Misconceptions about mentorship Flashcards
What is a top 3 misconception about mentorship?
The main misconception I think is that people’s stories about mentorship are often reframed through hindsight and spoken of in sort of idealized or formal terms, which can make mentorship seem harder to access or kind of intimidating to enter into. I often wonder when someone describes a mentor/mentee from the past, whether they actually would have described the person that way at the time.
A lot of the time, peer mentorship is underrated. Any time there is a differential of experience, there’s an opportunity for mentorship. While you may be able to mentor a person in one area, they actually may be able to mentor you in another. If you’re the more experienced person, you need to learn how to offer information and advice sensitively so that you’re not forcing it and so that it meets their needs. On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities where someone looking for mentorship, but the more experienced person is not realizing the opportunity and therefore not really being open. The biggest misconception is that many opportunities are hidden - it’s not that often that people explicitly ask, “will you be my mentor?”.
What is the biggest mistake a mentor can make?
Check your assumptions at the door. Don’t assume you know exactly where a mentee is coming from because you’ve supposedly ‘been there before’. In our age when we’re undergoing substantial social and technological change, even with just a few more years’ experience than your mentee, I can guarantee you they’re facing new and different obstacles and questions that you never imagined at the time. 10 years ago, most dads in entry-level positions were not yet asking (out loud -) how they could get some flexibility with work to be able to help their kids on a daily basis, and now I hear this sort of discussion all the time. And the list goes on, of course when it comes to changing trends in technology. I’m sure the more senior people in the room didn’t foresee quite how differentiated our job titles would all become - you’d simply be say, an engineer or a marketer. Now you can be a sales engineer, a user experience designer or a conversion marketer.
Anyway if you pay attention, this is actually one big way the relationship can benefit the mentor - learning about the mentee’s experiences as they ask these questions and attempt to overcome them. It may even inspire you to ask the same questions of yourself. You are both there to benefit from each other’s trials.
