Five ways to get the most out of mentoring

A few months into his first sales job at an FMCG firm, Shashank Prasad requested his senior to be his mentor. The mentor taught him to deal with difficult dealers. "It would have taken me long to learn these things on my own," says Prasad. Your organisation may or may not have a mentoring programme, but having a senior help you out is a big advantage. ET tells you how to get the most out of it.

BE PROACTIVE

Unless your company has a formal process, hardly anyone is going to volunteer to mentor you. The mentee needs to take the first step.

STATE YOUR OBJECTIVES

"Senior executives are busy. Get to the point fast and state the mentoring and current session objective clearly," says Nandan Savnal, MD of consulting and training firm PeopleSys.

SET SHARED RULES

The rules could be on privacy, timings, issues brought up during mentoring, documenting things, etc. "Mentors hate mentees who take their time and do not go through the agreed agenda," says Savnal.

BE CURIOUS

Mentees should ask mentors to show them how they are able to display competencies consistently, says Prashant Deo Singh, head – HR & general affairs, Panasonic India

RESPECT BOUNDARIES

Always respect the mentor’s seniority and time. "This is not a place to complain about your boss, a colleague, etc," says Savnal.