CARE Capability Building
Mentoring Guide
Contents
• Overview of Effective Mentoring Practices
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Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Components of an Effective Mentoring Relationship
Characteristics of an Effective Mentor
Build an Effective Supportive Role as Mentor
• Effective Mentoring Techniques
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Active Listening in Communication
Delivering Effective Feedback
Effective Questioning Techniques
Managing the Mentoring Relationship
Positive Ends to New Beginnings
• Mentoring Program Activities
– Create a Mentoring Agreement
– Using the Mentoring Curriculum
– Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships
• Recommended Reading on Mentoring
Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Mentoring provides advantages to everyone involved if the time and commitment are given by
all parties from the start of the mentoring program.
Benefits for
mentors
Benefits for
mentees
Benefits for
organizations
• Gain respect from
mentee, colleagues,
supervisors for mentoring
commitment
• Benefit to own work from
hearing mentee’s ideas
through discussions
• Renew enthusiasm for
work through reward of
motivating another
person to succeed
• Access value chainspecific knowledge
through instruction,
individualized
professional development
• Acquire role-modelling of
market facilitation skills
and behaviors
• Understands professional
development
opportunities and sets
goals
• Expand organisational
communication and
understanding: both
national and international
communications improve
• Improve recruitment and
retention of qualified
employees
• Build skilled employees to
fill positions through
promotion within the
organization
Components of an effective mentoring
relationship
Formal mentoring usually involves specific goals in terms of professional development.
With these types of relationships, it is useful to set up goals and timeframes for meeting
these goals. A formal mentoring relationship can have either a formal written or verbal
agreement, depending on the complexity of the established goals
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Share information, knowledge, experiences and wisdom
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Help mentees set goals, discover talents, interests and define and attain their goals
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Be a role model for your mentee, share stories of your achievements and failures /
challenges
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Ask powerful questions to facilitate the mentee’s discovery and learning process,
and advance your own learning and development as a mentor
Provide valuable opportunities by facilitating networking and increasing contacts
Challenge, stimulate curiosity and build confidence by presenting new
opportunities, ideas and challenges
Support mentees by encouraging their growth and achievement by providing an open
and supportive environment
Characteristics of an effective mentor
As a mentor, you can use the skills that you have to become very effective in your role. During
the program you will demonstrate your knowledge of CARE and Market Engagement,
excellent interpersonal skills, influence and respect and commitment.
Knowledge of CARE
and Market
Engagement
Excellent interpersonal
skills
Influence and respect
Commitment
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Understands CARE and its strategic goals
Provides guidance on making progress in value chain initiatives
Provides career development advice and support
Encourages mentee to set and achieve career goals
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Demonstrates excellent communication skills
Gives clear instructions, demonstrations, and role-modeling
Listens actively at all times to understand mentee’s needs / strengths
Stimulates mentee’s development through guidance and questioning
• Commands influence, respect and credibility within CARE and the
wider development field
• Introduces mentee to professional networking opportunities
• Acts as an advocate for the mentee
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Involves him/herself in mentee’s (career) life with genuine interest
Take risks to provide career guidance and key decisions
Makes time for mentoring among other work commitments
Relates to the mentee on a personal and professional level
Build an effective supportive role as mentor
Mentors need to be able to provide support to mentee as necessary to address challenges,
keep professional goals and work on track. It will also be important to help mentees regain
confidence when experiencing personal or professional problems, by using support
strategies with mentees. Further support tools are detailed in the next section of this pack.
Establish Trust
Provide Encouragement
• Tell your own story to build a relationship with your
mentee on a personal and professional level
• Ask open-ended questions to help conversation flow
and find out more about your mentee
• Find common ground to help build strong
foundations for your working relationship
• Encourage your mentee when she / he comes to you
with a challenge
• Listen without judging to provide a safe environment
for your mentee to share experiences with you
• Demonstrate confidence and respect for your
mentee to build confidence
• Be reasonable about your expectations of your
mentee
Take a Genuine Interest
Handle Personal Problems
• Show genuine interest in your discussions with your
mentee
• Practise empathising with your mentee to
understand his / her situation, feelings and motives.
