Helping Mentees Thrive

HappyThursday!  This month, I’m focusing on maximizing mentorship: How to think about your support system, best practices if you’re currently a mentor and ways to ensure impact if/when you’re a mentee.  Here’s what you need to know in under 2 minutes…

What tech leaders should be thinking about this week: How to help their team members maximize the Mentee role.  A ton of tech orgs see the value of a Mentor/Mentee partnership.  It’s a great opportunity for advice, networking, advancement, and engagement. In most orgs, this is easier said than done – especially for the Mentee community. These individuals need guidance on how to show-up well with their Mentor and truly seize upon these advice, networking, advance and engagement opportunities.Leaders have a responsibility to help the Mentee partner effectively and get the best results … you do this by focusing on the important tactical elements of the relationship.

Why this is important:  Mentee’s who don’t show-up with tactical rigor risk Mentor engagement from the start. It’s critical that the Mentee set the tone of the conversation, provide topic clarity, showcase work that’s been accomplished thus far, and highlight areas where advice/help might be needed.  The unfortunate truth - most Mentee’s don’t deliver the tactical goods to maximize the partnership:  quick/easy agendas, project status updates, copy/paste templates and monthly win/loss recaps.  The Mentee who focuses on the tactics will always have a better partnership with their Mentor and accomplish their professional goal(s) faster.  This is onetime where “getting in the weeds” will be a good thing!

Simple “Go-Do’s” for tech leaders/performers:  During your next 1:1 with someone who’s aMentee, ask how the individual is setting themselves up for success tactically with their Mentor.  Specifically:

·     How are you measuring success with your Mentor?

·     What’s your strategy to keep your Mentor informed on your progress + struggle areas?

·     How are you incorporating organizational events(performance reviews, fiscal year planning, budget reviews, etc.) into your list of agenda items to ensure relevancy?

·     Where could you improve tactically to show-up better as a Mentee?

·     Who is doing this well that could give you some additional advice?  Where do you need help?

Value Add – Additional ways to show-up as a leader:  Q1 is quickly coming to a close, and now is a great time to pause and simply ask yourself, “How can I show-up more effectively to drive impact and inspiration?” Think about opportunities to create more clarity in how you measure success. Incorporate stories to showcase your definition of greatness. Create incentives to raise the bar + push your team to exceed expectations. Bottom line – now is a perfect time to review, recognize and reset heading into Q2.  

New/improved dedicated newsletter page!  Know someone who’s looking for quick/easy ways to show-up better as a tech leader/performer? Forward them this mail or have them sign-up directly on the new/improved newsletter page on theEngaged Pursuit website.

Here’s to your Engaged Pursuit!