Why Mentoring is Important
I believe mentorship is very important as it benefits the mentor and the mentee, as well as brings the team closer. The mentor needs to understand a concept thoroughly to be able to explain it in an understandable way to the mentee therefore this gives the mentor motivation to dig deeper into a concept. The mentee learns the above-mentioned concepts and will be able to grow their knowledge.
5 Tips for a Successful Mentorship
- You can have one-on-one sessions with the mentee if they prefer it that way. However, I think group sessions are better since the mentees will have different questions and therefore they will gain more skills in one session. Another benefit to the mentees is that they have each other to contact and go through new skills/concepts learned.
- Get to know your mentees, once you have formed a relationship with your mentees it is less intimidating for your mentee to come to you when they are struggling or need advice.
- Send the mentees monthly questionnaires to find out if your mentoring sessions are benefitting them and what is lacking from your sessions. By sending them a questionnaire they will feel more comfortable answering the questions and they can take their time in thinking it through. Therefore giving you more information to work with. By obtaining these answers you can tailor your sessions to your mentee’s needs (one size does not fit all mentees).
- Find out what the goals of your mentees are so that you can help them achieve them. If they do not have goals, help them identify a goal to grow towards in their career journey.
- Have multiple pair programming sessions in a week with your mentee. By pair programming, they will be able to complete tasks faster and you will be able to show them how you solve a problem. You will also be able to identify what their strengths and weaknesses are and therefore will be able to send them resources that they can go through to strengthen their weaknesses.
Happy Mentoring!