• Demonstrate appropriate affection and warmth
towards your mentee
• Listen without interrupting and be patient
• Ask questions to help your mentee clarify issues they
are experiencing
• Support your mentee to list the options available
and think them through
• Guide your mentee to identify the best solution for
him / her, letting the mentee make those decisions
• Provide (appropriate) emotional support
Contents
• Overview of Effective Mentoring Practices
–
–
–
–
Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Components of an Effective Mentoring Relationship
Characteristics of an Effective Mentor
Build an Effective Supportive Role as Mentor
• Effective Mentoring Techniques
–
–
–
–
–
Active Listening in Communication
Delivering Effective Feedback
Effective Questioning Techniques
Managing the Mentoring Relationship
Positive Ends to New Beginnings
• Mentoring Program Activities
– Create a Mentoring Agreement
– Using the Mentoring Curriculum
– Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships
• Recommended Reading on Mentoring
Active Listening in Communication
Active listening promotes understanding. In a mentoring relationship, it's essential that the
mentor understand as much as possible about the mentee. Active listening involves giving the
mentee your full attention, being patient and seeking understanding. Use these checklists to
support your ability to listen actively when you are mentoring.
Give the mentee your
full attention
Be patient
Seek Understanding
Switch off your phone,
Skype, email during meetings
Allow no interruptions
Demonstrate interest with
verbal cues to encourage
mentee to speak [and body
language in face-to-face
meetings]
Spend the full time allocated
for the meeting with mentee
Use empathy to engage your
mentee
Respond to mentee’s (spoken
or implied) requests for help
Listen quietly whilst your
mentor is speaking
Avoid formulating a response
whilst your mentee is talking
Avoid interrupting whilst
your mentee is talking
Control your emotional
reactions and responses
Allow periods of silence to
enable reflection on
questions or discussion
points
Listen first, consider and
form opinions afterwards
Ask brief questions to clarify
a point
Paraphrase your mentee’s
words by repeating them in
your own words
Summarize points to validate
your understanding
Seek the overall message
(avoid becoming diverted by
semantics)
Respond to body language /
verbal cues which may
indicate you need to ask
questions to explore further
Delivering Effective Feedback
Providing feedback improves performance and helps to build skills. Effective feedback
from mentors enables mentees to improve their professional skills, through meeting
frequently, providing information and guidance (not advice) and feeding back in a clear,
approachable way.
Meet frequently
Make yourself available to
your mentee
Feedback successes and
problems to guide your
mentee
Avoid undermining your
relationship with your
mentee caused by avoiding
difficult conversations
Value time with your mentee
as a time for mutual learning
and professional growth
Provide information
and guidance
Avoid telling the mentee
what to do
Engage your mentee with
exploring more than one
possible solution to a
problem
Warn your mentee about
potential negative outcomes
to solutions / actions
Allow your mentee to take
risks and experience
challenges and even failure
as part of his / her learning
process
Feedback clearly in an
approachable way
Praise your mentee for
successes
Address issues directly and
honestly but tactfully
Make your points as clear
and easy to decipher as
possible
Encourage your mentee to
ask about anything that is
unclear
Confront (tactically) your
mentee to address
ineffective work habits or
behaviours
Effective Questioning Techniques
Asking effective questions can inspire your mentees to think in innovative ways.
Questions can guide mentees to make better decisions, whilst discovering ways to develop
themselves professionally themselves. Use open ended questions, and enable your
mentees to progress through the questions that you ask, with these checklists for support.
Ask open-ended
questions
Use opening
statements
Stimulate more detail
and emotion in your
mentee’s responses
Offer the chance for
your mentee to
explain his / her point
of view
Suggest that there is
no right or wrong
answer with your
questions
Set a direction for the
conversation
Use a provocative
question to start the
mentee thinking
Invite the mentee to
consider new
possibilities and
contemplate things in
a different way (e.g.
how might
technology change
value chain programs
in 5 years’ time?)
Avoid defensive
responses
Avoid ‘why’
questions which can
elicit a defensive
response (E.g.
replace why did you
organize it like that?
With how effective
do you feel the
organization was?”
