How do I ask this person I really admire to be my mentor?
Apr 21, 2020
17 Comments
There's this person at work who I really admire, and I always wanted to kind of build a mentor-mentee relationship with them. Turns out they're going to be leaving the company in two weeks and I don't think I have a good enough relationship to ask them to be my mentor since I don't have anything to offer to them imo.
How can I go about asking them to be my mentor in a way that won't put them in an uncomfortable spot?
#mentorship #google
comments
Initially, you don't need to offer them anything in return (at least not explicitly). Helping someone grow their career is rewarding on its own. If they need something from you, I'm sure they can bring it up on their own.
As a mentor, what I generally want to learn from my mentees is the efficacy of my communication. Different people react differently to different styles of coaching so if you can offer your mentor constructive feedback (if feedback is something they're looking for) then it's worth putting it out there.
A little flattery can go a long way :)
Ping them every quarter for a half hour chat make sure you end and don't go past that half an hour.