I am participating in a Leadership Development Program at work.

Anonymous

October 26,2021 at 3:27PM UTC

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I am participating in a Leadership Development Program at work. Part of the program is to work with a mentor. My supervisor helped me identify a mentor. It's my responsibility to identify discussion items/topics for the mentor calls which are recommended to occur monthly. Up to this point, I've discussed work situations that I wanted some advice/suggestions on how to manage, but I feel like I'm going to quickly run out of these. What are good topics/items to work with a mentor on?

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Emmy BemmyOctober 26,2021 at 4:04PM UTC
Have you discussed your career progression yet? Gotten their input on where the company/industry is going? What are you interested in and how does that align? I've never had a mentor... just a few thoughts :)
Barb HansenOctober 26,2021 at 4:37PM UTC
What do you want out of your career? Where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years? How are you going to get where you want to go? What pitfalls are waiting for you? How can you structure your career journey to avoid the pitfalls? What alternate paths exist? How do you juggle your life and your career?
I'm sure you can answer the first two questions above, but you might need some help answering the remaining questions, and your mentor should be able to help with those types of questions.
Deidra FreemanOctober 26,2021 at 5:18PM UTC
What are you sincerely interested in doing with your career? The next 3 months? 6 months? 12 months? Are there issues or problems you see in the company in which you are the right person to solve? Are there assignments or projects in which you can lend your skills? Do you have a sponsor? Is there someone your mentor knows that you would like to be connected to? Is there a side of the business in which you want to learn more about? Really focus on YOU and what YOU want to do, not just completing an agenda to finish the mentor calls for the sake of the program. Take advantage of the fact that you have an ear to help you navigate your next steps. Take advantage of this moment and make it work for YOU.
Bobbie LloydOctober 26,2021 at 6:20PM UTC
The mentorship is excellent way to explore roles or opportunities you would like to do in the near future or long term.
Jacquelynn LucasOctober 26,2021 at 6:52PM UTC
I think my advice goes along with the theme here, but identify what your "success" looks like for your career path i.e. what is the role you would like to have and ask for advice on the skills needed to get there.
AnonymousOctober 26,2021 at 7:25PM UTC
you can have the mentor review your cv/resume, talk to about career paths outside of what you're doing, ask for networking tips, find out what sorts of industry resources the mentor uses for their career (online blogs, journals, LinkedIn groups), and if they are open to it, ask what sorts of prof def they do and even what some of the goals on their own annual reviews are (you would want to be sure to keep that priavete and you odn't need all of the details either).
AnonymousOctober 26,2021 at 7:57PM UTC
A mentor will best support your career goals. Helping you focus on what is necessary for you to get to the next level if your profession like what you need in experience, education and networking to help you to achieve your goals. Your mentor can help you sort out opportunities that come your way
AnonymousOctober 28,2021 at 1:08PM UTC
You can bring certain scenarios that you find perplexing and gather their perspective. Ex. You presented an idea but X person strongly reacted with a no. You can ask, what might they have been thinking? It’s a simple example, but at every career level there is some amount of understanding people and broadening our perspective. Be careful not to throw anyone under the bus. Keep it anonymous. This shouldn’t be used as an escalation path.
Is this mentoring through your workplace? Are theycolleagues? If so, I don’t recommend saying anything that suggests that you’d like to be somewhere else.