August 1, 2024 | By David M. Wagner

Mentoring others is one of the great joys of being a leader. It’s also an important part of building your organization’s capacity.

Or, like my experience years ago, it can be a disappointing bust.

I was initially excited when a senior leader of my company “took an interest” in my career and offered to meet with me one-on-one.

Instead of the valuable mentoring experience I had hoped it would be, our conversations fell rather flat and amounted to nothing.

Fortunately, I’ve had other great experiences – both as mentor and mentee.

Here are five ways to emulate what I think sets great mentors apart.

#1 Set goals for the experience

Let your mentee drive the choice of what goals. If they don’t know what they want or need, help them flesh out where they’d like to be and how they think you could help them reach that new height. Just make sure there is some clear purpose to guide your time together.

#2 Make time for coaching

Whether you set up a regular time to meet or are willing to make yourself available as-needed to your mentee, demonstrate your commitment to the mentoring relationship by making time for them. Be sure to prioritize coaching - listening, reflecting back what you heard, helping your mentee reframe issues – over solving their problems.

#3 Identify challenging growth opportunities

We learn a lot through talking (like coaching). We learn more through action and experience. If it is within your power, provide growth roles and challenging assignments for your mentee to give them the chance to learn and flourish. Ensure there are also guardrails in place, so that it is safe for them to fail (another effective, if less fun, way to learn). If that’s not within your power, help your mentee identify growth opportunities to pursue.

#4 Reward progression

If it’s in your power, reward your mentee for their growth. And if not, highlight your mentee’s progression to whoever does have that power and suggest they be rewarded accordingly.

#5 Be responsive to your mentee’s needs

As implied by tip #2, use coaching as your default mode with your mentee. And, listen for times when your mentee needs something else. They might need a sounding board, the chance to try something on their own, a problem-solving partner, or someone to hold them accountable. And if in doubt, ask what they need!

Being a great mentor is a fantastic, low-cost way to invest in your team and develop their capacity. If you are intentional, responsive, and focus more on being a coach than a supervisor, you’ll help your mentees reach tremendous heights.

And if you find you could use a mentor to coach you through your leadership journey, set a free consult to learn more about my coaching programs.