We all have our favourite ways of communicating over the web; Messenger, Slack, WhatsApp, the list goes on. But the Mentorloop ‘loop’ is different. While the loop can easily be used to send direct messages and chat, we often see it used more so, as a shared, chronological journal in partnership with the global chat favourites.
Your loop is your own. And so you should empower yourself to use it any which way that suits you.
With the average mentoring relationship catching up once a month, the loop is often found to be the perfect spot to record the output of your meetings, set next steps and form goals to keep both of you accountable.
For some, it even provides a ‘mental divide’ between work and personal life – a space that is neutral and private, to both.
As some mentoring programs are more structured and time-bound by program intakes, the loop makes it easy to look back and see where you didn’t quite make it, adjust your goals periodically, track success or refocus yourself entirely.
5 minutes goes a long way
When looking at some of the most successful mentoring connections we see the loop used to reflect on your sessions and look back on a period of time.
According to Harvard Business School, reflection on work can actually improve career performance.
“When we stop, reflect, and think about learning, we feel a greater sense of self-efficacy. We’re more motivated and we perform better afterward.”
– Havard Professor, Francesca Gino
After your next mentoring session:
Give it a go, as the pros do
- After your next session, take five minutes to reflect.
- Ask yourself questions and jot some dot points down. You may wish to structure this into buckets or themes.
- Some common questions are usually covered, such as: Did we cover what we set out to? What did I learn about myself or my situation? What did my mentor highlight to me? What are my next steps? Reflection is key here, as it often helps us mentally retain information and understand ourselves better
- Share any files you mentioned in your session
- Log any tasks to complete
- Set or adjust your over-arching goals
By committing to these five minutes each month, you’ll begin to build an easy-to-read log of your sessions. This chronicle can even help your mentor uncover patterns and discover critical gaps in your learning or soft skills that you may not see yourself.
By keeping track on Mentorloop, you’ll start to receive ‘nudges’ straight to your inbox, tailored for you!
Encouraging reflective practice
Besides the beloved matching methods that Mentorloop brings, the software often also fosters an inclusive space and provides a working platform for organisations to encourage reflective practice – an activity adopted highly in the social work and medical industry but is not yet fully adopted by the corporate world. Those that encourage it, stand out.
“I don’t see a lot of organisations that actually encourage employees to reflect-or give them time to do it,” Gino says.
“When we fall behind even though we’re working hard, our response is often just to work harder. But in terms of working smarter, our research suggests that we should take time for reflection.”
Are you creating an environment of reflection, sharing, and self-efficacy?
Give your people access to Mentorloop, today.
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