Mentor training guide

Mentor Training Guide
What is mentoring?
A mentor has many roles. They:
● Help the mentee develop their focus areas
● Develop trusting, confidential and beneficial relationships
● Listen and provide encouragement, feedback and new insights
● Assist the mentee with personal and professional growth and improving
contributions
What is the difference between mentoring, coaching, and
sponsoring?
While similar, a mentor, coach and sponsor fulfill different roles.
A sponsor:
● Represents the mentee’s point of view
● Serves as a mediator on behalf of the mentee
● Acts as a sponsor to open doors
● Focuses on the internal politics system
A coach:
● Brings a high level of targeted expertise
● Determines development areas using an assessment process
● Provides a third party perspective from outside the organization
What is an effective mentor?
As an effective mentor, you will listen, gather information, and provide honest and constructive
feedback to your partner throughout the program. You will also help your partner create a vision
for desired change and motivate the individual to take action on professional and/or personal
goals.
An effective mentor will:
● Support the mentee’s development of professional and interpersonal
competencies through strategic questioning, goal setting, and planning
● Encourage the exploration of ideas and risk taking in learning
● Create a supportive and trusting environment and serve as a confidant for
work-related issues
● Agree to, and schedule uninterrupted time with your mentee

● Stay accessible, committed, and engaged during the length of the program
● Actively listen and question
● Give feedback to the mentee on his/her goals, situations, plans and ideas
● Encourage your mentee by giving them genuine positive reinforcement
● Help the mentee to shift their mental context
● Serve as a positive role model
● Provide frank (and kind) corrective feedback if necessary
● Openly and honestly share “lessons learned” from your own experience
● Keep discussions on track
● Respect your mentee’s time and resources
● Seek assistance if questions arise that you cannot answer
What are some guidelines for having a successful mentoring
relationship?
Below are some guidelines to bring success to your relationship:
1. Focus on Confidentiality
a. What is said in your meetings must stay confidential (unless a comment or action
is of considerable concern - then it should be brought to HR).
b. Each person must enter with a willingness to share openly and honestly.
c. Conversation will flow more freely if everyone is able to trust each other
2. Make a Personal Commitment:
a. Commitment to the success of the connection includes attending all meetings,
preparing for the meetings, completing action items identified by the group, and
actively participating in conversations.
b. Personal commitment is needed to keep a connection sustained and beneficial
for all.
3. Have Good Communication:
a. The quality of conversation and communication will determine the success of
each meeting.
b. Conversations need to be open, in depth, and inclusive in order to be beneficial.
c. Building trust and commonality will help with communication barriers that may
exist.
4. Set Clear Ground Rules:
a. During your first meeting, talk about items such as the frequency of
meetings, level of confidentiality, exit plan, etc.
b. When you talk about these things at the beginning of the mentorship, you
avoid future problems and issues.
5. Define Mentorship Goals and Objectives:
a. Determine the objective for the mentorship such as skills development,
career growth, networking or life balance. Once you've figured out the

purpose for the relationship, you can then identify 1-3 goals to work as
part of the mentorship.
b. Mentees should take ownership when setting these goals, while mentors
can encourage their mentees to break down their goals into manageable
steps and action items.
c. Track progress toward the pre-set goals and make changes as necessary.
6. Plan Useful Activities:
a. After you've figured out the main objective of the mentorship and defined
the main goals, work together to create activities that will help you achieve
them.
b. For example, if you're mentorship objective is to improve skill sets, you
could practice a specific career-related skill, such as sales or a mock
interview.
c. If the mentee would like to work on career growth, the mentor could
conduct a mini-360 review with the mentee's supervisor, peers and
subordinates to identify areas for development.
d. If the mentee wants to work on networking skills, the mentor could
introduce his/her mentee to appropriate senior leaders or both the mentor
and mentee could attend a local conference or meetup together.
What development areas should we focus on?
1. Skills Development - Mentorships that focus on skills development help
the mentee learn specific skill sets in order to develop him or herself, add
value to the organization and progress on his or her career path. For
example, if the mentee is in sales, a possible mentoring activity could be
practicing cold calling.
2. Goal Setting/Career Planning - Mentorships that focus on goal setting and
career planning help the mentee identify his or her professional and
personal goals, as well as think about his or her long-term career path. An
example of a good activity for this type of mentoring objective is
discussing the mentee's early career dreams and possible career moves.
3. Problem Solving - Mentorships that focus on problem solving help the
mentee develop cognitive skills in order to strengthen the mental process
of discovering, analyzing and solving problems to overcome obstacles. An
activity example for this mentoring objective would be to identify a real
problem with his or her mentor and then brainstorm solutions together, as
well as discuss pros and cons for each option.

