3 Tips on Business Mentoring from Mowgli Foundation UK Launch

Every now and again you have an experience that transcends all expectations. For four days, in a beautiful Georgian retreat near Chester, I had such an experience at the UK launch of the Mowgli Foundation. Here are some of the wonderful people I met.

I was there to become a Mowgli mentor.

Do you think you have the attributes to make a good mentor? I guarantee, if you look deep enough, the answer is yes – we all have them.

Most will recognise the Mowgli character from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Mowgli grows up in the Jungle with Akela, Bagheera and Baloo guiding him on his journey, helping him discover his true identity. They were his mentors.

The Mowgli Foundation is a not for profit, international mentoring organisation, which launched in the UK last weekend. Its aim is to make a difference to business start ups and aspiring entrepreneurs – of any age. The key to their success, I believe, is in the matching of mentors to mentees. It is a rigorous process and not for the faint-hearted. You have to be prepared to make a journey – your journey. Because after your journey, you will see the world and your role in it from a different place. A truly awesome and inspirational experience.

There are many of us out there who mentor. We help, encourage and advise. We are the wise ones others turn to for help and we are willing to give it. The following “tips” are what I found to be important for me. I share them with those who mentor and ask for nothing in return. Who want, unconditionally, success for another and will be there for them whilst they make that journey.

1. A good mentor tells a mentee what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
2. A good mentor and a good mentee will listen.
3. A good mentor needs to be able to identify positive character traits in himself. He will then be able to see positive character traits in his mentee and enable the mentee to see them too, creating something powerful and of value. To do that the mentor needs to know who he is.

There’s much more to say about business mentoring and the role that positive psychology can play in it, but I’ll save that for another post.

Are you a mentor or mentee? What do feel about the journey you’ve taken? Let me know in the comments.