How much do you feel the need for personal development? Do you feel that you are fulfilling your role perfectly, but are there areas that need refinement?
If you’re asking yourself these questions, it’s already a good sign – mentors who approach self-assessment with humility and awareness are simply better. And it’s not about feigning ego drowning or belittling skills. It’s about looking at yourself honestly.
As you delve deeper into yourself, your way of doing things, and the competencies you possess, you are sure to find topics you would like or want to work on to get closer to your ideal.
Is there a set of qualities that characterize the ideal mentor? What do you do to get closer to the ideal and achieve perfection in your role? The answer to these questions is absolutely not simple, but I will try to identify the most important qualities that are necessary to do well as a mentor.
The ideal mentor is a person:
- endowed with high awareness, emotional intelligence and empathy,
- able to listen to get to know the reality of their mentee in a timely manner, and then ask them stimulating questions,
- which always provides support depending on the mentee’s state of mind and progress,
- Neither too directive nor overprotective, nor too lenient,
- exuding openness to the world, with a sense of humor to defuse difficult situations,
- Able to ask provocative questions at the right moments,
- courageous to open up on her own and not avoid difficult mentee topics.
Such a set of features introduces an informal mood, reduces distance and opens up space for change. With a relaxed atmosphere, more ideas are born, and the mentee has a chance to step outside her own perspective and more easily discover her potential – without being overwhelmed by the weight of your experience.
Such a set also tells us: let’s develop and strive for perfection, but let’s not pretend to be perfect. For mentees who measure themselves against their challenges, a mentor’s perfect, flawless, ba! crystalline persona is demotivating and intimidating, hence the “(not)” in the title of this post.
Mentoring is development through dialogue, one could say: a higher school of conversation! You really need to prepare for this role. Learn to listen, ask questions, and skillfully raise the right issues. It is essential to know at least the basics of development dialogue, such as in coaching education. Then it will be easier to learn how to develop a person through conversation.