Ask rhetorical
questions rarely as
these can be
patronising or
insulting
Avoid dead-end
questions
Avoid closed
questions (e.g.
eliciting the answer
‘yes’ or ‘no’) as this
will stall conversation
and minimize your
interaction
Avoid questions that
are too complex as
they can derail a
conversation
(consider asking such
a question as a
‘takeaway’)
Managing the Mentoring Relationship
Mentoring can involve challenges as well as rewards. Use these checklists as part of
learning to negotiate occasional difficult situations or unexpected turns caused by unrealistic
expectations, lack of serious commitment from the mentee, insufficient time or rumor /
jealousy.
Unrealistic
expectations
A lack of
commitment
Insufficient time
Develop a mutually
agreed set of goals
and expectations
(e.g. time together,
benchmarks for
progress)
Renegotiate original
expectations
regularly
(As needed) reassess
the mentoring
relationship and
adjust for
unexpected changes
Formalize
involvement in the
mentoring process by
including mentoring
commitment in
performance
management process
Ask your mentee to
evaluate the
relationship to
receive 360°
feedback on your
effectiveness as
mentor
Adapt your schedule
(once committed to
being a mentor) to
set aside enough
time for your mentee
Consider identifying a
new mentor if you
schedule changes
and you cannot
commit the time
Delegate tasks
(where appropriate
and helpful) to your
mentee
Rumors and
jealousy
Maintain
professionalism at all
times
Strike a balance
between publicising
the mentoring
program and
‘flaunting’ the special
status of mentees
Suggest mentees
share learnings with
their peers and direct
reports
Positive Ends to New Beginnings
End your mentoring relationship in a positive way to reinforce positively the efforts of both
mentee and mentor, regardless of challenges experienced during the mentoring program.
Use these checklists to support you to end the mentoring relationship effectively.
Thank participants
Bestow kudos
Avoid any potential feelings
of inadequacy in mentees by
thanking the mentee for his /
her contribution to the
relationship
Express encouragement for
them for the future
Demonstrate the value you
attached to the mentoring
relationships
Discuss the mentee’s
successes and talk through
strategies to build on
Use encouragement to
motivate your mentee to use
new skills and tools in their
ongoing work
The principle of a no
fault conclusion
Be aware from the outset
that either mentee or
mentor can end the
relationship (if necessary)
without harmful
consequences
Conclude any formal
contracts as they began
Contents
• Overview of Effective Mentoring Practices
–
–
–
–
Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Components of an Effective Mentoring Relationship
Characteristics of an Effective Mentor
Build an Effective Supportive Role as Mentor
• Effective Mentoring Techniques
–
–
–
–
–
Active Listening in Communication
Delivering Effective Feedback
Effective Questioning Techniques
Managing the Mentoring Relationship
Positive Ends to New Beginnings
• Mentoring Program Activities
– Create a Mentoring Agreement
– Using the Mentoring Curriculum
– Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships
• Recommended Reading on Mentoring
Create a Mentoring Agreement
During launch week, meet with your mentee and develop a formal mentoring agreement.
Documenting your goals and expectations will clarify the direction and scope of your
mentoring relationship.
Mentoring Agreement:
Overall goals for relationship
Expectations of how to work
together to achieve these goals
Meeting times (frequency,
duration)
How to record and monitor
progress
Confidentiality agreement
Signature of mentee
Signature of mentor
Reference document:
Mentoring Agreement
Using the Mentoring Curriculum
Mentors and mentees will use the mentoring curriculum to focus learning every month on
a new module. As a mentor, you will need to be familiar with the content of the modules to
drive your interactions with you mentee, and prepare adequately for these interactions.
This section will support you with guidelines on:
How to use the curriculum when mentoring via
email
How to use the curriculum to provide additional
context to the mentee’s journal questions
How to use the curriculum to prepare for the
monthly mentoring call
How to use the curriculum in the quarterly forum
Conduct mentoring via weekly emails (1 of 2)
Mentee’s Email to Mentor
Reference document:
Mentoring Email Template
Quick
Update
The mentee will:
• Summarize work completed during the week and share stories
• Reflect on progress made against the two targets identified with mentor the previous
week
Discussion
Points
The mentee will:
• Identify two topics (one or more from the module, optionally one from his / her value
chain work)
Discussion
Point one:
For both discussion points the mentee will:
• Reflect on current familiarity with this area in own work
• Hypothesise about how to apply learning to current work
• Discuss any current reading / research relating to this topic
Discussion
Point two
Follow Up:
The mentee will:
• Ask the mentor for guidance / further information relating to these discussion points
• Ask the mentor for additional tools, templates, examples
Target
Setting
The mentee will:
• Identify two target areas to focus on for next week (at least one relating to the
module) based on your assessment of your opportunities for development
Conduct mentoring via weekly emails (2 of 2)
Mentor’s Email to Mentee
Reference document:
Mentoring Email Template
Quick
Update
The mentor will:
• Summarize own work completed during the week and share stories
Discussion
Points
The mentor will:
• Address the two discussion points explored by in the mentee’s email, share examples
from own practice and respond to any requests for guidance, templates, tools etc.