4. Networking - Mentorships that focus on networking help the mentee
expand his or her professional connections and networks. An activity
example for this type of objective would be for the mentor and mentee to
attend a professional conference or event together.
What are my responsibilities as a mentor?
1. Manage the process
a. Manages the mechanics of one-on-one meetings
b. Ensures mentorship agreement is created and agreed upon
c. If necessary, modifies agreement to reflect changes in the relationship
d. Collaborates with mentee and agrees on action steps between meetings
e. Holds the mentee accountable for achieving agreed upon action steps
f. Participates in mentorship measurement and feedback efforts
g. Concrete action items to be effective:
i. Ask three questions to capture feedback and emphasize the importance
of applying learnings:
1. “What have you learned from today’s discussion?”
2. “What did I do as your mentor to help you learn?”
3. “How will/can you apply this learning?”
ii. Schedule one-on-one meetings at least two weeks in advance
iii. On a weekly basis, do a brief “check-in” with your mentee (phone call,
coffee, etc.)
iv. Check-in with your mentee to encourage their attendance at mentor
circles
2. Develop Your Mentee’s Capabilities
a. Assists mentee with clarifying expectations set forth by manager or others
b. Assists mentee with converting feedback into action
c. Looks for “developmental moments” and provides feedforward
d. Enables mentee to discover “remedies” to improve performance and continue
development
e. Seeks growth opportunities for mentee and self
f. Concrete action items to be effective:
i. Provide feedforward that is empowering, actionable and prepares your
mentee for “the next time”:
1. Focus the conversation on how to be/do “right” in the future versus
proving how they were “wrong” in the past
2. Share your positive suggestions and reframe issues as
opportunities
ii. Ask your mentee why they agree with your thinking to ensure that they
are engaged and not going through the motions

iii. During a discussion with your mentee ask “check-in” questions:
1. “How are you progressing on your development?”
2. “What leads you to believe you are making progress?”
3. “What obstacles hinder your progress?”
4. “Are these obstacles due to others, yourself or both?”
5. “Is there anything new that you are doing that requires additional
practice?”
3. Be a Thought Partner
a. Serves as the mentee’s sounding board
b. Challenges mentee to avoid old and unproductive mindsets
c. Fosters increased self-awareness and uncovers “blind spots”
d. Asks questions to discover options and potential solutions
e. Shifts conversation from presenting issues to real/below the surface issues
f. Shares new insights, experiences and ideas with mentee
g. Concrete action items to be effective:
i. Ask questions to assist your mentee with self-awareness:
1. “Share with me feedback themes that you have received over the
last year”
2. “Do you agree with this feedback?”
3. “What obstacles hinder your development?”
4. “Are these obstacles due to others, yourself or both?”
5. “When have you experienced “rapid learning”?”
ii. Find balance between:
1. Advocacy or sharing -- “here’s my opinion…”
2. Inquiry or exploring -- “what are your thoughts?
4. Supporter
a. Creates a “safe and trusting” relationship
b. Assists mentee with feeling comfortable in branching out and meeting others to
expand their professional network
c. Listens to mentee and provides encouragement
d. Helps mentee navigate through Tile
e. Concrete action items to be effective:
i. Avoid the temptation to assist your mentee by assuming an intermediary
role
ii. Assist your mentee with developing problem solving and relationships
skills
iii. Celebrate successes and reinforce the use of new approaches, skills, etc.
iv. From time to time ask your mentee questions that demonstrate your
support:
1. “How can I help?”
2. “What suggestions do you have for me?”
3. “What should we be doing more of or differently?”

