How to be a great mentor

Learn practical skills to develop the next generation of leaders.

Before You Start

Goal: Explore what makes someone a truly impactful mentor — and reflect on how to be the kind of mentor that helps your mentees succeed in the long haul.

Article: 4 Tips for Mentors and Mentees

Meeting Agenda · Approx. 60 mins

  • Member Updates · 10 mins
  • Icebreaker · 10 mins
  • Key Takeaways · 5 mins
  • Discussion Questions · 20 mins
  • Write It Down · 2 mins
  • One Action · 10 mins
  • Wrap-Up · 5 mins

👋 Member Updates · 10 mins

Go around your Circle and share personal updates. Keep them brief and focused on significant changes or important decisions since the last time you met. It's OK not to have one every month. If you have a One Action update from last time, share that too.

🧊 Icebreaker · 10 mins

Invite everyone in the group to share. Keep answers to one or two minutes per person.

What's one thing a mentor did for you that you try to pass on to others?

💡 Key Takeaways · 5 mins

Being a great mentor is a skill that you can grow intentionally through learning and practice.

  • Great mentoring is about development, not just advice. The goal isn't to solve someone's problems, it's to build their capacity to solve them on their own.
  • Ask more, tell less. The most impactful mentors spend more time asking powerful questions than sharing their own answers.
  • Create space for growth, not dependence. A great mentor helps the mentee build their own confidence and judgment, not rely on yours.
  • Consistency matters more than intensity. Showing up regularly and following through on small commitments builds more trust than occasional grand gestures.
  • Mentoring someone different from you makes you a better mentor. It requires more curiosity, more listening, and less assumption.

💬 Discussion Questions · 20 mins

Move through the questions at the pace that suits your Circle. You don't need to cover every one. Pick the prompts that resonate most.

  1. If you mentor someone now, which of the skills do you want to focus on growing? Building the capacity for problem-solving, asking powerful questions, creating space for growth, or showing up consistently? What would that look like in practice?
  2. If you're ever had a mentor, did they practice the four mentoring skills? What was the impact on your growth?
  3. Have you ever had a mentoring relationship that didn't work? What made it fall flat?
  4. How do you create space for a mentee to grow, and not just receive your advice?
  5. Can you think of anyone who would benefit from your mentorship right now? How could you help them grow?

✍️ Write It Down · 2 mins

Take a few quiet minutes to connect the discussion to your own life.

Note down any next steps you want to take, based on today's discussion. One of these can become your One Action.

🎯 One Action · 10 mins

Commit to one concrete action — big or small — you'll take before next meeting. Go around the Circle and share (1 minute or less per member). Vocalizing it helps hold each other accountable.

Think about one person whose growth you could support right now. Choose one intentional way to invest in them this month — sharing honest feedback, making an introduction, checking in regularly, or supporting them to take on a new challenge.

📅 Wrap-Up · 5 mins

Before you break, plan your next meeting and close on an energetic note. Go around your Circle one by one and finish the sentence:

Now I am feeling… (choose one word).

  • Set the day, time, and location
  • Choose the next topic or resource
  • Confirm who's leading the discussion
  • Decide how you'll stay in touch in between