Taking Your Mentoring Sessions to The Next Level: Selected Tips

Seasoned entrepreneurs don't overlook mentoring sessions. Not only do they boost the performance of your employees, but they also increase their overall job satisfaction, which greatly reduces staff turnover. On top of that, there are also benefits for personal growth - knowledge and experience is shared and your communication skills improve.

However, just having a conversation is not a successful mentoring session. Those who neglect careful preparation just waste their time.

So how do you properly prepare for mentoring? We offer you our tips that will significantly improve the quality of your sessions at each stage.

Before the Session

1. Consider Your Mentee’s Goals and Needs: You can send out a google form in advance in which you ask key questions about what your mentee would like to achieve in their professional journey, what challenges they face, what exactly they would like to receive support in.

2. Choose a Precise and Specific Topic: Sure, you want to share all the precious insights, and one might think that the more information you share, the more productive the conversation will be. However, this is a misjudgment. Practice shows that people remember and digest specific information on a particular topic better.

3. Prepare Visual Aids: It is much easier to grasp and memorize the point of what you are listening to when you have a visual support in front of you, be it diagrams, pictures, charts. Don't hesitate to make a beautiful presentation (e.g. in Canva), for the most effective session.

During the Session

1. Don't Put All the Answers in Their Hands: It seems that the point of the session is to get answers to all concerns in a short period of time. But the main point is to teach a mentee to come to effective solutions on their own, so that they learn to solve issues without your help.
2. Stick to Your Plan: We realize that communication is a living process that cannot be completely regulated. However, do not allow yourself or your counterpart to be distracted from the main agenda.
3. Offer Action Steps: One of the most crucial things in any session is to summarize the results, and to formulate an action plan with your partner that he or she will be able to implement immediately after the end of the conversation.

After the Session

1. Follow Up: Send a well-edited pdf file that summarizes the key ideas, conclusions from the mentoring session, and an action plan.

2. Keep in Touch: Check in with your mentee periodically to ask about their progress and give them support if they need it.

3. Plan Ahead: Using the details from your last session, you can be even more successful in preparing for the next ones. You now have a more in-depth understanding of your mentee's personality as well as the challenges they face in their career.

Remember that mentorship is a collaborative process. Be patient, supportive and reassuring. Make sure you follow our tips, and your mentee will develop their skills, gain confidence and easily achieve goals!