DAVE HERSHMAN
MENTORING CORNER
Be A Better Mentor ‘Mentorship by absorption’ not the ideal way for a novice to succeed
BY DAVE HERSHMAN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
The concept of mentoring is quite simple. If you look in the dictionary, there is no complexity at all.
everything from witnessing phone
Mentorship: The activity of giving a younger or lessexperienced person help and advice over a period of time.
completing the file.
conversations, to reviewing loan files and showing “how to” steps to • In addition to listening to the mentee, the mentor should conduct
It is not unusual in this industry for newer originators to have mentors assigned. Some companies have formal mentorship programs in which the mentor makes overrides on the production of the mentee for a certain period of time. Unfortunately, not many of these programs clearly specify the responsibilities of a mentor. As these mentors tend to be senior producers, they do not tend to have a lot of time to dedicate to the task. Mentorship, in reality, becomes more of an exercise of the mentee watching and listening to the mentor in action. Hopefully from this activity, they pick up the knowledge that is needed for them to succeed. Most would agree that this “mentorship by absorption” is not the ideal way for a novice to succeed in the industry. It is exactly why so many entering the industry never
become successful. There are other reasons as well, such as the selection process. But that is another topic for another day. In this article, we will be focusing on what a mentor should be doing to contribute to their mentee’s likelihood of success. So, what should be mentor be doing? • A mentor should make sure that the mentee gets the needed training. Notice we did not say that the mentor should be doing the training. But the mentor should make sure the mentee finishes all required training. So many times, the mentee gets busy and no one is responsible to make sure all training is finished—from basic mortgage knowledge to sales and marketing training. • A mentor should make sure a mentee is introduced to all the functions of the industry. That means scheduling time in different departments so that the mentee gains a greater understanding as to how the entire process works. • The mentor should review the mentee’s work. That can mean
role-playing sessions. That way, he or she will be more prepared when speaking to live prospects. • The mentor should make sure that all tasks are completed before the mentee graduates from the program. If there is not a list of tasks to be completed, then the mentorship program is likely to progress haphazardly. Thinking about becoming a mentor or developing a mentorship program for your company? This is a task to be taken very seriously. Mentorship programs have to be more than an informal coupling of experienced and inexperienced individuals so that one can absorb from the other. They should be formal programs to assure that the mentee can obtain the knowledge and counseling that they need to help them become successful.
Dave Hershman, senior vice president of sales for Weichert Financial Services, is an author with seven books published.
