How I made the most of my first Aspire mentor sessions - by Abby Armada
I’m a brand new mentor with the Aspire program. I was a mentee for 2 rounds a few years ago (shoutout to Sarah Chambers and Alison Groves). I learned a lot during those months - how to be a better manager, some strategies around dealing with office politics and figuring out my strengths. Now that I’m a mentor, I’m excited to pay it forward!
I’m definitely a person who operates on “vibes” in my personal life, but I strive to be more organized and deliberate in my professional life. When I was matched with my mentee, I wanted to make sure my first meeting with them wasn’t a rambling conversation. I was happy that the Aspire leadership gave us a first meeting agenda:
Abby Armada
Introduce yourself
Discuss what you hope to gain from this experience.
Describe your goals
Schedule the next meeting!
My mentee mentioned that they struggle with setting goals around abstract leadership concepts now that they’re a manager, which I identify with. As we move up in the Support world, we’re less beholden to individual KPIs and have to figure out how we measure our own success as we think of the bigger picture.
After talking through the above agenda, I added an extra section: homework. This homework was in the form of 3 questions to be answered for our next meeting so I could focus our conversations going forward around setting leadership goals.
Let’s get into the knitty-gritty about each question and why I asked it.
What do you feel like you’re good at and/or what are your strengths?
I wanted to hear what my mentee viewed as their strengths, plus stuff they know they’re good at, big or small. It’s a heartening exercise for them. For me, it helps me understand their point of view, especially how they approach their work, and what makes them happy.
What scares you?
A big question and one I ask because everyone is afraid of something when it comes to our work. Sometimes, just saying your fears out loud gives you a little bit of control over them. As my mentee and I talk more and build a relationship, this knowledge will help me gently push ideas that might be out of their comfort zone and help craft creative solutions..
What do you feel your biggest growth opportunities are?
This might seem like a redundant question given the above. It’s not. What we’re good at, plus what scares us, informs our growth opportunities. It also gives me a sense of what my mentee really wants to achieve. I can tap into my own experience and network to facilitate that, taking into account their strengths and fears.
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My mentee came to our second meeting totally prepared with answers to these three questions, and they helped me see her point of view and gave me ideas of how I can help.
If you’re a manager and regularly have 1on1s with your direct reports, I totally recommend asking these questions if you haven’t already. You might learn something new about them and why they do the things they do.
