Mentor Network

In order to get the most out of your interactions with your mentor, we recommend that you come into your mentor meeting prepared.

According to Module 3 of CYBF’s Mentorship Crash Course  here’s how:

1. Do your homework

Use outlets like LinkedIn, Twitter and Google (articles they’ve written, a blog they keep etc.) to learn more about them. Note their past experiences, awards, recommendations, people in their network, skills, interests and organizations they’re affiliated to.

By doing this work, you can ensure that you ask questions and engage in discussions that they are interested and have expertise in.

2. Ask questions

Why did they become a mentor? What was their business biggest challenge and how did they overcome it? Where did the passion for their work come from?

3. Share insights

Share what caught your attention, what you were impressed by or what you want to know more about related to their experience. This shows you are interested in them and helps them understand what is interesting to you.

4. Prepare an agenda

The purpose of creating an agenda is so that you can:

• Define the focus/purpose of your meeting

• Outline your goals and objectives

• Keep you on track

• Clarify the time and location

• Organize your priorities

Examples of agenda items include:

• An evaluation of marketing efforts

• Identify what to start, stop and continue

• What have been your breakthroughs (what worked), breakdowns (what didn’t worked) and what did you learn from them this month?

I would also send them any documentation that you believe they may need to look over to help them make the most of your discussion.