Mentorship is important but how to do it well is not always obvious.
This afternoon I moderated a training for the Legal Mentor Network (@legalmentors) with experienced mentors: @HL_Stevenson, Matt Schwartz, and Dr. Sharon Abrahamson
Here were my top takeaways
🧵 ⬇️
1️⃣ Why Mentor?
- it allows you to develop leadership skills
- it gives you pride for helping someone
- it provides leadership development opportunities
- it helps you learn by teaching
- it offers chances to learn from your mentees
2️⃣ How do you make time to mentor?
- Find pockets of time that are least disruptive to your work day (commuting, around lunch or exercise, etc.
- Offer mentees specific blocks
- block specific times on calendar
- protect personal time is ok
Real benefit of remote mentoring!
3️⃣ What do you do on your first call?
- encourage mentee to come prepared to tell their story
- ask mentee why they reach out for mentorship; what they want to get out of it
- mentor can give own background to set stage
- but let mentees drive
- LISTEN
4️⃣ What are today's mentees looking for?
- advice on questions where there is no one right answer
- a chance to talk through ideas that others around them don't understand
- ways to come to solutions on their own (not solutions from you)
- ways to make things simpler
5️⃣ What are pitfalls to avoid?
- don't try to be everything to everyone
- know your own lane (and refer out to people better situated liberally)
- don't try to answer the question as if it is your life
- empower self-sufficiency
- remember everyone has different circumstances
6️⃣ How do you set up success?
- be giving of your ideas and experiences
- listen
- set boundaries as needed on what you can/will do and cannot/won't do
- be authentic and approachable
- keep an open mind
- teach the mentee to fish
- LISTEN FIRST (really)
7️⃣ Logistics
- set a first call; listen to their story
- encourage the mentee to set up subsequent contacts (onus on them)
- talk through issues orally; answer one-offs by e-mail
- refer out where you have connections
- phone is great, not everything needs Zoom.
8️⃣ JUST MENTOR
- if you are a lawyer go to legalmentornetwork.org to sign up today. You'll get paired with several mentees. I promise you won't regret it!
You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: typefully.com/u/JonahPerlin/t/WpJPnP5HSmfI