MENTOR-SHIP: 5 EFFECTIVE WAYS TO MAINTAIN CONNECTION WITH YOUR MENTOR
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The above was a post by Jane Bryan and I had made a mental note to respond to her. The challenge ends now and there is no better time than now. Here is my response (from a mentee-mentor point of view):
One of the greatest killers of conversations especially from you to a potential mentor is the regular "Hello. Hi. How are you? How was your day? Fine", Conversation.
Those are not bad questions but they are boring. Your mentor-figure has better things to do. How about telling mentor figure, for example, what attracted you to him/her and how you hope to collaborate with him in the future. Then instead of asking your mentor how his day was, like every other person, you say something like "I am curious about what a typical day for you will be like. What was the most interesting thing that happened to you today? Please respond at your convenience. I am genuinely interested in hearing from you." This is not a script; the major point is to be creative with your choice of words. Do not bore them like everyone else and do not lose your touch of human.
Before you do this though there are a couple of other things to do in order to maintain connection with your mentor:
- DO A BACKGROUND CHECK
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Everyone has a bit of themselves out there on Social Media; from their posts, what they like, what they comment on etc. I know for one that Bill Gate has a high IQ. He 'speaks' webinar, entrepreneurship, IT and E-book publishing. This will help you know what to do to attract his attention and the kind of keywords/questions that will 'turn him on'. It's just like Ben Carson and Neurosurgery. The other things that he seems to like are entrepreneurship, information and tech-related stuffs etc.
2.DO NOT BE A 'BEGGAR'
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Do not only be seen when you have a question that you need answers to, such that all your messages and comments to them are filled with "Please, please". Also show up intermittently to see how you can help online - on their Facebook page, websites etc. Your mentor may need information from people on a certain business niche. Now you might not be one but you could help ask around and help anyway you can.
3.SHOW SOME LOVE
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This is a continuation of Point 2. Everyone, including thought leaders, have love needs. They are humans after all. Not one of them is allergic to four-figure engagements on their posts so contribute your likes, loves and intelligent comments, including intelligently disagreeing with them when they are talking off point. Don't be the kind of person whose only comment is "Deep", regardless of what has been said and please, don't be a stalker.
4.TALK/TYPE ONLY WHEN IT'S NECESSARY
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Bear in mind that your mentor is not your sibling or best friend. Do not always feel the need to drop a random "Hi" just to get noticed or be remembered. It actually comes off as annoying sometimes. Leave a message only when you have something to say or when you are genuinely checking up on them. Let your message be short and precise. It saves everyone's time.
5.DON'T LET THE FEAR OF 'DISTURBANCE' STOP YOU
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Many people are afraid to reach out to people they want to connect with because they don't want to 'disturb' them. I'll give you two alternatives:
• Let your conversations be short, precise and straight from the heart.
• There is something personal about inboxes. Start on your own timelines. Tell them how awesome they are or pass messages to them in the body of your posts and be sure to tag them.
I hope you find these tips helpful, Jane Bryan and everyone reading this. Cheers!
We all need a mentor and we also need to establish and maintain good relatonship with them
Thanks