How do you effectively mentor a member of your team? The best strategy is to offer personalized mentoring. We are not talking about raising skill set levels. We are talking about growth by your Mentee meeting your business expectations. It would be best to base your business expectations on how your High Performers (HP) operate in Performance, Behavior, and Accountability. A Mentoring Plan.
HP Performance questions for you to answer about the Mentee:
- How they communicate and adjust to even difficult people?
- Do they think strategically; first, tactical, second?
- Are they Initiators, proactive or Maintainers, waiting to be told what to do?
- Can they work with and understand different approaches for those who are intellectually driven vs. emotionally driven?
HP Behavior benchmarks to evaluate the Mentee:
- Attitude-They are always pursuing something to be better or learn something new
- Availability-Anytime
- Sharing strategies that work, successes
- Extending self-Always willing to help others
HP self-accountability expected from Mentee:
- Be accountable: People, processes, products, problems, possibilities
- Personal Growth plan
- How to track progress
- How to continue to grow
As a leader, one of your critical objectives is to Mentor to create High Performers and retain talent. Measure your ability to mentor. Select those you know will benefit from your mentoring. Mentoring is a vital part of effective Leadership.