What are the most effective ways to build trust and rapport with your mentee?

Drawing from (KK) my mentor and godfather of my life, i have learned that genuine mentorship involves more than advice-giving. It's about sharing personal experiences transparently. Embrace vulnerability by opening up about your own journey, mistakes, and growth. Use metaphors, like learning from a meteor, to make reflections relatable. Incorporate the wisdom gained from your mentor and godfather, creating a mentorship style that goes beyond imparting knowledge, establishing a profound connection with mentees.

There is NO alternative to being Authentic. It quickly creates the resonance for a trustworthy exchange of experiences. Providing guiding principles and not exact to-dos is also another marker of great mentorship as it leads to synapses of sorts, growing the mentee

In my experience, being transparent and vulnerable about your own life lessons, builds trust with mentee's. Don't just give advice, provide the context by which you figured out the “right way”. They need to see that you made mistakes and learned from them and hopefully they too can learn from your experience, but only if you are vulnerable enough to share not just the wins but the missteps.

I’ve found it helpful to intentionally practice being an active listener and truly in the moment when meeting with your mentee. There are so many distractions that come along. Giving your mentee the space to be authentic with sharing their goals while you demonstrate active listening and share feedback is a way to build trust. Another way to build trust is to create an environment that fosters a sense of belonging. You can do this through sharing stories about your journey and experiences. Listen to their stories. Don’t be fearful of sharing pitfalls or imperfections and how you made adjustments or learned from an experience. Being humanistic and respectful of experiences is another way to build trust.

I was always upfront about key points in my career - both planned steps and the opportunities afforded to me through sheer luck. I shared my identified strengths and weaknesses and my successes and failures. I made clear that someone who had never failed was someone who has never really taken a risk and in so doing had never learned their true limits and what they had to do to make personal breakthroughs. I also focused a lot of our discussions on the need to practice saying No - to subordinates and to supervisors. That is an underrated management skill which has had an outsized bearing on my career success. Saying No is hard and being able to do it in an appropriate manner when required is an essential management skill.

I have found from my mentor that active listening rocks in mentorship! We had open talks about expectations, then we'd ask questions, listen, and reflect. Now, I do the same with my mentees, and it's super effective. Trying this approach has made our mentorship stronger and more impactful. It's like a secret for better understanding and connection.

I was lucky to mentor some exceptional young talents in Nissan and latterly in the wider Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance. My approach was to ask the mentee to outline their personal and career plans at our first meeting. Our subsequent meetings would then involve a wide ranging discussion about those plans and why they had those ambitions - the key was exploring how realistic these plans were. This involved wide ranging questions about their motivations, their personal styles and their identified strengths and weaknesses. Of course this required active listening on both sides. In most cases I challenged the mentee to be more ambitious by benchmarking their achievements at their age versus others across a wide range of industries.

Being genuine and transparent in your interactions helps to build trust and credibility with your mentee. It is important to be yourself and not shy away from sharing your own experiences and struggles. Active listening is another essential component. By truly listening to your mentee, you demonstrate that you value their thoughts and feelings. This can help the mentee feel heard and understood, which is important for building rapport. Providing constructive feedback is also important. Offering guidance and support in a respectful and non-judgmental manner can help your mentee grow and develop. It is important to communicate feedback in a way that is helpful and encouraging.

In my experience, actively listening is the key to a successful mentor/mentee relationship. It goes both ways. Mentor and mentee should have open and transparent discussions early on to align on expectations. Then both parties should be actively listen - ask open-ended questions to hear what they other is thinking, and then key is to reflect back what you hear to ensure you are aligned on understanding. This is especially important if you are just getting to know one another, or if you are covering new ground together. And as a side note - this is good advice in ANY interaction you have in the workplace!

Active listening helps a mentor to truly understand what the mentee is telling them (and possibly not telling them). It’s the best way to make sure that both parties are properly aligned and heading down the right path together. As part of active listening, it’s also important to keep an eye on body language as that may indicate something more than what the person is saying. If you spot something more in their body language, it’s a good idea to either address it or ask questions around it. The best way to help a mentee is to make sure that you are absolutely clear on what they are looking for and active listening is a key part of that.

Learned this gem from my mentor and HR team that mentorship program isn't about rating performance. Per him and I do agree with him with my recent experience with coaching mentees, already High Potential People, were high-flyers. My gig was being their sounding board. They would chat about goals, worries, anything. I'd help them figure it out within the organization, leveling up their performance. Clear note: a mentor isn't always a sponsor who actively promotes careers. I am recently mentored many, sponsored a few, and this approach is gold.

