EN
Film-style poster for the Learning from Experience for Mentors presentation

A guide for mentors: Learning from Experience for Mentors

How to send Learning from Experience, read the answers and plan the next try together.

English

What this guide covers

What this guide covers

What this guide covers

What it is

One experience, thought through

Your mentee looks back on one recent experience and picks one change for next time.

When to send it

Send it while it is fresh

Send it soon after the event, while the details are still clear.

  • A first time a first talk, a first client
  • Something that went wrong or better than expected
  • Before trying again a second talk, the next interview

An honest frame

A habit of reflection, not a test

It is widely used, but its effect has not been measured on its own.

  • Built on known cycles Kolb (1984) and Gibbs (1988)
  • Facts before feelings what happened comes first
  • Ends in one change and a date to try it

Sending it

Send it from your pairing

It takes a minute, and your mentee gets an email.

Open your pairing

Choose Assign a tool and find Learning from Experience.

Try it as your mentee

Fill it in yourself first; nothing is saved or sent.

Add a short message

Suggest which experience to write about.

Open your pairing

Choose Assign a tool and find Learning from Experience.

Try it as your mentee

Fill it in yourself first; nothing is saved or sent.

Add a short message

Suggest which experience to write about.

Reading the answers

Follow the line to one change

Good answers link what happened to one clear change for next time.

  • What happened just the facts, in order
  • Both sides the summary flags it when one is missing
  • Next time one change and a first chance to try it

Questions to ask

Ask about the pattern, not the slip

People who ask follow-up questions are liked more (Huang and others, 2017).

  • How would someone else who was there describe it? then: what would they see that you did not?
  • Is the lesson about this one time, or does it keep coming back? then: where else have you seen it?
  • What would make the next try easier? then: what can I do to help?

Feedback that helps

Talk about the task, not the person

Feedback can backfire, so keep it on the task and the next try.

1 in 3 Over a third of feedback effects lowered performance in one large review Kluger and DeNisi, 1996

One step

Turn the change into a plan

Plans in the form "if this happens, then I do that" help people act.

94 Tests found that if-then plans help people reach their goals Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006

After the meeting

Keep the lesson on Mentornity

The answers, your comments and the next steps stay in one place.

Read it at a glance

Next time and the first try date are summed up.

Add next steps

Write what will be done, by whom and by when.

Ask to fill it again

After the next try, look back on it once more.

Read it at a glance

Next time and the first try date are summed up.

Add next steps

Write what will be done, by whom and by when.

Ask to fill it again

After the next try, look back on it once more.

One experience, one change

Send it soon after something new and ask about the next try.

Sign in to Mentornity All tools
Sign in to Mentornity Sign in All tools