The Mentoring Manual, 2nd Edition

chapter 4

What do good mentors do well?

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

Aldous Huxley, author

Building capability as a mentor

Let’s now build on the principles in Chapter 3 and strengthen your ability to consistently get great results. So here we look at common behaviours of great mentors in the workplace, things that they typically do during an active mentor relationship. Rather than being ‘skills’ in the usual sense of the term, such as asking open questions or giving constructive feedback, these are behavioural tendencies, things to make important. While some skills (asking open questions, etc.) are relevant for you to develop as a mentor, they are not a core ability that distinguishes great ...