Remember, a mentor's role is not to mold, but to unleash the inner brilliance that already exists. It's about creating a safe space for growth, celebrating small victories, and providing gentle nudges along the way.

This is a tricky one. I never saw my role as being a performance appraiser, frankly the mentees that were assigned to me were already identified as High Potential People [HPP’s] and by definition were high performing. I saw the mentor role as being more of an independent “ear” to allow the mentee to openly discuss their aspirations, concerns and any other issues they needed to discuss. My role was to help them understand and then navigate those issues within the organisation and in so doing improve their performance even further. I was always clear that a mentor is not always a sponsor - a sponsor is a person who actively promotes the career ambitions of a person. I mentored many but sponsored some.

Provide honest feedback even if it’s not what the mentee wants to hear. Along with Be There for the mentee for the mentee to know - whatever is the decision, the mentor stands with mentee to hold the torch towards the light. Knowing the exact actuals will help in mentee making a proper decision and knowing the actuals and not perceived notions.

1) Be a good listener. 2) Avoid one way communication only, welcome suggestions and feedback’s from your team. 3) Address team concerns with calmness and clarity. 4) Have fun with your team, let them know that you are also a very good buddy but we all have responsibilities so we need to work and achieve our goals. 5) Always back them and be their support.

Building a custom agreement with clear expectations, signed by both mentor and mentee, sets the stage for a successful mentoring journey. Additionally, encouraging mentees to share pressing matters at the start of each session fosters flexibility and ensures tailored support. Beyond this, maintain open communication, be approachable, and guide discussions toward actionable solutions. Flexibility, trust, and responsiveness are the secret sauce for a thriving mentorship relationship.

I find this one to be a bit tricky - I prefer to ask the mentee what their expectations are and see if I can align around them. I feel that sometimes going too deep into discussing expectations that it feels to 'formal' and moves the relationship away from be candid and authentic. By listening to the mentee and aligning on expectation through their voice it helps ensure we are on the same page and they feel part of the relationship. Now, this does not mean we shouldn't ensure we agree on the goals of the relationship or the way we will work together - just want it to be more of a natural conversation than a list of things we need to agree on.

La responsabilidad con las nuevas generaciones incluye el proporcionar una visión de realidad y un panorama de las recompensas que llegan con el esfuerzo. contrario a pensar en un balance facilitador del camino, la honestidad al momento de trabajar con las expectativas debe fundamentarse en tiempos y formas, la predictibilidad de cumplir por cumplir se debe descartar. Expectativas basadas en competencias, y retos de esfuerzos para logros superados en un plano de tiempo claro. Ser motivador de cómo se pueden dar los escenarios y como se puede ir construyendo por bloques un éxito escalable y sostenido, no mentir, no forzar, no engañar, si motivar, si proponer, si retar la evolución de las capacidades

Creating a customized agreement that includes clear expectations of you (as the mentor) and of the mentee that you both sign, is helpful in creating a positive and productive mentoring relationship. It is helpful to let the mentee know that at the beginning of each session together if there is something that has come up since the last mentoring session that they would really like to share and get my input on is helpful as it ensures you are flexible and meet the mentee where they are and provide them with the support they need.

When mentees do well, be real about it. If your group vibes with celebrating together, awesome. Even tiny victories matter, and acknowledging them not only makes people happy but also creates a culture where success is appreciated. Keep it simple, keep it genuine, and enjoy the good moments.

It’s important to make time and effort to acknowledge and celebrate big and small mentee wins for several reasons including being a champion (of), validation, motivation, communication, appreciation, reflection, and connection. #mentoring

Indudablemente el éxito es el motivo más importante en la mente de todos cuando estamos persiguiendo una meta, el reconocimiento oportuno y sincero debe estar acompañado del plan para el logro del siguiente nivel, pero sin olvidar el sostenimiento del logro. Ser agradecido con el logro de las personas que se permiten guiar es fundamental para enriquecer su desarrollo y orientar una dinámica de sostenibilidad y escalabilidad de productos y metas logradas.

Most of the success celebrations for numerous reasons not taken seriously. Be authentic and genuine on informing, celebrating the success. If the environment supports on the group that’s even better. Acknowledge and appreciate them. Few things will feel like small, but enjoyment what they will have is huge.