Discussion
Point one:
For both discussion points the mentor will:
• Give a short description of own professional experiences relating to the discussion
point
• Respond to mentee’s comments / hypotheses on the discussion point
• Offer guidance and tools / templates as appropriate
Discussion
Point two
Follow Up:
The mentor will:
• Suggest related topics for further reflection
• Key reading or professionals who are SMEs in this area for the mentee to engage with
Target
Setting
The mentor will:
• Validate the two targets identified by the mentee for focus next week and finalise
these to agree them (to ensure that they are relevant / supportive to the mentee)
Review the Mentee Journal
Mentees will use the mentee journal to reflect and answer questions that are included
throughout the mentoring module. The journal provides a safe environment for the mentee
to document current learning, challenges and issues to share with his or her mentor.
Reference document:
Mentee Journal
Mentee’s Responsibilities:
Reflect upon past and current value chain work to
provide examples in your answers
Summarize your answers in two to three
paragraphs, highlighting examples, learning and
challenges
Send completed answers to the mentor in
preparation for the monthly call
Mentor’s Responsibilities:
 Review the mentee’s journal prior to the monthly
call
 Be prepared to share your feedback and guidance
on their answers
Prepare for the Mentoring Call
The monthly mentoring call will enable further discussion between the mentor and mentee
on learning that has occurred throughout the month via email communications. Follow the steps
below as you prepare and conduct the mentoring calls at the end of the month.
Mentor’s preparation for the Mentoring Call:
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Read the module your mentee is working through at the beginning of the month, so that you are
familiar with the content.
Read the mentee’s journal to understand their answers to the mentoring module questions.
Reflect on the relevance of the module content in relation to your mentee’s value chain work
In your mentoring email one week prior to the call, agree targets for next week: you will discuss
these in your call
Prepare for the mentoring call any examples you have, relevant to the previous week’s discussion
points to share with the mentee. (Also prepare any relevant tools / templates)
Read the reflection questions the mentee has been asked to complete for this month, and
formulate a list of questions you can use to stimulate the flow of conversation on the two
discussion points. Use the mentoring techniques (in this pack) to support you.
Key Monthly Activities for Mentee and Mentor
Represent Activities for Module 1
Represent Activities for Module 2
Agenda for Monthly Mentoring call
Mentoring Call Agenda
Introduction
(5-10 mins)
• Introduce the call with an update about your week, and share personal or professional anecdotes to
build common ground and strengthen your working relationship.
• Validate the agenda for the call: check whether the discussion points are still appropriate as far as
the mentee is concerned.
Discussion
Points
(20 mins each)
Discussion point one:
• Use your prepared questions to stimulate the discussion. Listen to your mentee’s experiences and
questions, and share examples.
• Keep the conversation reflection oriented so that you discuss options for challenges, and create
actions for the mentee (and yourself).
• Keep to the time to allow for both topics to be covered during the meeting
Discussion point two:
• As above (20 minutes) NB the above structure is recommended, but depending on external factors
you many want to be flexible to meet your mentee’s needs)
Follow Up (5
mins)
• Summarizing the outcomes and actions from the call
• Acknowledging your mentee’s success stories to create a sense of accomplishment.
• Ask your mentee to identify two targets from your discussion to focus on for next week, and agree
these together.
Target Setting
(5 mins)
The mentor will:
• Ask your mentee to identify two targets from your discussion to focus on for next week, and agree
these together.
Mentor Quarterly Forum
Suggested Agenda for Quarterly Forum
Overview
The Mentoring Program Coordinator will facilitate these calls
• Introductions (if necessary)
Current
Mentoring
Updates
Mentors take it in turns to:
• Provide overview of the value chain program of their mentee , its current stage of
implementation and the challenges
Round
Table
• Mentoring Program Coordinator leads discussion of success stories and challenges of
mentoring.
