Determining the best mentor that will help you achieve your goal is a difficult decision. You need to know what you want to achieve as your first step. Knowing your target will help you to know the qualities your would-be mentor should have. Look for a mentor based on that. You should ask people around you or people who have achieved what you are planning to do to help you choose a mentor. You should also know that a mentor should be well experienced and therefore, you should choose a mentor based on experience. It will be useless choosing a mentor that has no experience in the area you are most interested in.  

Discussing you Goals with your Mentor

In mentorship, there should be a mutual learning relationship between you and your mentor. In order to establish this relationship, you have to first begin by discussing your goal and your expectations with your mentor. The discussion should be predicated on openness and truth. You people should also agree on when and how to communicate with each other. Communication is a very important aspect of mentorship and discussion bothering on that should also be taken very serious. You should not over look that. The discussion should be two ways and not one way. This means that two of you should contribute as well as listen to the other. Everything about how the relationship should move should be discussed. This will help you to avoid any difficulties or confusion in the future. The outcome of the discussion should serve as the contract agreement and should not be bridged. That is the essence of the discussion.

Confidentiality

This is another important aspect of mentorship that should not be neglected. Whatever you discuss with your mentor should only exist between you and him/her. On no account should the mentor reveal it to a third party without your consent. On your own part, you should also keep whatever experiences the mentor share with you secret. You should not reveal his experience to any other person. If there is absolute confidentiality of whatever is discussed between you and your mentor, then there will be openness that engenders mutual sharing of experience and learning. This is one of the things that you should ensure that it exists in your mentorship so that you will be able to make full good use of the mentorship.

Accepting/Giving Feedback

You are supposed to give feedback to your mentor on whatever assignment he or she gives you. But sometimes you can make mistakes in carrying out a function. In such situation do not be afraid to tell your mentor everything that happened. That is the only way he can guide and direct you properly. You should also be ready to accept feedback from your mentor. Sometimes the feedback may not be favorable but you have to accept it and then learn from your mistake.