Here are some of our key takeaways and insights from this event.

Cultivating Trust and Vulnerability

Trust is the cornerstone of successful mentorship. As Dan DiGangi, an experienced mentor, instructor, and engineering leader, advised, "Give trust before you take it." He shared that it’s important to set the stage for open and honest conversations between mentors and mentees.

Amit Verma, CPTO at Flash.co, highlighted the need for mentors to create a safe and comfortable space for mentees to share their challenges and vulnerabilities. "Mentors should expose some vulnerability from their side to encourage transparency.”

Echoing this, Emma Burstow, the Director of Developer Relations at Umbraco, accentuated the power of vulnerability in nurturing trust. Emma shares that she prefers to be a mentee to those who are still learning rather than 'rockstars'. According to her, sharing personal struggles is key to cultivating a safe and empathetic environment for mentees to reciprocate, and honesty and transparency are fundamental to effective mentorship.

Listening Intently, Asking Wisely

Dan DiGangi also brought a topic to the table that our experts agreed with: the significance of active listening. "When you're a manager or you work in leadership, you live in listening mode. You have to listen so that you can actually understand what the hell it is that you need to do to help someone out. And it's about them, not you."

Amit Verma added to this by stressing the value of asking probing questions. “The mentee might start with some of the symptoms of the problem, which is probably what is in the foreground of their awareness, but we have to take them to deeper levels by asking questions and navigating them through to the root.” 

Our experts unanimously agreed that active listening and thoughtful inquiry form the foundation of impactful mentorship.

Tackling Tough Talks

Sharing strategies for navigating challenging conversations, Rocio Montes, Engineering Manager at GitHub Actions Compute, stressed the importance of empathy and assertiveness. “When you are giving hard advice, you have to be sympathetic, but very firm. You have to come across clearly with what exactly is the feedback," she advised. Rocio recommended employing the "feedback sandwich" method, incorporating positive feedback before and after constructive criticism, to soften the impact of tough conversations.

Fostering Accountability

Emma Burstow emphasized the importance of formalizing mentorship relationships from the start to ensure accountability and clarity. She highlighted how informal mentorships can get sidelined in busy work environments, stressing the need to treat mentorship commitments with the same importance as quarterly business meetings. Clear expectations early on are vital for a productive and impactful mentorship journey.

“If it's not possible to have that culture of accountability, then it's likely that you won't both be getting very much from the relationship, and that's when it's a good time to call it.”

Overcoming Plateaus

One question that came from the audience was about mentoring engineers who claim they’ve reached career plateaus. Rocio Montes answered this question and emphasized the need to understand the specific challenges and desired outcomes of the individual. Rocio stated, "Where do they want to be in the next three, five... even within the next year? Understanding this helps us understand where they would like to get so we can work on a plan to get towards that." By gaining clarity on what is causing the plateau and what the mentee wants to achieve, mentors can provide targeted guidance and support to help mentees navigate obstacles and reignite their professional growth.

This G2i community event highlights that mentorship is a catalyst for personal and professional development, especially in remote work settings. Our guests, seasoned and well-loved mentors, emphasized the importance of trust-building, active listening, sympathy and firmness, and accountability, among others, in helping individuals realize their full potential and foster a culture of continuous learning. They too highlighted how mentorship is a collaborative journey that benefits both mentors and mentees, leading to their own professional growth and success.

We are so thankful to our brilliant panelists for sharing their invaluable insights and experiences with the G2i community! While these are key takeaways, there are so much more learnings from this event that cannot be encapsulated in a single article. We invite you to watch the full recording:

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G2i’s successful mentorship program has supported 150+ software engineers worldwide. You can read some stories from participants in the program here and here.

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