Characteristics and qualities of Effective Mentors
Mentoring others may not necessary be a suitable job for everyone.
Everyone can be a mentor but not everyone can be effective since your character and the way you deal with things do play a part in your mentoring styles.
Let’s talk about some common qualities of effective mentors in general in this short article.
Communication skills
- Able to provide supportive feedback with a caring attitude that promotes active participation and thinking for mentee
Able to articulates effective practices clearly
Able to listen actively without being judgemental to the opinions and feelings of mentees
Able to speak positively and gives hope through encouragement
Able to guide mentee to their solution using effective mentoring language
Interpersonal skills
- Good rapport with others
Empathises with others
Able to maintain confidentiality in the mentoring process that leads to trust
Able to anticipate resistance from mentee towards mentoring relationship
Able to exercise sound professional judgement
Able to avoid tension in communication but resolve all issues effectively
Attitude and Character
Nurturing
Good role model to others
A strong commitment in professional development for self and others
Willingness to learn from others even if they are mentees
Willingness and passionate in sharing teaching ideas with others
A reflective practitioner
Willingness to develop and learn the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective mentor
Willingness to learn the theory about adult learners as well as the characteristics of new teachers
Respect different opinions and views
Experience and Competence
- Strong subject and pedagogical knowledge
Understand organisational needs, values, mission and vision
Well-respected by others
Able to carry out effective classroom lessons and activities with sound learning objectives and outcomes
- Able to handle different types of learning needs and abilities
In conclusion
Ultimately, the heart of a mentor is the willingness to see the development of others.
There were quite a number of my mentees who ended up in leadership position.
We should never be the ones to be jealous of our mentees’ achievement but people who are able to celebrate the success and cushion their failure to lead them to greater success.
Identify the right mentor to the right mentee is also an important process as some mentors can really guide certain types of mentees better.
There is really no one size fits all but mentoring is also a learning process.
Reference:
Smith, W. J., Howard, J. T., & Harrington, K. V. (2005). Essential Formal Mentor Characteristics and Functions in Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations from the Program Administrator’s and the Mentor’s Perspective. Public Management, 34(1), 31-58.
McCarthy, K. E. (2017, May). The Impact of New Teacher Mentoring Programs: A Mentor’s Perspective. In Global Conference on Education and Research (GLOCER 2017) (p. 123).
Mackie, L. (2016). Mentoring primary education student teachers: understandings of mentoring and perceptions of the use of formative assessment within the mentoring process.
Teague, D., & Swan, J. (2013). Enhancing the future of education by actively supporting novice teachers. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 80(1), 41.
Disclaimer: This is my personal reflection and I am not in any position to instruct anyone what they should do. I am not responsible for any action taken as a result of this post. My post can only be a reference for your further research and growth. By reading this post, you acknowledge and accept that. All images and pictures were taken from google images that are free from copyright under labelled for reuse.
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