7 Techniques on How to Mentor an Employee
Have you ever had a great mentor who helped you advance toward your career goals, develop your skill set, and excel in your role? If you have, you know how impactful it is to have someone supporting your development.
1 in 3 employees say they don’t have someone at work who helps them grow & develop.
– Officevibe’s Pulse Survey data
Having a workplace mentor can help us feel like we’re getting somewhere, and like we have further to go. This not only strengthens employee engagement but also impacts employee retention and can help reduce employee turnover. It’s a win-win for any organization and the people who work for it.
Mentoring Techniques:
- Make space for failure and learning – Learning is often a product of failure, and employees need the space to have their efforts flop sometimes if they’re going to grow. An effective mentor can help them uncover the learnings from their mistakes and see them as opportunities to build. Try to use the strengths people already have and help build their confidence and encourage them to challenge themselves. The best quality that mentors have is allowing someone to be themselves and fail without consequence.
- Respect who your employee is – As a mentor, you need to drop any preconceived notions about what the employee should do, how they should work, or what their career path should be. People want to be lifted up for who they are, and not molded into the image their mentor has for them.
- Have your mentee explain things to you – Employees should understand not just what they’re doing, but why they’re doing it. Ask your mentee to explain their reasoning or how they came to their conclusions. Talking it through will help them strengthen their certainty and in turn, their confidence.
- Work to dismantle a sense of hierarchy – Make it clear that you and your mentee are on equal footing. A mentoring relationship is a give-and-take from both sides. If someone has more seniority, if one of you has been at the company or in the role for longer, or if there’s an age gap between you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from each other.
- Empower your mentee to take risks – Calculated risk-taking helps us learn quickly and grow to trust ourselves. But we need to have someone backing us up, and pushing us forward. A good mentor can help an employee take a leap of faith, and then either celebrate a win or learn from failure.
- Ask questions to help guide them – Asking your employee coaching questions is a powerful way to help them find answers on their own. Guiding people toward their own solutions empowers them to be more proactive going forward. It helps them see that they knew what they needed to do all along.
- Take an active approach to being a mentor – Rather than simply checking in on how employees are progressing towards the goals you set together, great mentors take an active role in finding opportunities for employees to grow. This shows your personal investment in your employees’ career development and being a part of their journey.
Mentoring employees is such a special role to take on in your career, and will leave a lasting impact on those you mentor.
No matter what career stage someone is at, a mentor can really enrich their professional life.
– Camille, Client Experience Consultant at Elo Mentoring
We all have something to learn, and having someone to encourage us, back us up, and give us a push when we need it makes all the difference.
A Community of Learning
Between Pet Butler and the many franchise owners, there is a community of entrepreneurs who have been in business – and in the pet business – for many years. There is a lot that they have already seen with respect to a business’ online reputation.
Don Stone, Pet Butler franchise owner in Dallas, Texas, feels that the back-office support Pet Butler provides is a huge advantage. The National Call Center answers all calls, from initial prospects to upset customers, and provides immediate information to the franchise owner. “Within minutes we are on the phone with the customer understanding the problem and getting it resolved,” Stone said. “We can take care of issues immediately.”
Whether you are in the pet industry and want to diversify or are looking for a turn-key franchise, Pet Butler may be the perfect fit for you. Learn more about Pet Butler by calling 844-777-8608 or visit us at www.growmypetindustrybusiness.com.