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4. Drive Active Relationships

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22 mins

What to Do in a Mentoring Meeting as a Mentor

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Having a structure can help you and your mentee make your time more productive. The format can be adapted to suit your requirements so there’s a natural flow.
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1. Feedback And Update

Remind your mentee about confidentiality as well as any ground rules.

Talk to your mentee about:

Feedback on their progress on the action plan.
An update on what has happened in their work or personal life since you last met.

Progress on what you committed to do since the last meeting.

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2. Discussion

This is where you will spend the bulk of your time. Ask your mentee to go through the discussion points on their agenda, and identify the issues they want to discuss.
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Example of prompting questions:

“What would be most useful for you to discuss today?”

“What would you like this session to focus on?”

Ask questions to clarify the issues your mentee has presented; be sure you fully understand before moving on.

Guide your mentee to think about their issue more thoroughly. Ask open-ended questions to encourage them to think more deeply.
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Example of prompting questions:

“What options have you considered?”

“What do you see as the pros and cons of each?”

You can then share some of your experiences and advice, if it's requested.

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3. Close

Action Plan - Ask your mentee to put together an action plan of what they would like to work on before the next meeting. If needed, help them to think through options. Make a note of anything you could provide, such as an article or video, to help them. Make sure you send them to your mentee.

Discuss and schedule your next meeting. Set up a recurring meeting if you mutually agree on a time that works for both of you. Finally, sincerely thank your mentee for their hard work.

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What is Expected of Mentees?

Mentoring partners have expectations for each other.

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2 mins

Mentoring partners have expectations for each other. The better they are understood, the more likely the journey will be successful.

Confidentiality: Confidentiality is the cornerstone of a mentoring relationship and is expected of both partners. Nothing can be shared outside of the meeting unless it is mutually agreed to ahead of time. You can write private messages by going into a current Mentorship and clicking on the Messages tab – other mentors and mentees can’t see these interactions.
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Be Prepared: Both Mentees and Mentors are expected to come to meetings prepared, on time, and committed to the process. Unless it’s an emergency, don’t change or cancel meetings. When you set up a Session with your mentor, you can select up a date, time, topic and set an agenda for your session.
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Show Initiative: Mentees are responsible for reaching out to their mentor, arranging the meetings and sending the agenda. They are responsible for their own learning with the mentor acting as a guide. The Goals & Tasks sections under Mentorship will help you set and document a goal to accomplish during the relationship, create tasks that need to be done to achieve the goal, and review your progress. Mentees must follow through on action plans and do what they have committed to. They also understand things can change and stay flexible.
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Remain open to being challenged: Mentees ask for feedback and are open to receiving it. They understand feedback is an essential part of the mentoring process and provides an opportunity to learn and grow.

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