Effective mentorship occurs when mentors (individuals who mentor) and mentees (individuals who are mentored) develop a mutual foundation of trust, share strengths and limitations and authentically identify to engage with one another.
They say that a mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself. If we think about it, that is exactly what Shri Krishna was to Arjun, on the battlefield of Mahabharat. He was a mentor, who gently prodded questions and answers from Arjun, taught him everything that was the need of the hour and eventually motivated Arjun to perform his duty. A mentor therefore is not someone who walks ahead of us to tell us how they did it. But a mentor is someone who walks alongside us, to guide us on what we can do.
Mentoring should be a fulfilling relationship between somebody with more experience and somebody with less, to help both become elevated versions of themselves.
Essentially, the foundation of Mentoring lies in 3 C‘s:
- Communication: The mentor and the mentee should strive to establish open, honest communication with each other so that the journey together becomes smooth.
- Clarity: There has to be clarity of thought, communication and speech, which then acts as a directive towards ultimate goal achievement.
- Commitment: The mentor and the mentee have to give their 100% to the process of mentorship. This also means that together they strike a balance and create optimum circumstances to achieve the higher goal.
There are many benefits of mentorship programs. Effective mentorship aims to overcome diversity issues, plan for successful mergers, and improve employee trust and loyalty, thus reducing the turnover ratio in an organization. The core of mentorship is summed up in a statement by Lori Hunt who says via mentorship, she found the right tools to navigate towards the right decision- the beauty being in the fact that she always possessed these tools, mentorship helped her greatly to uncover these skills and use it in the desired manner.
Another crucial aspect of Effective Mentorship is to build and set SMART goals. The mentor and the mentee work towards setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Specific. The emphasis on creating SMART goals is that they often create a sense of achievement in the mentee, thus increasing the confidence levels to achieve more. It falls on the shoulders of the mentor to curate each goal in a way that is completely in line with the final objectives of the mentee. A good mentorship program sets multiple short-term goals, whose addition is beneficial in the long-term achievement of the bigger goal.
Mentoring is a powerful tool that facilitates learning, development, and overall retention. They help individuals and organizations unlock newer potentials to achieve better success. In the end, happy and productive people are the new and real assets for any company and with effective mentorship, they can create miracles for themselves and everyone around.
