How important an effective mentoring sessions? When we talk about reliable and proven methods to build a solid base for any business or personal endeavor, mentoring is one of the first things that come to mind. And rightly so! Mentoring programs are known to bring fantastic positive changes in an individual’s life, eventually benefitting society as a whole.
But how can you ensure that the efforts you’ll spend for these programs will have the desired effect? To learn all about the trick and tips required to organize successful mentoring sessions, stick with us through the end of this article.
Ten Fantastic Tips to Make Every Mentoring Session a Success
We researched and put together an informative list to help you make every mentoring session a commendable success. Take a look:
1. Start on a Positive Note
When starting your mentoring journey, you ought to radiate positivity, especially while addressing newcomers of the organization. Your reassurances can make a big difference as they set the pace and direction of your mentoring sessions.
2. Agree on Expectations, Specific Objectives, and Time Frames
Once you start on a positive note, you have to set your mutual expectations, determine the goals to be achieved, put time frames, and agree on them. You ought to define how each mentoring session should be structured.
3. Choose Discussion Topics Ahead of Time
Pre-planning goes a long way and saves precious time within the sessions. It is always great to identify the topic of discussion before the session or keep multiple choices at hand to be prepared.
4. Have an Agenda for Your Conversations
You can think of the session as a get-together where everything goes according to the plan for seamless execution. That plan is a pre-planned agenda (or a set of them).
5. Ask Great Questions
The tone and direction your session will take primarily depend on the questions asked. You can research and put forward interesting queries to act as a catalyst for the conversations.
6. Show Empathy for One Another
Remember, you may have people from all kinds of backgrounds, religions, financial statuses, etc. Try to be kind and empathetic towards everyone while avoiding dismissive comments.
7. Make It a Priority
While many people join a mentoring program as an attempt to revitalize their life, they may feel lazy about it at times. You must prioritize mentoring sessions and stress the importance of consistency for mentees, so they don’t see it as a side hustle.
8. Discuss Challenges
People join mentoring programs essentially to address the many challenges they face in their personal or work life. And an ideal session addresses the prevalent concerns and pushes to find solutions, so everyone has something to learn.
9. Treat It As a Business Meeting
When you sit together in a business meeting, often things are very well-structured where the time allocated is used optimally. Your mentoring session is the same, where your goal is to create solutions to bugs in your mentee’s life together. Take your mentoring sessions seriously.
10. Practice Two-way Communication and Candid Feedback
The more natural the mentees feel in the given environment, the more responsive and engaging they’ll be with their mentors. Once they’re at ease, you can establish solid communication networks based on honesty and transparency.
Conclusion
Mentoring programs are awesome, but only as long as executed properly. Else, you’ll be wasting your time and resources while obtaining nada. So follow the above-given points to make your mentoring sessions much more effective and productive.
Cheers!