12 Qualities of a great mentor: Ensuring the right skills

What there is to know about great mentors

There are few things that separate a good mentor from a great one, and mostly it is through small details that you can separate them. A good mentor uses their knowledge and data to their favor and thinks of themself as the only option for a mentee and solves their problems directly. On the other hand, a great mentor motivates the mentee to continue growing, even if it is with another mentor and they guide the mentee so they can find the solution to their problems.

This is a more powerful method, but why? You are teaching someone how to think instead of what they should think, this way they will be better prepared to face their own problems on their own. No professional growth comes from those who are not able to solve problems. Don’t get us wrong, you may feel stuck and that’s okay, the difference is asking for help and relying on your experience.

Relying on your experience also means investigating and learning from it, you are not perfect so you still have a lot to learn. Even mentors feel like they need to expand their knowledge, gladly for them, through mentorship they can. If you are asking yourself: what makes a great mentor? Then you are at the right place, let’s learn what are those traits that make the difference about great mentors.

How to define a great mentor

Great mentors are those that genuinely listen to their mentee and care about their personal and professional growth. They are invested in guiding their mentee into success so they dedicate their time and energy to share their valuable experiences and knowledge so the mentee can gather insights from them and become better.

Those great mentors push their mentees out of their comfort zone and encourage them to surpass their previous achievements. By creating a safe space where mentees can talk about their fears, desires, experiences, and ambitions you are fostering a type of trust that is not easy to find.

Said trust later transforms into success stories. The thing is success might take several forms, it can be by exceeding expectations with metrics, getting a promotion, developing a campaign, or even just trying or participating in a new task. So, a great way to achieve success is by asking for help when needed and stop comparing yourself. Success might come later than expected, but that’s okay, everyone grows at their own rhythm.

A great mentor makes sure people are in terms with their own growth, by: doing personalized approaches, being supportive, and providing constructive feedback. Now that you have a better idea of what a great mentor looks like, then we must explain why having a mentor is something really important, but sadly gets underestimated.

Why are mentors important

Mentoring programs provide benefits for both the company and customer acquisition. 74% of job seekers and 54% of managers believe mentorship is essential for upskilling and reskilling. If you are facing a professional challenge, then a mentor is a great opportunity for you to navigate it and be confident enough to do it by yourself.

If you are somewhat of a metric and data purist, then let’s share this Gallup research that shows employees with mentors are twice as likely to be engaged as those without. Highly engaged teams drive 18% higher productivity and 23% greater profitability. Engagement also ripples outward, companies that invest in employee engagement see higher customer loyalty.

This strict relationship between mentoring and engagement shows the importance of having mentors available for employees to thrive. Despite that, there’s still a gap. 56% to 71% of organizations use mentoring programs to some degree, only 26% of employees would rate their company’s mentoring initiatives 8 out of 10 or better. And yet, 34% of professionals say a lack of mentorship has held them back in their careers.

Hiring mentors is not a sign of weaknesses as many can believe because it can show a huge knowledge gap. Let’s share some benefits of having a mentor for companies:

Increased employee retention
Motivated employees translate into happy customers
Advanced skills
Develops your further companies

Benefits of being a mentor:

Reinforces your skills
Mentors offer encouragement and reassurance
Expanded network
Creates better professionals

12 Qualities of a great mentor

A great mentor is one that combines professional and human qualities, it is expected that they have enough experience to guide mentors while at the same time they also need to be empathetic towards them. Sometimes mentees will not only look for professional advice, but there will be moments when they will need to be encouraged to perform at their best level. So, in that matter, let’s share 12 qualities that define a great mentor.

Show empathy towards the mentee

Every mentor needs to show empathy for their mentees, as they should listen to their mentees and analyze their situation. By doing this, the guidance they offer will be tailored to mentees’ needs. Not everyone has the same challenges or motivations, so mentees need to trust their mentors enough to share how they are feeling.

Mentors need to create a safe space for mentees to trust them. Everyone learns differently so mentors need to understand the best way in which their mentees learn. When they put efforts into their mentees’ life it will create an emotional connection, the foundation of great relationships.

Great leader

A good mentor is one who tries to control their mentees experience and influence their way of thinking. But great mentors are those who lead by example and use their own experience to guide mentees instead of solving their problems. Mentors are supposed to teach mentees how to think and not solve their problems directly.

To achieve this, mentors should have enough experience in their industry, this way they can reflect on their own work to help mentees.

Valuable experience

The mentor’s experience is what gives them credibility, but when people keep said experience by themselves is not worth it. Sharing their experiences is what gives them purpose, they are able to interpret and convert their experiences into insights that can guide mentees. Both their wins and failures can help mentees obtain valuable knowledge.

