TAKING A LONG-TERM VIEW OF YOURSELF AS A MENTOR

by Barry Sweeny, © 1999

New mentors often perceive themselves and their mentoring work in only in relationship to the first individual that they are mentoring.

Later on, mentors are better able to reflect on their work from the wider perspective of a number of different proteges. Each protege has different needs and so each requires the mentor to grow in different ways as they work to address those needs. Also, continued practice improves mentoring skills over time. Here is an example of what this might look like for one mentor.

Year 1 Year 2	Year 3	Year 4 Year 5	Year 6 Year 7	Year 8 Year 9	Year 10
Protege #1: A new employee in your organization but recently experienced in another organization	Unassigned as a mentor	Protege #2: A young & inexperienced novice employee right out of college	Unassigned as a mentor	Protege #3: An experienced employee returning to work after 14 years as a mom of two	Unassigned as a mentor
Actual Mentoring Focus: ï Local site orientation ï Specific job orientation ï Individualizing customer service practices ï Developing or locating new resources ï Effective time & paper management strategies ï Reflective practice & career- long learning ï Coaching in basic effective work strategies		Actual Mentoring Focus: ï Local site orientation ï Specific job orientation ï Working with customers from diverse cultural & economic backgrounds ï Improve protege's performance appraisal by supervisor ï Reflective practice & teaming		Actual Mentoring Focus: ï Local site orientation ï Specific job orientation ï Changed expectations ï Coaching the protege in strategies for implementation of high tech training skills for junior managers and e-learning applications, of which the mentor knows very little
Developed Mentoring Skill in: ï Assessing protege needs ï Time management to help protege during ìcrunchî times ï Building the M-P Relationship		Developed Mentoring Skill in: ï Adjusting mentoring to level of need ï Anticipating ìcrunchî times & doing own work early so to be available to support the protege ï Assessing current status in mentoring process		Developed Mentoring Skill in: ï Better anticipating of protege needs ï Consolidating & refining my own work practices & goals ï Ability to articulate my own practices and thinking processes ï Challenged to model best practices for protege

ï After serving as a mentor to several proteges, mentors realize that they need a much wider range of skills then they first imagined. These mentors often tell me that they believe they
could have been better mentors for their earlier proteges if had they developed that wider range of mentoring skills earlier in their mentoring career.

ï Perhaps you can learn from these more experienced mentors. Determine early on to become the best mentor you can be!

Take the longer-term view of your work as a mentor right now. Hereís how.

1. Compare yourself and your strengths to those of the ìidealî mentor and identify the areas in which you could grow as a mentor.

2. Next, set a goal or two for your own growth as a mentor.

3. Finally, develop a plan to accomplish your goal and to increase your mentoring skills.

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