| Five questions every mentor must ask |
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Establishing clear objectives is one of the 'must dos' for a mentoring relationship to be successful. A framework of 5 critical questions, originally devised by Deepak Chopra, provides an excellent diagnostic tool in a mentoring relationship, focuses on what the mentee wants and what they are doing or not doing to achieve that and what specific support they are looking for from the mentor. The questions are: 1. What is it that you really want to be and do? 2. What are you doing really well that is helping you to get there? 3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there? 4. What will you do differently tomorrow to meet those challenges? 5. How can I help/where do you need the most help? In this article from his blog for Harvard Business Publishing, the questions are elaborated further. The author, Anthony Tjan, uses them in the context of his role as a venture capitalist and adviser. This is a helpful set of questions to use when setting objectives as a manager as part of a performance appraisal discussion or more generally to support someone to achieve their goals.
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