Mentor relationships are an opportunity for individuals to learn from someone's personal experience, background, and perspective. These relationships build trust on a team, provide safe space to make mistakes, and encourage both personal and professional development.
Mentorship is an opportunity for both the mentor and mentee to develop their leadership and communication skills. Mentorship should be led by the mentor, similar to how 1:1's at GitLab are driven by direct reports.
The Power of Mentoring
Share questions in the #mentoring slack channel.
Benefits for the mentee
Benefits for the mentor
The following team members are available as mentors. Schedule a coffee chat to get the conversation started!
mentor status to true. This will appear on the team page with a line that reads Available as a mentor. Example MRLearn more about organized mentorship programs for team members:
Consider using the Minorities in Tech TMRG mentorship program structure to organize a mentor program for your team or TMRG.
Adapted from the NCWIT Mentoring-in-a-Box Mentoring Basics - A Mentor's Guide to Success, section What Are the "Dos" of Mentoring and People Grove resources:
| Expectation | Description |
|---|---|
| Maintain Boundaries | Maintain clear and appropriate boundaries. Be clear on where the line is drawn between your responsibilities and those of their manager. |
| Set Goals | Mentorship is a process with a goal. Mentees should create goals for themselves from the outset and put them in writing. Frequently revisit goals to measure progress. |
| Build Trust | Act as a colleague first, an expert second. Spend time getting to know one another.. Use an open and warm tone to create a safe place to ask difficult questions and take risks. Be open, honest, and fully authentic. |
| Set Expectations | Be realistic and uphold your commitment. Share access to resources and people, but make it clear you do not wield your influence over others – coach as you can but the mentee needs to do their own work. |
| Listen | Establish trust and openness in communication from the start. Give your full, undivided attention. Listen as much as you speak so that their questions and aspirations are always the central focus. Hear concerns before offering advice and guidance. |
| Acknowledge Independence | Recognise that the mentee goals are their own and that they may have career goals that differ from the path you chose. Your role as a mentor is to guide; it’s up to the mentee to decide what to implement in their own career. |
| Respect Diverse Experiences | Recognise that minorities within the organisation sometimes face additional barriers to advancement. Educate yourself about the issues and ask for advice and support via the appropriate Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging channels. |
| Practice Self-Awareness | Identify your strengths, weaknesses, and biases.. Keep an open mind. Be aware of and respect other's experiences, ideas, and goals. Mentorship requires open dialogue about the ways gender and culture influence your mentee's work in the organisation and the mentoring relationship itself. |
| Advocate | Educate others within the organisation about the advancement of women and other under-represented groups. Approach managers and other team members and mentor them on being effective managers or colleagues to those who might have different experiences to them. Teach your mentee how to become a mentor themselves – by example and by encouragement. |
| Express Gratitude | Share openly about your experience. Express gratitude for the skills or experiences developed over time. |
| Maintain a Growth Mindset | Value a growth mindset of both the mentor and mentee. Both parties can learn and grow from mentorship |
| Iterate | Mentorship changes with time. Iteration of goals throughout the mentorship is encouraged. Focus on quick wins that the mentee can reach, then keep growing |
Use these resources when participating in an organized mentor program or building your own mentor/mentee relationship. Adopt what fits and leave what doesn't resonate.
Take the LinkedIn Learning training called How to be a Good Mentor and Mentee. It covers strategies for finding a mentor, setting clear expectations, and achieving goals through mentorship.
Content from this training has been adapted in the following Google Slides presentation for learners who prefer to read the material at their own pace.
It's important to set clear expectations with your mentor/mentee about when, how often, and for how long you will formally meet. Below is a suggested format for this meeting cadence:
Setting an agenda for your mentorship sessions is important for resource documentation and future planning. The mentee should be the DRI for each session and use the agenda to set meeting goals and ask questions. Open a new document and share the document with both the mentor/mentee. Use the following meeting agenda templates as a baseline for each session. The template can be customized to meet the needs of the relationship, and might adapt over time.
Sample agendas below are inspired by resources from Arizona State University and People Grove.
Initial Meeting Agenda
Date: XXXX-XX-XX
Agenda:
- Discuss and share current workplace challenges the mentee is facing. Potential discussion questions (for the mentee to answer) to guide this conversation include:
- What part of your role makes you feel the most accomplished/present in your work?
- What are your biggest strengths? What skills and talents do you bring to your team?
- What is a challenge you're currently facing?
- What part of your role makes you feel disconnected?
- How much of your time each week is spent in this disconnected work?
- How does your current role fit into your professional development goals?
- What is the mentee trying to achieve? What is the desired outcome?
- What is one piece of this challenge that you believe we can tackle in 3 months?
- Set a first-draft goal or intention for the mentorship relationship using the SMART goal formula. Refer to [page 11 in this resources from the University of California](https://www.linkedin.com/learning/setting-team-and-employee-goals-using-smart-methodology/how-to-use-smart-goals-2?u=2255073) for questions you can ask to build your SMART goal
Action Items:
- Mentee will iterate on their SMART goal and communicate the final version to their mentor asynchronously before their next meeting
Regular Meeting Agenda
Date: XXXX-XX-XX
Agenda:
- Review and assess SMART goal
- Potential discussion questions
- How are you feeling this week/month/quarter?
- Share successes/actions taken towards reaching SMART goal
- Discuss current blockers, challenges, questions, or frustrations faced by the mentee
- Share and brainstorm actions/strategies to address SMART goal
- Set action items for the mentor and mentee for the next session
- Reserve space during the session to share and/or ask for feedback for both the mentor and mentee
Action Items:
- Action item 1
- Action item 2
Final Session Meeting Agenda
Date: XXXX-XX-XX
Agenda:
- Take time to reflect on 3 month mentorship relationship
- What worked? What was challenging?
- Provide feedback 1:1 from both the mentor/mentee
- Create an action plan moving forward
- Discuss how the mentee will continue to work to/refine SMART goal
- Determine cadence and structure in which the mentor/mentee will continue to collaborate.
Action Items:
- Mentee will reach out to schedule a meeting based on the expectations set
Career development is a major driver of mentee goals during mentorship. Review GitLab resources for career development in our handbook:
These resources are meant to provide both mentors and mentees with additional personal and professional development. Consider reviewing these resources asynchronously and discuss/debrief them during a session with your mentor/mentee.
Why the Power of Mentoring can Change the World