v. Encourage your mentee to establish a personal board of directors to
share ideas, review career plans, etc. The board of directors typically
includes external individuals with whom the mentee has already
established a relationship:
1. Local business and/or community leader
2. Trusted friend
3. Spouse/partner
4. Former colleague/classmate
What is the schedule for mentorship?
The mentorship program officially starts July 1st and runs through Oct 4th. You should strive to
meet at least 6 times during this period. (if you meet every two weeks you have just enough
time to meet 7 times, but I wanted to allow for vacations and things that come up)
What should I cover in the first meeting?
The first meeting with your mentee is your chance to build their excitement around the
possibilities of the relationship and your willingness to explore them. Consider using some of the
questions below from different focus areas to help guide your conversation.
1. Learn about your mentee and their mindset
a. I was very pleased to hear that we would be working together. Would you please
tell me a bit more about yourself? – in turn, you should share a bit about yourself
b. What is your short-term Tile aspiration? Long-term aspiration?
c. What is your educational and professional background and how did you get to
where you are today?
d. What are the most interesting aspects of your job? Why did you pick this to
concentrate on?
e. What do you want to be known for?
f. What gives you the greatest sense of job satisfaction?
g.
h. What are two to three things you want to accomplish this year?
i. What do you hope to get out of our mentorship relationship?
2. Setup ground rules and start working on Mentoring Agreement Form
a. Are there any ground rules you would like to set (e.g. confidentiality, openness,
candor)?
b. What items would you like to discuss in these meetings (work-life balance,
competency development, short- and long-term goals)?
c. What should the regular meeting schedule to be? (where, when, frequency) and
how should we communicate between meetings?
d. Discuss objectives you want to accomplish and create target completion dates for
each objective.

3. Gauge their self-awareness and development needs
a. Are you comfortable sharing feedback themes you have received over the last
year?
b. Do you agree with this feedback?
c. Do you view the mentorship initiative as a potential way to close some of these
gaps?
d. What’s working and what’s not working with respect to the areas you want to
focus on for mentoring?
e. What do you regard as your major strengths?
f. What areas would you like to focus on for improvement?
g. Describe the area of responsibility that you find most frustrating.
h. What helps you most in your work?
i. What hinders you from achieving your goals?
4. Offer yourself as an ally in their development
a. As a mentor, how can I make the greatest possible impact for you?
b. How will we know that mentoring is providing value?
5. Wrapping Up
a. Discuss objectives you want to accomplish and create target completion dates for
each objective.
b. Come up with concrete action items for next meeting
What is the Mentoring Agreement Form?
The mentorship agreement brings clarity to the mentor and mentee’s goals and expectations for
the relationship and defines their working relationship together. The sole purpose of completing
a mentorship agreement is to benefit your relationship with your mentor. Agreements will not be
collected or reviewed by anyone outside of your relationship.
The Mentorship Agreement form has the following sections:
1. Goals (what you hope to achieve as a result of this relationship; e.g., gain perspective
relative to skills necessary for success in your role, explore new career
opportunities/alternatives, obtain knowledge of organizational culture, networking, leadership
skill development, etc.)
2. Steps to achieving goals as stated above (e.g., meeting regularly,
manuscripts/grants, collaborating on research projects, steps to achieving independence, etc.):
3. Meeting frequency (frequency, duration, and location of meetings - at least twice a
month):
4. Confidentiality: Any sensitive issues that we discuss will be held in the strictest of
confidence. Issues that are off limits for discussion include:
5. Relationship termination clause: In the event that either party finds the mentoring
relationship unproductive and requests that it be terminated, we agree to honor that individual’s
decision without question or blame.

