Taylor Wessing’s James Povah Shares Their Insights on How to Be an Effective Mentor

By James Povah, Senior Talent Development Advisor at Taylor Wessing LLP

A key element of my role is supporting the ongoing development of the workforce and promoting equality of opportunity to all. I also oversee our internal mentoring scheme, The Inspire Mentoring Programme. Its overall aim is to provide people to take control of their careers, build confidence and relationships, and make use of the firm's collaborative, forward thinking internal network. It also supports the firm's inclusive culture and is available to all colleagues. 

The role of a mentor is incredibility fulfilling and can often have a lasting impact for both parties. In order to get the most of out of a mentoring relationship I strongly believe that the following tips (or skills to be more accurate) really help to enhance the experience whilst providing a core foundation for excellence.

Be realistic.

Ask yourself how much capacity you have over the next 3-6 months and whether it is the right time for you to mentor someone. Don't be hard on yourself if now is not the right time or whether your schedule allows you to only mentor one person. Allowing yourself this opportunity to review your existing commitments is a useful and practical skill all mentors should utilize.

Set the scene.

Use the first meeting as an opportunity to really get to know the person who has asked to be mentored. Asking open questions is a fantastic way to gauge where the individual is at the moment, what prompted them to seek the support of a mentor and what topics they are seeking to explore with you as their mentor. This detail is incredibly useful to know and really helps to build rapport but also provides you the chance to suggest (and decide together) goals or objectives that can be achieved over the coming weeks/months. By the end of the first meeting if both parties agree to continue it is useful to outline the practicalities of subsequent calls and who will be responsible for what. For example, who should schedule future meetings and what if any preparation is required in between calls.

Listen, question and foster positivity.

As a mentor being able to balance active listening whilst asking questions and helping a mentee to find solutions and learning opportunities may sound obvious, however these core skills really do make a difference. The article 'Five Questions Every Mentor Must Ask' provides some useful guidance for mentors to achieve this. Its author Anthony K. Tjan states "The following five questions, when asked in the order presented, form an effective diagnostic tool that can provide better guidance to mentees, employees, or generally anyone with whom you are playing the role of a counselor. Additionally, they can serve as a self-diagnosis of one’s own capabilities and opportunities."

1. What is it that you really want to be and do?

2. What are you doing really well that is helping you get there?

3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there?

4. What will you do differently tomorrow to meet those challenges?

5. How can I help / where do you need the most help?

Be curious.

You may be mentoring someone who works in a different department or a completely different sector to you. Although you will often impart your experience and wisdom to your mentee it can be a great opportunity to identify if there is anything you can learn from them to further enhance your personal and professional development.

Reflect.

Another simple, yet effective skill that mentors can deploy is reflection. At the end of every call with a mentee build in some time to reflect on how the meeting went (even if it is only 5-minutes) and identify whether there is anything you would like to stop doing, start doing or continue doing. This is especially useful if you feel that the mentoring relationship is naturally reaching its conclusion and the mentee has achieve their goals and objectives agreed during your first interaction. Whilst you can continue to engage in a collaborative and professional manner with this person is it completely acceptable to no longer maintain a formal Mentor/Mentee relationship and revert to being colleagues or members of the same network. Depending on the situation you can enable the person to seek a new mentor who can support with additional development requirements or even encourage them to become a mentor themselves.

I hope these hints and tips have proved useful for anyone wishing to become a Mentor and/or serves as a useful review for anyone currently Mentoring others.