TEAM LEADER MUST BE A MENTOR
Good mentoring relationships can be richly rewarding, not only for the person being mentored, but for the mentor too. Mentors can, among other things, provide exceptional learning experiences for their PSAs, in doing so, expand their awareness, insight and perspective.
1. Be credible
The best mentors must have credibility in, and have personally achieved success in, the area where PSAs affiliates looking for support. For this reason, most people will seek the guidance of different mentors to help them develop specific skills or qualities, or to help them reach important decisions. Being credible doesn't mean that you need to have all the answers. The best answers for your mentee will come from their own thinking, with the help of your wisdom to support them.
2. Be a positive role model
Good mentors are respected by their PSAs. A serious PSAs can learn a lot from their leader simply by watching how their leader behaves in any particular situation. Good mentors will also look out for experiences, or even create situations in which affiliates under your supervision can become involved to learn new things, for example, providing a look behind the scenes or a glimpse at how other affiliates live or do things.
3. Be genuinely interested in your PSAs as an individual
A relationship is a very personal one, which is often very important to both sides, so, as a leader, you need to get to know your role personally, about their hopes and dreams, so you can help them in a way that meets their personal best interest. In the same way, a manager is also not the best person to mentor someone on their team, as they'll often have a conflict of interest to contend with, between what's in the best interest of each individual and what's in the best interest of their team.
4. Share your experiences and insights
In doing so, choose stories that you feel are appropriate and helpful, but do so in a neutral way, without any attachment to how your PSAs will use this learning. Be open to sharing your mistakes and failures too, as these are often where our biggest lessons are learned. It will also help your PSAs be aware that challenges will arise, and the way you dealt with the situation might also help them gain insight about how to build resilience.
5. Ask open questions
Asking your PSAs open questions will help you as a leader to identify their real needs, values and passions. It's also a great way to get your PSAs to think through situations themselves and draw out the consequences of the various choices or courses of action they can take. Team Leader must be open suggestions and techniques to your PSAs.
6. Provide a fresh perspective
One of the benefits of working with a leader is that a good leader will often provide their PSAs with a fresh perspective on an issue. A good mentor will often have the clarity of distance from an issue or problem that's needed to provide objective feedback to their PSAs. Giving unwelcome feedback can be detrimental to any mentoring relationship. Instead, explain what you'd like to talk about first and highlight the benefits of doing this.
7. Acknowledge achievements
Highlight for your PSAs any achievements they might have forgotten, to help build their confidence. Remember to celebrate their successes on your mentoring journey too.
8. Offer your advice, but only if your PSAs asks for it
It can be very tempting for a leader to just jump in and offer advice before they actually asked for it, especially when you've dealt with a similar situation yourself. Being a sounding board for your PSAs, allowing them to discuss the situation with you, then helping them to think through the situation by asking them questions to draw out the consequences of various actions, is always more empowering for a mentee than advising them what to do. It helps them work through the issue and come to their own conclusions. By doing so, you ultimately help them to learn to think through issues themselves and trust their own judgement, both valuable life skills.
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TEAM LEADER MUST BE A MENTOR
Good mentoring relationships can be richly rewarding, not only for the person being mentored, but for the mentor too. Mentors can, among other things, provide exceptional learning experiences for their PSAs, in doing so, expand their awareness, insight and perspective.
1. Be credible
The best mentors must have credibility in, and have personally achieved success in, the area where PSAs affiliates
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