Module
Focus
One Mentor (per forum):
• Discusses the module they have worked with their mentor on that month
• Explains areas where mentee needed support and guidance, and how they provided
the mentee with support
• Invites other mentors to share their experiences from this or other modules
Actions
The Mentoring Program Coordinator summarises actions from the meeting (e.g. sharing
of tools, templates, links to latest reading on mentoring)
Mentee Quarterly Forum
Suggested Agenda for Quarterly Forum
Overview
• The forum will be hosted by one of the countries involved in the program, e.g. Ethiopia.
The mentee(s) from this country will facilitate the call and agenda. The schedule for
who will host will be determined during the Launch Week.
• Mentees introduce themselves, and give 1-2 sentence summary of current work
Current
Work
Updates
The mentees will:
• Take turns to share their current value chain work experiences
• Share the challenges that they are facing
• Share how the plan to overcome these challenges
Round
Table
• Open discussion where mentees share suggestions from own experiences that can help
to address these challenges (raised in ‘current work’ updates)
Module
Focus
One mentee will:
• Give an overview of the module they’ve been studying
• Discuss how the module has supported his / her work
• Invite other mentees to share experiences from this specific module (to build skills of
all mentees)
Project
Focus
One mentee will:
• Give an overview of their value chain project as a whole
• Invite other mentees to share experiences relevant to the challenges / specifics of this
project
Mentee / Mentor Evaluation
To measure the effectiveness of the mentoring relationship, both mentee and mentor will
complete an evaluation form at three intervals during the mentoring program. This will enable
mentors and mentees to measure progress and address challenges as they occur.
Mentoring Evaluation
Separate forms for mentee and mentor
Opportunities to:
 Reflect on progress made
Highlight challenges
Target areas to improve the
relationship
Provide feedback on the program as a
whole
Make continuous improvements to the
mentoring program
Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships
Occasionally mentoring relationships do not work, and it will then be appropriate for the mentee
or mentor to end the relationship. Understand these five indicators that a mentoring
relationship is not working. Contact the Mentoring Program Coordinator to determine the
appropriate resolution if this occurs in your relationship.c
Mentor not meeting
expectations
• Make it clear from the outset that either party can end the
relationship if the agreed goals and expectations are not being
delivered.
Dependent mentees
• The mentee cannot learn to act independently of the mentee (i.e. is
unable to make decisions on her / his own, or does not take any
action if the mentor refuses to make decisions for him / her).
Personality conflicts
• A mentee and mentor do not get along, meaning meetings are
combative and unproductive. Avoid this by becoming acquainted
before agreeing to mentor a mentee and ensure personalities match.
Incompatible work
habits
• The working habits of mentee and mentor differ so completely that
they are incompatible and mentoring cannot take place. There is little
chance of a rewarding, mutually beneficial relationship.
Mentees outgrowing
mentors
• The mentee has learned all he / she can from the mentor. Support
the mentee to find a new mentor suited to developing his / her skills
further.
Contents
• Overview of Effective Mentoring Practices
–
–
–
–
Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Components of an Effective Mentoring Relationship
Characteristics of an Effective Mentor
Build an Effective Supportive Role as Mentor
• Effective Mentoring Techniques
–
–
–
–
–
Active Listening in Communication
Delivering Effective Feedback
Effective Questioning Techniques
Managing the Mentoring Relationship
Positive Ends to New Beginnings
• Mentoring Program Activities
– Create a Mentoring Agreement
– Using the Mentoring Curriculum
– Ending Ineffective Mentoring Relationships
• Recommended Reading on Mentoring
Recommended Reading on Mentoring
•
Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success: Sheila
Wellington and Betty Spence
•
Managers and Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning: Chip R. Bell
•
Hard Won Wisdom: More Than 50 Extraordinary Women Mentor You to Find SelfAwareness, Perspective and Balance: Fawn Germer
•
The New Managerial Mentor: Becoming a Learning Leader to Build Communities of
Purpose: Patricia J. Fritts
•
Co-active Coaching: new Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life:
Laura Whitworth, Henry House, Phil Sandahl, Henry Kimsey-House