Mentor Welcome Packet

Dear Mentor,

Thank you again for agreeing to be a part of this groundbreaking program. The response has been overwhelming, and we’re very excited to have people like you on board. Below you will find program guidelines and useful tips that will help you build a strong relationship with your mentee.  

In addition, we included an article on mentoring from the Harvard Business Review that we found to be very insightful. We’ll be sharing more content like this on Facebook, Twitter and on our website (www.sbhgem.com). 

If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions or just want to say hi, feel free to shoot us an email to SBHGEM@gmail.com.

The SBH Young Professionals Committee

Stay up-to-date! Add us on Facebook (Facebook.com/SBHGEM), follow us on Twitter @SBHGEM, and Instagram @SBH_GEM, and keep a look out for our e-mails.  

Young Professionals Program Mentor Outline

  1. Our mentees are notified that you will make the initial introduction within two weeks of pairing. If you have a problem with this, please let us know ASAP.
  2. If your schedule allows for it, please try and make time to meet your mentee in person. If this isn’t possible, you may contact them over the phone. 
  3. If you are located in the city, you can ask your mentee to meet you there. 
  4. While it is the mentee’s responsibility to keep the relationship going, we suggest setting the parameters of your relationship during your initial meeting. We have found that an email or phone call every 2-3 weeks is a great way to keep in touch.  Under no circumstances are you expected to be contacting your mentee on a daily basis. 
  5. Please remember that we are always here to back you up, support you and help should you find yourself in a tough situation. This can be something as simple as answering an uncomfortable question, to offering advice on a personal matter. 
  6. At SBH confidentiality is a top priority. We can’t stress enough the importance of keeping information about your mentee confidential.   
  7. If you feel your mentee is taking advantage of the relationship in any way, please let us know so we can discuss it with them privately.  
  8. A number of our mentees have said that discussing salary can be uncomfortable. You may want to offer insight by providing them with the range of a starting salary in your field, as well as the max potential range. This will allow you to offer them perspective without sharing your personal information.  
  9. When addressing certain issues, please try to refrain from using any bias. You are not expected to make decisions for your mentee, rather to help them evaluate the different options that will help them make their own decisions. Of course, we understand that this may not always be the case, but please keep it in mind. 
  10. You are not required, nor expected, to help your mentee find a job. If they do ask for your help in this area, please have them contact us. We are working in conjunction with SBH’s Career Division, who will be able to help your mentee find and secure employment. With that being said, if you do develop a close relationship with your mentee and feel that you’d like to refer them to a potential employer, you may do so. 

The following is a list of topics you should approach with caution:

  1. Religion: Keep in mind that this is an SBH Program, and we are an Orthodox Jewish organization. Please refrain from giving advice that includes violating shabbat or kashrut. If any questions should arise please suggest that the mentee ask their rabbi. 
  2. Job Placement: SBH has a career service department full of trained professionals who are extremely talented at what they do. You are not responsible for finding your mentee a job, nor are you expected to. We cannot stress this point enough. Please feel free to recommend your mentee to the Career Division. 
  3. Marriage/Relationship/Family Issues: As a mentor, your job is to provide career advice and guidance. This may include discussing whether a particular career path would be viable while getting married/planning to have a family. If these situations come up, try and be non-committal. No one should be encouraged or discouraged to start a family because of our program. There are trained and talented social workers available at SBH for anyone that needs additional guidance. 

Mentoring Program Advice

This article was taken from the Harvard Business Review

One of my partners, Mats Lederhausen, recently shared with me a mentorship framework, first inspired by wellness guru, Deepak Chopra, that he’s evolved and used over the years. The framework is an amazingly simple-yet-powerful set of five critical questions. 

As venture capitalists and advisors, we spend significant time partnering with portfolio companies and very often find ourselves in a mentoring role. These five questions, when asked in the order presented, form an effective diagnostic tool that can provide better guidance to mentees, employees, or generally anyone with whom you are playing the role of a counselor. Additionally, they can serve as a self-diagnosis of one’s own capabilities and opportunities.

