Have you ever had a mentor? This is a relationship that can help you to learn and grow with the support of another person. It can be a rewarding experience both for you and your mentor.

As a member of Toastmasters International I have had mentors who supported me in my leadership positions as a club and district officer. These mentors helped me learn to do my job as an officer. They also became friends I could call on when I needed support.

But you don’t just have to be a mentee (a mentee is the person being mentored). You can be a mentor as well. Sharing your knowledge and experience and mentoring another person can help him to gain confidence and to complete his goals.

The benefits of having a mentor

I have personally benefited from having a mentor. In my year as a division governor for my Toastmasters district, one of my area governors ended up being my mentor. I was supposed to be his mentor, but with his extensive knowledge of leadership, he became more of a mentor for me than I was for him.

My mentor was Laverne. As his division governor, it was my job to support and encourage Laverne and my other area governors as they performed their roles as district officers. It was my first year as division governor and I had limited leadership experience.

Laverne is the president of his own trucking company and has a lot of leadership experience. He ended up mentoring me during my year as division governor. He and I would have great discussions about leadership. He also helped me to handle a conflict between two of my fellow club members by being a good listener and offering advice. More importantly, he would ask me questions to stimulate my thinking and find answers to my own questions.

He also helped me one time when I was considering serving a second term as division governor. I was ready to quit and not pursue a second year in this role, but Laverne encouraged me and offered to be my assistant if I pursued a second year as division governor. Thanks to his support and encouragement, I decided to serve a second year as division governor, and it was a good year for me.

More recently I also had a mentor who helped me with advice about running my own company. This mentor, Frank, recommended books for me to read. We also had meetings at a restaurant and meetings at his office where I listened and took notes while he shared his knowledge and experiences with me. I gained a lot from these meetings, and I still have the notes from these meetings to refer to.

Speaking of notes, it is a great way to maximize what you gain from your meetings with your mentor. Be sure to always have a pen and paper with you when you meet with your mentor. And use these to takes detailed notes so you can review what you learned from your mentor.

The benefits of being a mentor

The other side of the mentoring relationship is being a mentor. When you are mentor, you benefit from having opportunities to share your knowledge and experience with your mentee. It can feel good to see another person learning from what you are teaching. You can also learn more by teaching another person.

One of the great things about being a mentor is that your mentee may ask you a question that you don’t anticipate. This can lead you to learn more about the subject or concept you are teaching your mentee. You may even find you don’t know as much as you thought you did, and this can challenge you to expand your knowledge as you take steps to answer your mentee’s questions. You may also learn new ways of looking at things by seeing things from your mentee’s perspective.

What I find rewarding about being a mentor is seeing another person learn and grow and become more effective as a result of my support. It is especially rewarding when my mentee steps up and overcomes a challenge she was facing. It is also good to see the person I am mentoring gain confidence and accomplish some of her goals.

Have a plan for your mentoring relationship

Whether you are a mentor, or the person being mentored, it is important to have a plan for your mentoring relationship. As the person being mentored, you can plan for what you want to ask your mentor. You can also work with your mentor to set goals you can achieve.

Another part of having a plan for your mentoring relationship is deciding how often you will meet and where you will meet. This applies both to being a mentor and when you are the person being mentored.

One of the benefits of being a mentor for another Toastmaster is that Toastmasters International offers a structured mentoring program with forms you and your mentee can fill out to help define the parameters of your mentoring relationship. This helps you outline how often you will meet, and it includes plans for what you will you teach your mentee throughout your mentoring relationship.

Another step that I find crucial when mentoring someone is to take notes during a mentoring session and to share those notes with my mentee via email. These notes can then be reviewed at your next mentoring session so you can see what you covered last time and it serves as a reminder of what goals and action items your mentee set for himself.

When I first started mentoring Angelo, a fellow member of my Toastmasters club, I worked with him to help him set some long-term, medium-term, and short-term goals. We then review and update these goals each time we meet. This helps focus our conversations and it helps him to keep in mind the goals he is striving to achieve. It also helps me as his mentor to review his progress and to help him adjust his goals based on the progress he has made.

Ask Questions

One of the most important things you can do as a mentor is to listen carefully and ask your mentee questions. Asking the right questions can help you lead your mentee to find an answer for himself instead of just giving him the answer yourself.

Asking questions can also help you to learn your mentee’s goals. As you chat with your mentee, listen carefully, and ask questions to help stimulate her thinking. Even a simple question like “What would you like to achieve this year as a Toastmaster” can help your mentee to identify goals for herself.

Conclusion

Mentoring is a rewarding experience, whether you are the one being mentored or the one doing the mentoring. When you have a mentor, you have a friend who encourages and supports you. You can learn from your mentor’s knowledge and experience. You can also make progress on your goals with the help of your mentor.

When you are the mentor, it is an opportunity to support and encourage another person. You can help her to make progress on her goals. You can help her to learn a new role or develop a new skill. You can be a friend to this person, and it will be a rewarding experience for both of you. Being a mentor is also an opportunity to learn more as you teach and support another person.

It also helps to have a plan for your mentoring relationship. This includes planning for how often you meet, where you will meet, and what you will discuss in your mentoring sessions. It also helps to take detailed notes and to share those notes with the person you are mentoring.

I encourage you to seek out more mentoring relationships in your life, both as the one being mentored and as the person who is doing the mentoring. When you are being mentored, you can learn and grow, and develop new skills and new confidence. When you are the one doing the mentoring, you are helping another person to improve and meet her goals.

Mentoring is a worthy pursuit. And it benefits both the person being mentored and the person doing the mentoring.