My Friend, My Mentor

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17, The Message)

Attributes of a Mentor

Understanding Accepting Supportive
Involved in the community Good listener Open-minded
Positive Genuine Empathetic
Trustworthy Approachable Honest
Committed Respectful Sense of humour


Developing the Relationship

· Listen without interrupting
· Identify and reflect feelings
· Frame things from a positive perspective
· Use humour selectively and appropriately
· Follow the conversational “lead” of the talker
· Maintain eye contact, without staring or glaring
· Avoid using judgmental words like “you should” or “you shouldn’t”
· Using “I messages”, for example: “When you said ___ , I felt ___ .”
· Be yourself and share without completely switching the focus to you
· Help to identify options, pros and cons instead of giving advice
· Remain interested and focused on the person speaking
· Avoid dramatic or disapproving reactions
· Use “active listening” techniques

Luke 6:40
“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”


Effective Mentoring

? Who has acted in a mentor role before? If so, can you describe the experience?

? Who has had a mentor before? If so, what was that like?


Equipping Mentors

· The partnership is fully confidential
· Mentors may take on more than one protégé at a time
· May have an opportunity to be a mentor in one partnership and a protégé in another
· Mentoring relationship will be as unique as the personalities, gifts and needs brought to it


Activity

Think about how you personally can make a difference in the lives of other women. Consider:

Whom could I be a mentor to?

Where might this mentoring process take place?

How much time am I able to devote to this?

How long am I prepared to be a mentor?

Now write down one thing, an action step, that you can take to begin the mentoring process.