goals and agenda has been changed.

Needs and requirement. Now you should find out what the mentee requires to achieve its goals, which

challenges that exist and what is it the mentee really, really want.

Time and resources. To move forward, it is important to find out when the mentee wants to achieve his/her goals and what resources are important for this (people, equipment, etc.)

Options. All the various measures to achieve the goal will be discussed here and you will find the ones that is appropriate.

Review. Finally, it is important to summarize what you have agreed on and what the mentee has to do until the next mm-meeting. And not least, check if the mentee has regained the goal for the meeting.

I have also put together some questions for each step, this will come in an article no. two.