The Secret isn’t Actually in the Sauce: What Makes a Great Mentor

One of the more challenging things to do as a tenured professional with advanced skills is mentor or train a novice – sharing the "secret sauce" behind their excellence often stumps the experienced veteran.

Some people attribute their struggle to train a novice to a difference in natural talent, better motivation, or the rigor of their work ethic. They're not necessarily wrong about the natural talent thing, but frequently the trouble starts when they leave out the most critical part of transferring their expertise; that is, the most basic part of how they got to where they are – the secret really isn’t in the sauce.




Effective mentoring has to start with the details of the foundation – the core activities, knowledge and expertise developed over years as one moves from novice, to proficient, to expert. Basic information that can be hard to remember because it's so second nature – things the expert does without even thinking about doing them.

This challenge was abundantly clear during a project working with chefs to translate rough recipes into polished how-to guides for cook books and live demo hand-outs. The chefs had no problem describing the “sauce,” the finishing steps that made each dish special or unique. What they struggled with was remembering the basic steps that went into the fundamental preparation; steps that are second-nature to an experienced chef but a complete mystery to anyone without a culinary degree and decades in a kitchen.

They would omit critical things like adding salt and pepper when sautéing or even how long it would take to properly complete the sauté process – instead they'd say, “Then you add the sautéed onions.” Wait, when exactly did we sauté some onions? What kind of onions were they? How did we do that? The chefs forgot these steps because “everyone knows that.” Actually…no, not so much.

Explaining that the average person has no clue about basic food prep and they needed to spell out every little detail was time consuming and frustrating for everyone. On several occasions they would huff out, “You just do it! You should know that!”

Then, My Turn

When I was asked to quickly train a replacement for my former job, I developed a lot of sympathy for the chefs. It was suddenly clear to me that describing the “sauce” was the simple part. The extra touches, the broad strokes and the value-adds were the easiest to remember and relate because they’re things I think about most when I focus on how I do what I do.

On the other hand, remembering all of the little details, basic skills and foundation knowledge built over years was challenging. Also, it was difficult to communicate how seemingly trivial details were vital to success and critical to growing expertise. Without the basic ingredients and knowledge, there’s no possible way to reproduce the dish.

This is why experts mentoring or training a novice can seem impatient, exasperated, disparaging or rude. Their core knowledge, what they think everyone knows, is the specialized information their trainee needs to build a strong foundation, and it’s what the expert struggles to communicate clearly.

To top it off, the trainee will not necessarily admit their ignorance of the basics the expert skips. After all, they’re trying to make a good impression and, since the trainer acts as if this is basic stuff everyone should know, they attempt to hide their lack of knowledge and bluff it out. Yet, without those basic steps, there’s no chance they can recreate the expert's results.

And, Go

If you’ve agreed to be a mentor, or you need to train a novice, and you’re expert-level at whatever you do, here’s a few ways to check out what you know that your mentee also needs to know to do whatever it is you do so well:

• Corner a friend, tell them how to accomplish something in your skill set and see how they react. Did they ask a lot of questions? Did their eyes glaze over as they drifted away? Did they run screaming? Ask them how it went and if they understood what you do enough to give it a try. 
• Find a junior colleague who’s still learning the ropes and ask them what they think is most important to know to do the job well.
• Read industry or skills training information for whatever it is you do to see how that author’s perspective on key skills matches your perception.
• Sit down and record yourself working– talk yourself through it detailing every step and thinking about how you know to do that or what comes next – listen later and take notes to share with your trainee.

I’m sure there are even more creative ways to reinvigorate your core knowledge, the vast wealth of information that is the foundation of your expertise, and be an amazing, effective mentor. If you have a favorite technique or creative solution, please share in the comments.

A darn good sauce doesn’t do anything if there’s nothing to put it on.