Here are the questions:

  1. What is it that you really want to be and do?
  2. What are you doing really well that is helping you get there?
  3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there?
  4. What will you do differently tomorrow to meet those challenges?
  5. How can I help / where do you need the most help?

Let’s briefly look at each question:

1. What is it that you really want to be and do? 
This question is about aspiration and purpose. The reason why someone is doing what they are doing should come out here. The question is also meant to get at the business goals and broader aspirations of an individual – someone wishing to be successful in business so that they can do more to help others, for example. The answer to question one should surface the driving passion of individuals – what is it they do or wish they could be great at doing?

2. What are you doing really well that is helping you get there? 
This question helps spotlight a core strength and the person’s ability to execute towards his/her goal. What is someone naturally good at doing? Detailed and standardized operations? Leading and motivating staff? Numbers? What is it that someone does better than the average person that can help her achieve her aspiration?

3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there? 
This is about facilitating an honest and critical assessment of the roadblocks, challenges or weaknesses in a person or company that is slowing their ability to win the game; to meet the goal from question one.

4. What will you do different tomorrow to meet those challenges? 
Questions two and three help determine whether people are spending the right time on the right things. Progress cannot be measured just by hard work. Someone may have a great work ethic, but if he is not focused on the right priorities, then “you’re making good time, but you’re lost,” as another one of my partners likes to say. People also have a tendency to practice and repeat what they are already good at doing. It is human nature to show off your best side and hide weaknesses. As a kid playing racquet sports, I remember being asked once why I kept practicing my forehand when my backhand sucked. Use this question to probe whether the person has the aptitude to change behavior. Will the person practice start practicing his backhand?

5. How can I help / where do you need the most help? 
The answers to the first four questions matched against areas where you as a mentor have particular strengths, relationships, or learning resources – should help determine how you can best help someone achieve the goal. 

These questions will help you assess where you can really help an individual or a company. Try these five critical questions the next time you are interviewing a mentee candidate, the next time you have a mentoring session, or answer them yourself as a self-diagnostic. The answers can help you or your mentees put together a sensible game plan for forward progress.

What Makes A Good Mentor

A cursory review of the literature suggests a variety of answers such as “A satisfied mentee.” “A strong sense of self”; “a good listener”; someone “offering support, encouragement and listening”; “a person who is willing to share of themselves;” “mentors try to unite the head and the heart”; “shares knowledge and wisdom and draws out the possibilities;” “it's vision, voice and vocation - building a relationship;” or “someone who can offer advice to me on issues besides academic matters.” 

However, I have found one of the best summaries:

Many people feel that being a mentor requires special skills, but mentors are simply people who have the qualities of good role models.

Mentors listen. They maintain eye contact and give mentees their full attention.

Mentors guide. Mentors are there to help their mentees find life direction, never to push them.

Mentors are practical. They give insights about keeping on task and setting goals and priorities.

Mentors educate. Mentors educate about life and their own careers.

Mentors provide insight. Mentors use their personal experience to help their mentees avoid mistakes and learn from good decisions.

Mentors are accessible. Mentors are available as a resource and a sounding board.

Mentors criticize constructively. When necessary, mentors point out areas that need improvement, always focusing on the mentee’s behavior, never his/her character.

Mentors are supportive. No matter how painful the mentee’s experience, mentors continue to encourage them to learn and improve.

Mentors are specific. Mentors give specific advice on what was done well or could be corrected, what was achieved and the benefits of various actions.

Mentors care. Mentors care about their mentees’ progress in school and career planning, as well as their personal development.

Mentors succeed. Mentors not only are successful themselves, but they also foster success in others.

Mentors are admirable. Mentors are usually well respected in their organizations and in the community.

Courtesy: The Connecticut Mentoring Partnership and the Business and Legal Reports, Inc. — Best Practices in Human Resources, Issue 653, September 30, 1999.
Compiled: Dr. John V. Richardson Jr., Associate Dean, UCLA Graduate Division, August 2005

Please note that SBH GEM is not intended to be a job placement program, rather a facet or community members to receive career guidance from other community members. If you are currently looking for a job or internship, SBH has a full team of professionals that are ready and willing to help. Please go to the CSN Page and create an account. An intake specialist will be in touch with you as soon as possible.