Your mentoring will improve as you intentionally evaluate how you are doing. Here are some thoughts about how to evaluate what matters.
Assessment helps you succeed
Some hesitate to assess a relationship because it seems impersonal or mechanical. But assessment just means being reflective on how we’re doing in order to get better. Can be subconcious. Take the temperature of the relationship. We’re always assessing anyway. But are we using the right standards? What’s going well or not well? Is my client showing up? Are they willing to be vulnerable? How much am I talking? How committed are they? How excited? Yet we’re not necessarily assessing the mentee, we’re assessing ourselves. How can I help that person? Have I connected with their personality? What do I do to adapt or adjust in the relationship in light of the challenges? We want to be intentional in the relationship.
Assessment can encourage you
Assessment can be a great encouragement, because when you take time to evaluate the relationship, you will discover all the great things God is doing through you. Assessment will help you realize how much you are growing, as you see all the ways you are learning from and adapting to the issues raised in the relationship.
Four foundational goals provide a standard for assessment
These goals were introduced in our mentor training course. They give us a solid way to assess how we’re doing in the mentoring role. Goal 1: Help them establish their identity as a follower of Jesus. Have I clarified what it means to be a follower of Jesus? How much do I know about my mentee’s journey? Do I have a plan for how to present the gospel?
Goal #2: Help them place their trust in God through the authority of the Bible. Am I showing them why I trust the Bible? Do I have the Bible open in our meetings? Do I answer their questions from the Bible? How much am I giving my opinions versus looking it up in Scripture? Have I taught them how to use the Bible for themselves?
Goal #3: Establish a pattern of obedience to Jesus. We can’t determine the condition of our mentees’ heart, but we can assess how they’re growing in key areas. Are the increasingly comfortable talking to God? Are they starting to identify areas of sin in their own lives? Are we regularly identifying a positive next step in our meetings, and asking how they did?
Goal #4: Reproduce mentors who can disciple others. Are there some things we’re doing in our relationship that help them gain confidence? Am I inviting them not only to participate, but to lead segments of our meetings? Am I encouraging them to hold me accountable? Am I inviting them to share what they’re learning with someone else?
Think about some questions that you could ask yourself about your mentoring relationships. We trust you will see how a process like this will make you successful and encourage you, as God leads you put some assessment ideas into practice.
