this video is about how to start and develop a mentoring relationship once a mentor mendee have been matched the mentor will contact the mentee to initiate the first meeting just as first impressions are important the first mentoring meeting is critical for building Rapport and is considered the start to developing a successful mentoring relationship so there are four steps to starting a mentoring relationship I'll go over the four of them number one is to prepare you want to show your men to your Mentor that you are invested in them and the mentoring relationship therefore it is
highly important that both parties prepare for the first meeting uh below are some points that will help both parties prepare for the first session you'll want to consider your own expectations and goals you'll want to consider what the other party needs to know about you and also what you would like to know about the other party and also consider consider how much time you can commit to the mentoring whether that be hours per month hours per week whatever it may be for the mentee further research on the reasoning for mentoring and goals you have should
be considered uh job descriptions for your future roles exam examples of projects of interest and also details of current barriers and issues that they're facing in current circumstances the next step in this first meeting would be establishing Rapport so an a successful mentoring relationship is built on trust and people tend to trust people that they like so the first people should be or sorry the first meeting should be dedicated to building Rapport learning about each other and discussing personal and professional history and also looking for common ground so topics and questions you can focus on
to get to know each other could be your current role in your position background or your current work uh load likes and dislikes about the job professional backgrounds um hobbies and interests and anything else you'd like to talk about in your mentoring uh sessions like uh specific projects you have in mind the third step in this uh first initial meeting would be setting up expectations so a big part of establishing Rapport is uh setting expectations here you could discuss any preconceived ideas you have about the role of a mentor a mentee and your expectations of
the relationship the following questions can be used as uh guidelines to uh set these expectations for example what do you expect from a mentee or mentor when and how will you establish interaction we do recommend maintaining contact at least two times per month even if it is a brief message or email and who will initiate these interactions how will you handle handle conflict and how will you handle feedback and at what point should the term should we terminate the mentoring relationship and the final thing to consider in this first mentoring meeting is the mentoring agreement
so setting exploitations will clarify the terms to this mentoring uh agreement which will underpin your mentoring relationship the mentoring agreement is a term of reference that sets out the expectations and boundaries for both parties so that there's a shared purpose and responsibility we recommend reviewing this mentoring agreement about every six months with a structured approach to preparation building Rapport setting expectations and establishing a mentoring agreement you are setting the tone for a strong mentoring relationship thank you for listening there's more information down below
