• Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group

University Survival

  • Student Success Skills
    • Picking a College
    • Financing Your Education
    • Choosing a Major
    • Preparing for College
    • Managing the Personal Side of the Transition to College
    • Developing Discipline to Do Well
    • Managing the Social Side of College
    • Being an Efficient Learner
    • Taking Tests
    • Ensuring You Receive The Grade You Want
    • Managing Group Projects
    • Becoming a Campus Leader
    • Student Athletes
    • Navigating College Practices
    • Succeeding on Internships and Co-ops
    • Making Critical Decisions
    • Overcoming Challenges for Specific Types of Students
    • Setting Goals
    • Being an International Student In The United States
    • Using Resources
    • Communication Skills for College Graduates
    • Building a Professional Network
    • Using LinkedIn to Develop Your Network
    • Preparing for a Career
    • Understanding Job Protocols
    • Developing Essential Career Skills
    • Becoming a Leader
    • Overcoming Career Challenges
    • Planning for your Financial Future
  • Parent Connections
    • Parent Topics
      • Being a Supportive Parent
      • Making Critical Decisions
      • Financing Your Student’s Education
    • Parent Emails
  • Teacher Resources
  • Resources
  • Community
  • About
You are here: Student Success Skills » Being an Effective Mentor » Getting Others to Open Up to You

Student Success Skills

Getting Others to Open Up to You

by JoJo
July 6, 2018

Getting Others to Open Up to You

 

You can’t be an effective mentor unless others are willing to share concerns with you. You probably know someone who you turn to for serious concerns and others who you would never be open with. Here are ways to get people to open up to you.

  1. Emphasize at every meeting that thoughts they share with you will be kept confidential. You have to be very diligent to keep this promise. When you think the concern is so serious that you would like to reach out to others to help, ask if you can talk with others confidentially about the concern.
  2. Learn how to be an active listener. One of the most important things you can do is to just let your advisee talk. Don’t interrupt. Ask follow up questions.
  3. When you meet, find a location where you can have a quiet, unhurried conversation. In spite of advances in technology, real conversation still needs to be face to face.
  4. People are more inclined to be open with you when you are open to them. Should someone describe an issue they are having that you also experienced, share with them your own story. This will make it easier to get them to tell you the full story.
  5. After the conversation, continue to follow up. Ask how your advisee is doing. Ask if there is anything you can do to help.

There are definite positives and negatives to being the person whom others can talk to. The positive is that you can develop an amazingly devoted group of employees, because they know that you really care. The negative is that there will be days when you are just overwhelmed by the issues that others face. But even these negatives can lead to a sense that you made a difference.

 

← Giving Advice
Being a Connector of a Mentor →

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Rate This Topic

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Testimonials

  • My biggest problem before this semester is class attendance.  I have developed a reward system for myself to motivate me to go to class.  Each week that I go to every class, on that Friday, I go to the vintage video gram store and buy a game.  I really do enjoy collecting old video games so I have a strong motivation to attend class each day.  I have also improved on getting my homework finished earlier than the day before it is due.  I try very hard to get the homework that is assigned to me finished on the day it is assigned.  I use all of my time between classes to work on homework and study for tests now.  I still have a couple different things that I am working on still.  Note taking being one.  Whenever I am in class, I tend to listen to the teachers lecture more than taking on it because I am afraid of missing something important.  I have begun to record each lecture now and try to go back and make notes.  I also have problems studying at home because of television and games.  This is going away slowly though because I have developed some self-discipline..

Sign Up For Student Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly student emails.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Sign Up For Parent Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly parent emails.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic
© Copyright - University Survival