How can you identify and overcome biases in mentoring?

Mentoring is a valuable way to share your knowledge, skills, and experience with someone who can benefit from your guidance and support. However, mentoring also involves human interactions, which can be influenced by biases, conscious or unconscious, that affect how you perceive, communicate, and relate to your mentee. Biases can limit your mentee's potential, undermine your trust and rapport, and reduce the effectiveness of your mentoring. In this article, you will learn how to identify and overcome some common biases in mentoring, and how to foster a more inclusive and respectful mentoring relationship.

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1 What are biases in mentoring?

Biases are preferences, assumptions, or judgments based on personal or social backgrounds, beliefs, values, or experiences, rather than on objective facts or evidence. Biases can be explicit or implicit and can affect mentoring in various ways. For example, they may influence who you choose to mentor or accept as a mentee based on gender, race, age, education, or appearance. They may also create stereotypes or expectations about a mentee's abilities, interests, goals, or needs based on their group identity. Furthermore, biases can lead to favoring or disfavoring certain styles of communication, feedback, or learning based on your own preferences. Additionally, they can cause you to overlook or dismiss your mentee's perspectives, opinions, or experiences based on your own views or assumptions.

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2 Why are biases in mentoring harmful?

Biases in mentoring can have negative consequences for both you and your mentee, such as reducing the diversity and quality of your mentoring network, damaging your mentee's confidence, hindering their growth and development, eroding their trust and respect, and diminishing your own learning and improvement. Your biases may lead to you imposing unrealistic or unfair standards, providing inadequate or biased support, restricting their opportunities, choices, or challenges, showing disrespect or hostility, or violating their boundaries or values. All of these can have a detrimental impact on both yourself and your mentee.

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3 How can you identify biases in mentoring?

Identifying biases in mentoring can be difficult, especially if they are implicit or ingrained in habits or culture. To become more aware and mindful of biases, you can reflect on your background, beliefs, values, and experiences and how they shape your perceptions. Additionally, you can seek feedback from your mentee, peers, or other mentors to improve your mentoring skills. Educating yourself on types of biases and how they manifest in mentoring is also important. Lastly, observe and analyze your own actions and reactions in different mentoring situations to identify any patterns or discrepancies that may indicate biases.

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4 How can you overcome biases in mentoring?

In order to overcome biases in mentoring, it is important to make a commitment to learning, change, and growth, as well as challenge your own assumptions. To start, acknowledge and accept your biases and take responsibility for addressing them, rather than denying or justifying them. Additionally, apologize and make amends if you have harmed or offended your mentee due to your biases. Furthermore, embrace diversity and inclusion, and value your mentee's individuality, strengths, and potential. Moreover, communicate openly and respectfully with your mentee while listening actively and empathetically to their needs, goals, feedback, and perspectives. Lastly, adapt and customize your mentoring to provide appropriate and constructive support that matches your mentee's learning style, level, and aspirations.

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5 How can you prevent biases in mentoring?

Preventing biases in mentoring is an ongoing process that requires continuous awareness, evaluation, and improvement. To do so, you should seek diversity and exposure, challenge stereotypes and assumptions, seek feedback and improvement, and monitor and adjust your mentoring. This means engaging with people from different backgrounds, cultures, disciplines, or sectors, avoiding generalizing or labeling your mentee, regularly soliciting and acting on feedback from your mentee, peers, or other mentors on how to enhance your mentoring skills and practices, and periodically reviewing and revising your mentoring goals, plans, and strategies based on your mentee's progress, feedback, and changing needs or circumstances.

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Ray Morris

Chief Data Officer at COUNTRY Financial®
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While part of the joy of being a mentor is the ability to share your knowledge, it is critical to remember that your mentee's experience is different than your own. One thing I try to do is ask myself the question of if my advice is based on my unique experience or could it apply equally well to someone with a different path than mine. The most practical advice works regardless of specific circumstances.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you identify and overcome biases in mentoring?

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1 What are biases in mentoring?

2 Why are biases in mentoring harmful?

3 How can you identify biases in mentoring?

4 How can you overcome biases in mentoring?

5 How can you prevent biases in mentoring?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Mentoring

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How can you identify and overcome biases in mentoring?

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3

4

5

6

1 What are biases in mentoring?

2 Why are biases in mentoring harmful?

3 How can you identify biases in mentoring?

4 How can you overcome biases in mentoring?

5 How can you prevent biases in mentoring?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Mentoring

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