“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” — John Crosby
A great mentorship can take us far and often opens doors we didn't even know existed! Whether as a mentor or a mentee, we get to learn, grow, and inspire one another. It’s a win-win relationship where knowledge flows both ways.
January 17 marks International Mentoring Day. So we scouted 2 mentor-mentee duos with stories and advice of their own to share. Read on!
Diana and Stephanie from ANZ Marketing
Diana and Stephanie
Mentor: Diana Vidovic
Was there ever a time when you helped Stephanie #PushBoundaries and witnessed her growth from there? If so, could you describe what it was?
Yes, a very memorable one! When I encouraged Steph to join a tech call with R&D to advocate for some needed product features for SEO. She later told me it was all in another language (Chinese!) but she gave it a red hot shot by being prepared for the call with her feedback listed in their tracker and using the AI translation tools.
What's your takeaway from tailoring your mentoring approach to colleagues of different personalities and cultural backgrounds?
Open communication is critical and I believe it's important to understand my mentee's life situation, as this is key to their motivation - simple things we often forget when we are so focused on work, like what hobbies they enjoy (Steph likes going to the gym early in the morning), where they live (I learned in Manila the traffic is awful!) and what they do on their weekends (Steph also has a retail business on the side). I quickly learned that Steph is very entrepreneurial and likes to make the most of each day with her time, so I catered my approach to ensure our 1-1 time together was spent efficiently and on the most critical topics - and the rest could be via instant chat!
Mentee: Stephanie Escuadro
How do you feel Diana has supported your career growth? How has she helped you navigate any challenges you faced?
Diana has been my number one guiding light through most of my Klook journey. Before I became her direct report, she was always generous with her feedback on the projects I got into and gracious when receiving feedback. This helped broaden my perspective in not just thinking about how to grow my channel, but also considering the impact on broader marketing, product, supply, and other non-marketing channels.
It's not a one-way street conversation with her. She's always open to dialogue and lends her ear when needed. She's not one to shy away from lending a helping hand when I or my channel need support from her or the wider team, which can be tough to do for senior leaders like her.
She's also been very much involved with what I do day to day (without being micromanage-y) and has been my biggest advocate in terms of performance and what I bring to the table.
As someone who's been in the business for quite a while, she helped me a lot with navigating the ins and outs of processes, how things work, which person to talk to for project x, y, or z, and all the different conversations I've had. Negotiations and communication skills are something I needed a lot of help with, which Diana has coached me through.
I think most of all, she taught me what type of leader I should aspire to be as someone who now leads a team and how I can become a mentor to the team as well. This is something I'll take with me no matter where I go. I'm super lucky to have had D as my mentor.
What's your advice for mentees looking to have an enriching relationship with their mentor?
A lot of mentor-mentee relationships rely on trust and vulnerability in order to grow. I think what probably made ours work a lot better was knowing that at the end of the day, we both had each other's best interest at heart and trusted each other enough to know the right decision to make. So, be open and honest always! And this is what will take you to the next level of your mentor-mentee relationship.
Stella and Kiwi from Customer Experience Group Taipei
Stella and Kiwi
Mentor: Stella Lin
What's your biggest reward from your experience as a CEG Mentor?
The most rewarding thing about being a mentor is that both my mentee and I get to learn through my guidance. When I guide someone, I learn something new as well. Working with our Customer Experience agents has helped me learn about various aspects of the internal workflows at Klook, as well as external ones like suppliers, tourist attractions, and product categories. Since becoming a mentor, this experience has greatly enhanced my professional knowledge about diverse topics.
How do you tailor your mentoring approach to colleagues of different personalities and cultural backgrounds?
I think guided learning is the best way to help a mentee remember the solution. When a mentee asks a question, I will follow up with a prompt to help them think about how to respond to a customer. As long as they can apply critical thinking, and their logic is clear, they can apply the same to many different scenarios.
For mentees who need more time to think but require an immediate answer, I’ll walk them through handling the issue at hand. Once we’ve resolved the case, I’ll take the time to explain why we approached it that way.
Along with observing each agent’s situation daily and offering assistance during times of need, I’ll also encourage my mentees to document the challenges they face while on the job. This way, they can take ownership of their task and ask for help when needed.
“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” – Phil Collins
Mentee: Kiwi Tseng
How do you feel Stella has supported your career growth? How has she helped you navigate any challenges you faced?
I feel assured that I can directly ask Stella whenever I have a question at work. Even if Stella is busy, she’ll pause what she’s doing to respond to my query. Instead of giving a straightforward answer, she encourages us to think it through ourselves.
It's much more rewarding to come up with the solution on our own than to just receive the answer right away! This way, I can recall the scenario vividly if I encounter a similar situation in the future and I'll know how to make a response to customers.
One time, I encountered this customer inquiry: "The cable car didn’t operate due to bad weather; I need a refund.”
I wasn't sure whether to classify this under “bad weather” or “service disruption” in our refund process. But Stella didn't give me a direct answer. She sought my thoughts on what made sense and what led to the service disruption. She also provided more concrete examples to supplement my understanding as I took the next step for the refund process.
What's your advice for Customer Experience mentees looking to have an enriching relationship with their mentor?
I believe we can learn a lot from our mentors about issues we don’t usually encounter with customers. I get to hear about uncommon cases not just from Stella but also in conversations with other mentors. So, as a Customer Experience Specialist, it's good to network with as many senior colleagues as possible. This can help you feel more prepared if you encounter something similar in the future. When we come across different approaches or ideas, we can discuss them and share our own perspectives. It’s not about who's right or wrong; instead, we can find a balance in how we handle situations together.
Hoping to unlock a new mentorship in a travel and experience company?
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