Working with a Mentor

Summary
This two-day program is designed to assist participants to direct their own career development as a protégé. Participants learn the role of the protégé, the mentor and of the potential for satisfaction the protégé/mentor relationship can bring, as well as potential pitfalls. Participants clarify their development objectives, decide on development plans, analyze their present competencies and plan ways to reach agreement with their mentor on how to gain support for their career goals.

The retention of talent, plus the passing on of corporate knowledge in order to bridge the past to the future, requires that successful employees coach others. Effective development is a shared process involving input and participation from both the mentor and protégé and it can be a natural process but it is not easy. Working with a mentor requires a unique skill set. The mentoring process is based on trust and influence, guidance versus direction. Mentors must get to know their protégés well enough to decide how much they should be involved in giving specific directions about career or behavioral changes and protégés must take initiative, be open, honest and able to provide an accurate assessment of their talents and desires. This program will provide participants with an opportunity to learn how to connect with a mentor and get the most from their development experience. 

Course Outcomes
The goal of the program is to assist participants in identifying ways to direct their development through the mentoring process and to build a stronger mentoring process for the organization. Participants will:

  • Define the roles and responsibilities of mentors and protégés;
  • Identify the role of mentoring in the organization’s career development program and attributes of a successful mentoring program;
  • Identify specific strategies and techniques that lead to a successful mentor-protégé relationship;
  • Analyze job satisfiers and envision career options;
  • Assess current levels of competency and development steps;
  • Plan ways to seek performance feedback and ways to discuss plans with their mentor; and
  • Develop personal action plans to identify specific steps that will establish and maintain a successful mentor-protégé relationship.

Learning materials are customized to your organization, to maximize relevance and immediate applicability to your mentors and mentees. Guided exercises enable each participant to inventory their development needs, specific challenges and opportunities, identify key protégé development goals, and build a unique Individual Development Plan (IDP) that enables them to identify ways they can demonstrate their readiness for development.

Why should you consider this program?

Because critical job skills can often only be learned through guided, ongoing support on the job by qualified and committed mentors —and because the success of mentor-protégé pairs requires training and preparation to enable them to become effective learning partners.