An often overlooked aspect of mentoring are the abilities of the mentee. Being a good mentee, though, is essential for effective mentorship. These 12 competencies are required.
In their book, The Situational Mentor (2005), Clutterback and Lane distinguish 11 pairs of competencies that mentees need to fully enjoy the benefits of mentoring. I’ve added the first to complete the list. They consist of three groups.:
RELATIONSHIP INITIATION COMPETENCIES
Search - Recognize
Search: seek for a specific mentor that fits your needs and aspirations
Recognize: be open and recognize a mentor that comes on your path
Focus - Proactivity
Focus: have clarity on what you want to achieve from the mentorship and the mentor
Proactivity: willing to take initiative and make the mentoring relationship work
Respect - Self-Respect
Respect: take the mentor seriously and value their contributions and who they are
Self-Respect: develop a healthy level of self-esteem—not insecure, not over-confident
Listening - Articulating
Listening: willing and able to truly listen to what the mentor says
Articulating: able to express one’s situation so that the mentor understands how to help
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES
Learn - Teach
Learn: commit to learning and changing one’s habits, ideas, and assumptions
Teach: willing to share one’s knowledge and satisfy the mentor’s need to learn
Challenge - Be Challenged
Challenge: don’t treat the mentor as an oracle and don’t simply accept everything they say
Be Challenged: willing to feel uncomfortable and answer confrontational questions
Open - Questioning
Open: honest with yourself and share real situations, feelings and concerns
Questioning: able to ask targeted and relevant questions so the mentor knows what you need
Prepare - Reflect
Prepare: spend quiet time to reflect on what to achieve during the next mentoring session
Reflect: spend quiet time after the session to reflect on what you have learned
RELATIONSHIP ENHANCEMENT COMPETENCIES
Acknowledge Debt - Pay Forward
Acknowledge Debt: gratitude for what the mentor has brought you and a willingness to reciprocate
Pay Forward: once ready, help others as well by becoming a mentor yourself
Process Awareness - Process Management
Process Awareness: understand how the mentor works and tries to help you
Process Management: take ownership of the process and manage it actively yourselfl
Extrinsic Feedback - Intrinsic Feedback
Extrinsic Feedback: able to receive and give feedback from and to the mentor
Intrinsic Feedback: able to listen, observe and give feedback to yourself
Independence - Interdependence
Independence: able to act and make decisions autonomically, without the mentor
Interdependence: willing and able to ask help and develop a network of mentors, advisors and sources
Time for the key questions: Are you a good mentee? Do you have all 12 pairs of skills? Which one do you need to enhance?
#selfdevelopment
#growthmindset
#mentorship
P.Eng, Consulting Engineer, Infrastructure & Building Electrical, I&C (Instrumentation & Control) & Process Automation
1yThis applies to Recruiters/headhunters too. Do a bit of research before you reach out.