The Key to Successful Mentoring
What is the key to successful mentoring?
Most people think about the typical characteristics or qualities of mentoring, but what about the actual content?
If a mentor is one who shares wisdom and valuable life lessons with a mentee, what makes it so valuable?
Tacit knowledge.
Tacit knowledge is information that is only gained through personal experience such as mentorship. It includes wisdom, insight, intuition, hunches, and decision-making.
Below are a few examples of tacit knowledge:
◊ Learning to ride a bicycle, or a horse
◊ Family history (stories), Grandma’s “secret recipe”
◊ Trades like blacksmithing or glass-blowing
◊ It’s one’s “know how” and “know why”
Tacit knowledge is rooted in context; it’s hard to communicate, which is why internships and apprenticeships are so valuable. Tacit knowledge only becomes valuable when shared.
The opposite of tacit is explicit.
Explicit knowledge is information that is easy to write down, verbalize, visualize, or transfer. Think of textbooks or manuals.
The challenge is transferring tacit to explicit. Making the “hard to communicate” communicable. This is where mentoring comes into play.
Through a dialogue of shared experiences, or demonstrations, mentors can transfer this valuable knowledge to someone else.
While most mentor-mentee relationships are quite positive, it is important to note that thoughtful preparation goes into planning. Even large organizations are guilty of over standardizing the process.
What Mentoring Is Not
People who choose to be mentors may have good intentions but may not understand how to be effective. Look for the following warning signs before you begin:
◊ They work on a prescribed schedule (“only 25 weeks”).
◊ They work out of a training manual, guiding each person with the same dialogue and materials.
◊ They share career success stories and expect the mentee to understand the implications.
What Mentoring Is
◊ A mentor is someone who understands how to translate their experiences into teachable moments.
◊ Someone who understands and listens carefully to their mentee in order to determine which experiences are the most valuable.
◊ It is a fluid experience that has no start and stop date. Everyone learns and grows differently.
◊ It is being respectful to one another despite differing views and experiences.
Pay careful attention in the beginning, and if it feels comfortable, then you’re probably in for a great experience.