5 Ways to Ask Your Mentee for Feedback 📣
Authentic mentoring relationships are built on receiving and giving feedback. The intention behind feedback is to ensure the mentee is receiving what they need to reach their development goals. As a mentor, you may not have thought about being the recipient, rather than the provider of feedback. Yet, most mentors want to know if the mentee is finding value in the help they’re giving.
Many mentees have insight they don’t share with their mentors such as: if the mentor talks too much or doesn’t listen, if they aren’t available enough or if they jump in to solve all the mentee’s problems, etc. Most mentees assume you’re a mentor because of your expertise, knowledge, experience or some other virtue. Nobody wants to share critical feedback with someone who’s already a company rockstar!
So how do you receive information on how you’re doing as a mentor?
Ask. Ask. and Ask again!
Make asking for feedback a common practice in your regular conversations. You may not receive a lot early on. Keep asking! Eventually, your mentee will begin giving you their honest reactions. The more you listen, the more she/he will share.
Make it easier for your mentee to be candid by asking for specifics. Here are 5 ways to ask for their insight and feedback:
- “What might be one thing I can do more of to support you.”
- “What’s something could I start doing that may be beneficial to your development?”
- “How about something I should do less of? Or stop doing?”
- “What am I doing that’s working well, so I should continue doing it?”
- “I sometimes wonder if I fall into advice-giving-mode too often. What are your thoughts?”
During your next mentoring meeting, try asking your mentee for their feedback. Be open to receiving this insight from him/her. Also, consider taking a moment to express appreciation for your partnership and/or a characteristic about them you find especially inspiring. You may discover this dialog is exactly what the two of you need to make your mentoring relationship even stronger.