The 5 M’s of Mentoring

To have a successful mentoring relationship there are five areas that need to be considered and understood by both parties before any meaningful work can begin.  I’ve called them the 5 M’s of Mentoring and they are: Motivation, Meaning, Model, Meme and Mindset.  Both mentor and mentee have to bring these to the party but they may have different interpretations of what they might mean.

This post is a quick overview of the 5 M’s and is written with the express purpose of getting you thinking about what Mentoring means to you.  Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be exploring them in much more detail.

Motivation

There is only so much one can do without Motivation.  To be motivated means having the desire to achieve something, usually a goal of some descriptions.  This might be completing a merger or it might be writing an essay, both require the dedication that comes from being motivated to finish.  However, motivation is dependent on various factors and we’ll be exploring some of them in the weeks to come.  Knowing what motivates both the Mentor and their Protege is the key to ensuring that both achieve their desired goals – whether they are the same goal or different ones.

Meaning

To have motivation means to have meaning in one’s life.  It is often likened to the energy that you experience when you are making an impact or change, or taking part in an activity that has some sort of positive reinforcement for you.   For the mentor ‘meaning’ can be about making a difference in someone’s life, business or local community; for the mentee (entrepreneur) it will often be related to making a difference in other people’s lives (such as providing for family or employees).  Understanding the meaning behind the mentoring for each person will make it more powerful and ultimately more successful.

Model

There are many models of mentoring around and ultimately the one that is used in your work will be the one that is most comfortable for the Mentor.  They will also depend on the primary role that the mentor is fulfilling within the relationship too.  Therefore the model that is used when the Mentor is primarily a teacher will be very different from that used when the Mentor is in the role of Guide.

Meme

You may not have come across this term before and just as a passing note, it is related (in concept) to that of a Gene.  A meme is a virally transmitted cultural symbol or idea.  The operate in the same way that beliefs, superstitions, catch-phrases, a fable, a joke that work their way through a particular social group or culture, becoming so embedded within it that they is barely noticed that everyone thinks the same way.  Working as a mentor, particularly if you are working cross culturally, you will come up against other peoples meme’s frequently and will need to find a way to by-pass the assumptions that tend to follow along with them.  For instance, Sunday is a the traditional ‘day of rest’ in the West, but this may not be the case in other parts of the world.

Mindset

According to various dictionary definitions a Mind Set is “a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations” (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mindset).  Much of the work around mentoring will involve understanding what someone has done in the past, working out what needs doing in the future and changing the behaviours that can affect the outcome and thus achieve a goal.  Both Mentor and Mentee need to be open to new ideas and ways of working that may challenge past assumptions and they may well have to overcome many of the pre-conceived ideas about how things are done.

Do you have any M’s to add?  If so, why not let me know what they are.