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Skills Needed for Mentoring
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Zachary (2000) pointed out that mentors, in addition to their ability and experience, need to be familiar with specific process skills that can help the mentoring process.
Communication Skills:
- Asking questions that will help mentees to reflect on and articulate their own thinking, e.g. “Could you tell me a bit more about what you mean by...?”
- Reformulating statements help mentors to clarify their own understanding and encourage mentees to reflect on what they articulated, e.g. “I think what I heard you saying was...” or “My understanding is...”
- Summarising helps to remind the mentoring partners of what happened and allows both parties to check out assumptions in the process, e.g. “As a result, I feel we have achieved...”
- Listening for silence – Silence can show boredom, confusion, discomfort, or embarrassment. On the other hand, some individuals just need time out to think quietly.
- Providing feedback that is authentic and suggests future action, e.g. “I like the way you... next time you might try...”