Discuss each other’s objectives

Mentorship is a two-way street. Like you, mentors also have objectives — they may want to learn by teaching you and brushing up on their knowledge and skills. They may also want to develop their leadership skills by giving constructive feedback and communicating effectively. Make sure you're on the same page and that your mentor knows what you're hoping to get out of the mentorship. At the same time, ask about your mentor's expectations.

The SMART model is the best approach for setting goals during mentoring. SMART goals are:

• Specific: Setting specific goals determines your future steps, indicates the deadline for achieving them, and explains why you need to accomplish them. "Becoming a successful UX designer" is too ambiguous. "Introduce user research in product development" is a more specific goal.
• Measurable: Discuss with your mentor the metrics of your success. For example, for the aforementioned goal, the success metric can be regular team sessions for analyzing user interview insights.
• Action-oriented: A mentor can help a mentee develop a set of actions that achieve the goal. For example, finding participants, planning an interview, and setting interview goals can be actions for reaching the goal.
• Realistic: Focus on breaking a large goal into smaller pieces to keep them achievable.
• Time-bound: Always set deadlines for your goals.