Please acknowledge the little success, even with a text or an email saying thanks or a job well done. Those two seconds to recognize your mentee will speak volumes.

To build rapport and trust with a mentee it is important to listen actively to their wants and needs and make a personal connection. It is always important to remain respectful and do not be dismissive of their ideas or concerns. Be there for your mentee and follow through on your commitments so they know they can depend on you. I have found that many mentees don't see their full potential so I try to push them out of their comfort zone in small steps so they can become more confident and reach heights they didn't expect (especially true for new grads).

I always find it rewarding to speak frankly about career path when I am mentoring someone, especially someone early in their career. It is important that someone understands honing your craft is the foundation of expertise. Building a network is also extremely important. Opportunity sits between experience and your credibility (a little luck helps as well).

Inicialmente debemos establecer el porqué de los objetivos propuestos y el marco con el cual se debe cumplir, en tiempo y forma. La motivación de la ejecución libre debe ser responsable estableciendo precisamente las reglas, en un inicio es importante solicitar el cumplimiento en cabalidad al modelo solicitado, una vez logrado, solo establecer tiempos y calidad esperada, siempre con la claridad del valor que se genera cuando se cumple con las reglas de medición propuestas.

When conversations get tough, mentors need to gather their presence of mind to ensure they don't cross boundaries into becoming an approver, but remain a sounding board that the mentee can tap into according to the mentoring agreement. If the mentee feels they want to explore more with the mentor, that needs to come from them. The mentor can communicate that they're open to exploring that territory more, but they should always keep in mind the relative seniority imbalance; always ensuring the conversations and time together remain productive and suitable to the experience of the mentee.

The importance of complimentary Life and Career Plans… I always start the mentoring process by asking the mentee to draw up their Career Plan and a complimentary Life plan. Career plan’s are self explanatory but the life plan includes their ambitions and desires outside of work - travel plans, family plans, their partners / spouses ambitions etc. It is essential to help the mentee coordinate these two plans as each affects the other. For example discussions about overseas assignments have to dovetail with family issues such as children’s college / schooling and critical exams, their partners career plans etc. Making complimentary life and career plans results in happier employees with higher job satisfaction and higher performance.

I attended a very insightful round table conversation around Mentoring and having mentees and some notes I made that resulted in being very helpful were: Demonstrate attentive listening (verbal+nonverbal) Guide them in embracing vulnerability Direct attention to areas of potential growth Establish a safe and open environment Initiate openness by sharing your personal shortcomings and failures Offer insights from an external perspective Acknowledge their feelings without passing judgment Ensure commitment to confidentiality Utilize storytelling in coaching them Define coaching by asking how coachable they think they are Engage in regular conversations on spontaneous topics Boost their confidence by initiating sentences with "tell me more"

Whenever I had a young lad as an intern, I would take him from our office to nearby Union Station in DC and treat him to getting his shoes shined. Young people these days have no idea of style. They dress like they are still in school with hoodies and jeans. I always impressed upon my young charges that if they wanted to be taken seriously they needed to "dress for success." This crap about it being about what is "inside" is most important has resulted in several generations of slobs. And being a slob is no way to show your boss what you are "really" like. I will never forget one instance where I took an intern for a shoe shine and he asked if he ever would have to shine them again. Kids these days.

- Build sincerity and care 💟 in the relationship. - Build an attitude of mutual benefit "success of mentee is mentor's success", drive this with clear mutual goals/outcomes🏅, follow ups and share failures 😕and success 🤩 - Don't mentor just to check a box ✔️or support a company initiative but do it because you love ❤️ to give back and enjoy seeing others succeed 🙌 - Don't be a mentee just to build a superficial network 🛜 and looking for your next role 👨✈️ but do it because you want to improve your own personal brand 🧬, unlock 🔐leadership or technical skills and always be open to mentor others 🙋🏽as it's a two-way street.

✴️Connect to live Purpose 1. Connect at human level 🔸️To build a relationship not complete a transaction! The mentee can distinguish the difference! 2. Authenticity comes from living one's purpose 🔸️Mine is to "make immediate and multiplier impact to use neuroscience to transform how to lead self and others" 3. It's all about the mentee not about me 🔸️When you remember the focus, the mentee will feel the ❤️ 🔸️It's all about what the mentee needs and not the other way 4. Thank the mentee for the privilege of being invited to help