The best way to teach people is if you have experienced failure. Failing is what gets you to reflect on what you could do best next time, so failing needs to be part of the process of a great mentor.

Ability to adapt to new technologies

New technologies evolve and rise quickly, so mentors should be able to learn and stay up to date with new tools that can optimize their work and mentees’ life. Trends show and start to pile up if you don’t proactively look for them, you will stay behind.

40% of organizations now use technology to improve mentoring and coaching so you need to be prepared to teach about them. By guiding mentees to confidently navigate new tools, mentors reinforce the mindset that agility and curiosity are essential to staying relevant.

Provides honest and constructive feedback

Great mentors are able to distinguish valuable feedback from criticism, they understand that their mentees are hoping to feel motivated. They come to them with a problem that they want to solve together, so if instead of inspiring them to be better, you criticize them, they will not want to continue, hurting their progress.

Constructive feedback is meant to look for areas of improvement and growth so people can learn from their weaknesses and transform them into strengths. For example if a mentee is not too keen into learning new things, a great mentor would motivate them to change their mindset.

Develops a progressive and continuous learning mindset

Mindset changes are key because they can completely change an individual’s interests and desires. Mentees need to be curious by nature and it is their mentor’s job to ensure it is like that. Providing them with answers or resources to help them will spark their curiosity and by receiving support, they will want to keep asking questions.

Helping mentees stay curious is important as some companies and 97% of employers say that upskilling is important, mainly due to industries evolving fast.

Focuses on motivating the mentee

Keeping that curiosity intact is part of a mindset change as we told, but it also keeps mentees motivated to achieve new heights. Success is not only knowing how to use current skills, but having the need of learning new ones to solve their problems.

Encouraging mentees will prevent them from having self-doubts and feeling as if they are not able to do things on their own. Great mentors must remind their mentees the reason why they are helping them and how much they have progressed since they started. With a constant reminder, they will keep the momentum going and there will be no obstacle that makes them fall.

Is very patient

Patience is a quality that we should all have, as it will help us when we feel like the world is heavy on our day to day routine. But for mentors, especially patience is a needed characteristic, because sometimes mentees will not be feeling like themselves, easily losing all motivation they once felt.

A patient mentor will constantly help them stand up and overcome any challenge that comes their way. Another great way in which being patient helps, is that mentees won’t try to take over the situation and solve their mentee’s problems, instead they will be patient enough to guide them into solving their issues by themselves.

Discipline and consistency

How would a mentor expect their mentee to be consistent enough to show great progress if they don’t lead by example. A mentor who shows up reliably and follows through on commitments communicates respect and professionalism. Being like this will show your mentee how they should act, instead of making them feel bad, try to lift them up when their consistency is not following up.

Discipline also applies to maintaining boundaries, setting expectations, and keeping the relationship focused on growth. Regular honest conversations where you measure progress will ensure that mentorship remains a productive partnership.

Great communication

Every partnership needs to be solidified by great communication where mentors listen carefully to what their mentees are expressing. Mentees need to trust their mentor enough to be honest with them about their situation and great mentors need to adapt to those situations.

Establishing how to communicate from the beginning is key to prevent issues related to bad communication. Feedback fuels great communication, mentees can also offer constructive feedback to their mentors to help them become even better.

Emotional intelligence

But if we are talking about the need of having great communication, both mentors and mentees need to be emotionally intelligent. Mentors need to avoid taking things personally when a mentee is just trying to communicate.

High emotional intelligence allows mentors to read the room and manage their emotions so they can respond with empathy rather than reaction. It also helps mentors balance professionalism with humanity, offering support during difficult times without overstepping.

Ability to create growth development plans

Finally, the best mentors make growth intentional by helping mentees build structured, realistic, and evolving development plans. These plans follow the SMART framework, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, ensuring clear direction and accountability. Great mentors also revisit these plans regularly, adjusting them as the mentee grows and circumstances change.

But it is not only about creating development plans, great mentors are able to tailor those plans to their mentee’s needs. They may have many mentees, but none of them will have the same development plan, instead they are able to analyze situations before planning anything.

Become a great mentor that guides other to success

People are in constant need of improving their skills and overcoming new challenges that arise from their jobs. Having a mentor is a great advantage over those who are not able to have a mentor that guides them. So you need to make sure your mentee will make the most out of their mentoring session by becoming a great mentor.

At Mentors CX, we believe you have the right to access great mentors anytime you are facing a challenge, which is why we created our platform where you can search for the right mentor to help you with your case.