Mentoring is a gift. It’s an opportunity and responsibility to change someone’s life. Yet, it can also be an enigma. What exactly IS mentoring? How do you become a mentor? The start of your journey won’t be about seeking out a mentee—to be a great mentor you first need a strong foundation.

It’s About the Why

Giving advice is definitely a big part of mentorship. But that’s not really what mentorship is about; it’s really about creating learning experiences for other people. What to do is a good start, but why to do something can change a life.

Mentorship isn’t about giving orders such as, “Spend 50 percent of your time networking,” but rather helpful advice including the “why” such as, “Spend 50 percent of your time networking because your relationships will lead to referrals and new business that you need right now.” Let mentees make decisions themselves but help them make decisions that are more educated. Mentors are guides, and the best guides tell stories to make their points and teach other people. Telling someone why to do something makes for a great story.

But how do you (as a mentor) know what the mentee REALLY needs and what stories to tell? You just need to be able to…

Uncover and Encourage

Often mentees ask for very specific things for very specific reasons—they simply don’t know how to get the material or information—or they need help with something in their personal or professional life. It could be, “I want to be a leader” “I want to work in the meetings profession,” “I want to start my own business” or “I want to be a CEO.” Now it’s your turn to move past what they want, get to the heart of the matter and discover what they’re passionate about.

How? Ask, “Why do you want that?” Already we’re seeing that mentoring is always a two-way street—they need to know why and you need to ask why.  Then it’s time to connect what they want to the powerful motivator of why they want it and then help them.

As a mentor you’re not creating something new for people; you’re uncovering their passions and (based on some of your life experiences) guiding them towards results that will help them realize those passions.

“Great teachers don’t instill. They recognize, crystallize, accelerate and celebrate the genius of their students”

With those realizations and action plans you’re ready to start…

Who can YOU reach out to TODAY with guidance to help them take action?