Confidence can be a major hurdle in unfamiliar professional and social settings. As a mentor, you play a key role in guiding your mentee to overcome their barriers. You can help them to develop habits that turn networking into a natural, rewarding and, ultimately, enjoyable process. In this article, we’ll explore ways to help your mentee build confidence and become a successful networker.
The importance of networking is widely acknowledged by the business community, especially for securing new clients and contracts. Both live events and digital platforms attract high numbers. As of January 2025, LinkedIn has approximately 44 million UK users, that’s 63% of the entire population. UK Networker reports there were approximately 450,000 business networking events across the UK in 2023 with this figure increasing year on year.
So, the opportunities are out there, the benefits are acknowledged, how do you support your mentee to step up and get noticed?
How do you feel about networking?
If you are passing on your knowledge you might want to reflect on your own experiences. What do you do well, what do find easy, what’s worked for you, what could you be better at?
Having an honest discussion where you share positive experiences and those that haven’t worked out so well and why that was, being open about your vulnerabilities, can be a valuable exercise which you can both gain from.
Explore any negative feelings your mentee has.
How does your mentee feel about networking; excited, anxious, disinterested?
For example, if your mentee fears other people won’t be interested in what they have to say, the article Networking Tips for Introverts and Anyone Else advocates having a ‘promotion focus’. Remind yourself of your achievements, set clear goals for what you want to achieve, never take rejection personally just as a mismatch of needs and to keep self-talk positive; “I can do this!”
Investigate what networking contacts your mentee has already established.
Do they make the most of their LinkedIn profile and proactively look for connections? This may be a softer introduction to building their networking skills that your mentee will be comfortable to work on as a quick win. Are they part of any industry associations such as a Local Enterprise Partnership, do they attend any keyholder meetings; anywhere that exposes them to new circles is an opportunity to use their networking skills.
Challenge your mentee to consider how others see them. What do they bring to their working relationships, how do they act? Ask them to justify their thoughts.
Using coaching style questions helps the mentee to reflect and establish the reality of any perceived fears, recognise their strengths and how they can refine existing skills. It may also serve as a reminder to reassess your own networking connections.