Guidelines for completing the agreement:
1. Review the mentorship template prior to your first meeting
2. By the end of your first meeting, you should have discussed initial thoughts on the
mentorship agreement and, minimally completed the meeting frequency and confidentiality
sections.
3. The mentorship goals and steps to achieve goals may require additional thinking
beyond the first meeting. Each of you should take these sections as action items and plan to
finalize the agreement during your second meeting.
4. Refer back to and modify the agreement throughout the relationship, as necessary.
What things should I cover every meeting?
Serve as a sounding board, resource and support for your mentee. Hold them accountable for
reaching expressed goals and objective.
1. At the start of every meeting, cover the action items from the previous meeting and hold
your mentee accountable for the items (and yourself too!)
2. Spend a couple minutes catching up on what has happened since last you met.
3. Once a month, review the goals and action items from the Mentorship Agreement Form
and track progress as well as any changes needed.
4. Remember to take the time to provide feedback as well as ask for feedback regularly.
5. Spend the bulk of the meeting engaging on the development areas your mentee wants
to focus on. Remember to focus on asking questions instead of telling your mentee what
to do. Here are some questions you could ask when digging into an issue:
a. What do you understand the issue to be?
b. What tells you that your assessment is correct? What are other people’s
perceptions of this issue?
c. What assumptions are you making here?
d. What other ideas do you have?
e. How long has this been as issue?
f. What did you learn from past experiences that you didn’t expect to learn?
g. What are the reasons behind an issue?
h. Have you tried to resolve this issue before? Why or why not? If yes, what was the
result?
i. What choices do you have?
j. What progress have you made?
k. What other ideas do you have?
l. How are you using the things/ideas we’ve spoken about?
m. What results are you looking for?
6. At the end of every meeting, take 5 minutes to recap what was covered, define the
action items for next time, and ensure you have your next meeting scheduled.

How do I handle sensitive subjects?
A mentoring relationship is successful when it is built on mutual respect, honesty, commitment,
and trust. Because of this, mentees may feel more open to share a sensitive subject. It is
important that your mentee trust the confidential nature of your partnership, however, if he or
she reveals information damaging to the company or workplace environment, we must still
adhere to company policy in dealing with these sensitive subjects. Such subjects may include
(but are not limited to): Sexual harassment, Workplace bullying, and Conflicts of interest. In the
event a mentee shares such information, please reach out to your manager or HR to determine
an appropriate manner of proceeding. You may offer to your mentee to attend a meeting with
the HR representative together, to offer support. The confidential nature of your mentoring
partnership should not override the company’s obligation to handle such matters according to
policy. If you have any questions about the handling of such subjects, please contact Lissa.
How do I give effective feedback?
Think of feedback as a teaching/counseling opportunity. Exhibit positive or neutral body
language.
Do use:
● Good Eye contact – no scary stares
● Interested/neutral facial expression
Nodding of head to show understanding or agreement
● Calm tone of voice
● Even voice volume
● Sitting slightly forward
● Relaxed arm & hand placement
Do Not use:
● Reduced eye contact, scowling, or narrowing of eyes
● Tense or aggressive posture
● Rocking, pen bouncing, hand wringing, or your specific version of
nervousness/defensiveness Hands on hips or tightly clenched
● Arms tightly crossed across chest
● A blank expression
Other Tips:
● Use “I” statements.
● Give examples from your experience.
● Don’t say, “but” or “however”.
● Avoid statements that describe someone instead of their actions

● Ensure feedback is specific.
● Give the other person an opportunity to ask questions or share their viewpoint.
● Listen – carefully not only to the words but to the feelings and body language of the
speaker.
● Don’t become defensive.
● Don’t interrupt when the other person is responding.
● Allow time and privacy for feedback- avoid/minimize distractions, set aside a
uninterrupted time for your feedback session.
● Help your mentee plan for next steps.
● Ask questions such as:
○ What is a step you can do to reach your desired outcome?
○ What are some ways you can think of to resolve this challenge?
○ What resources are available to you?
○ What can I do to help you?

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