1 Setting goals and objectives
One of the first things your mentor will ask you about is your goals – both for your career and the relationship. The discussions you then have will enable you to set objectives and measure progress towards those goals.
So, it can be well worth spending some time thinking about goals before you meet for the first time. They could be goals for the mentoring relationship itself, such as ideas about how often you’d like to meet and for how long, and career goals you want to discuss.
Bright (2023) lists some broad topics for discussion with your mentor, including:
- career planning and development
- networking and relationship building
- conflict resolution and problem solving
- workplace culture and dynamics.
So, what career goals could a mentor help you with?
Activity 1 Identifying your career goals
Try to answer the following question in 30 seconds.
What are your three most important career goals right now?
Comment
Life coach and hypnotherapist Bennie Louw (no date) explains his ‘Quick List method’ as follows:
What we have found is that when you only have 30 seconds to write your three most important goals, your answers will be as accurate as if you had 30 minutes or three hours. Your subconscious mind seems to go into a form of “hyper-drive” and your three most important goals will pop out of your head and onto the paper, often to the surprise of the person doing the exercise.
What did you come up with? Were your goals short, medium or long term?
In career terms, Rowan (2011) suggests short term = 6–12 months, medium term = 1–3 years and long term = 3–7 years.
As you learn more about mentoring and coaching throughout this course, you’ll be in a better position to identify whether you need a mentor or a coach to help you to achieve the goals you have identified. For example, a mentor might be in a stronger position to facilitate profile raising or skills development in your workplace. A career coach might be a better choice if you know you need to change job or career, but don’t know where to start.
In a career context you could have many different goals, ranging from raising your profile in the workplace to developing your skills in a specific area or even finding a new job. Your mentor will work with you to break your main goals into smaller, more manageable ones. Running a marathon might be a useful analogy. The marathon is the main goal and the smaller ones that will get you there might include: buying the right equipment; joining a running club; planning a training programme and implementing it; running a half marathon, etc.
You’ve already learned about the importance of asking thought-provoking questions in a mentoring or coaching relationship, so it will be helpful to think about some key questions you’d like to ask your mentor. Bright (2023) suggests 33 possible questions, including:
Are there certain things I should be doing so that I can learn skills that will help me prepare for my own career?
What’s one thing you wish someone had told you when you were at the career stage I am currently?
If you were me, how would you have approached X situation?
Who are the people I need to align with in this organization to achieve success?
In the next section, you’ll look at how a mentor might structure your discussions in order to support you in achieving your goals.