Improving mentoring abilities

Mentoring is helping another person to accomplish something. More explicitly, something that
is significant to them. Employee mentoring, corporate mentoring, workplace mentoring, and
professional mentoring are about rendering help and support in a non-intimidating way. It is an
approach that the mentoree will be grateful for and value because it will empower them to go
forward with self-assurance towards what they desire to accomplish. Mentoring creates an
informal setting in which one person, the mentoree, can feel persuaded to discuss his needs
and conditions openly and in certainty with a mentor, the other person, who is qualified to be of
certain help to them.

Training is needed to cover necessary work-related skills, knowledge and techniques but most
people take it as work and therefore regard it as a pain in the neck. The most efficient way to
develop employees is to learn how to improve your mentoring as well as your training skills. The
following suggestions may be of help:

Establish a system of mentoring in the workplace. This may involve telling the
employees what mentoring is all about and how it can improve one's skills.
Relationships with the employees may be developed so that they will not be hesitant
to receive mentoring because they will feel it is for their own benefit.
Use company newsletters, lunch hour learning sessions, and team meetings to
convey how mentoring can help develop fundamental skills.
Look back to the time when you were a mentoree. What experience did you like
most? Use that in mentoring. Think of strategies how you can help your mentoree on
other aspects which you see he did not like. Be aware of your roles and
responsibilities as a mentor.
Be very familiar with the necessary skills required for the jobs. Plan activities where
concerned employees can associate with possible mentors or mentorees. Invite a
mentor to talk about his experience while being a mentoree.
Know the different mentoring approaches like circles and team mentoring. Circle
mentoring is working with a group of employees to be mentored and providing them
advice, guidance and encouragements to help one another. In a peer or team
mentoring, the team members mentor each other - especially if there is a particular
issue to be resolved.
For employee mentoring, corporate mentoring, workplace mentoring, or professional
mentoring, the mentor must always possess improved mentoring skills to share with
the mentorees.
Mentoring can be a gratifying experience for the counselor or mentor. There are benefits and
opportunities for the mentor which cannot be valued by monetary rewards. The longer the
mentor does his mentoring job, the more his leadership skills are developed. This increases his
job satisfaction and value in the place of work and increases his chances to share his
knowledge and skills.

Improving one's mentoring and training skills lets new employees confide with the mentor.
Their interests, goals and expectations are freely discussed with the mentor thereby
establishing the mentoring relationship between them. As an improved mentor you know how
to establish a common understanding about some issues where you can convince the
mentorees of the preferred learning strategies and the best way to achieve their learning goals