What can you learn by being a mentor?

You can master 3 soft skills as a mentor giving advice while supporting mentees to make their own conclusion:

1. Storytelling. Sharing a story about your success, failure, and decision-making (or someone else’s) stimulates mentee thinking without directly telling them what to do.
2. Asking open-ended questions, e.g. “How did you feel about the presentation you gave?” not “are you happy about your presentation”. The elaboration gives you more context and helps you connect better with the mentee.
3. Active listening. Let’s say your mentee wants to use a less rigorous research method thinking it’d be easier. Say “I understand you want to use X method because it’d be easier.” By repeating, they “hear it aloud” and the mentee usually starts deliberating the pros/cons.

Soft skills like these help mentors be a more helpful communicator!

SEE ALSO:

How to engage mentors?

What to expect of a mentor vs. a coach?

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