Individuals starting their career can benefit from such guidance, as it helps them feel comfortable in the role more quickly. For example, a mentor can help a person starting a business learn how to develop their initial business plan and budgets.
A mentor can help their mentee set personal or professional development goals. For effective goal-setting, they can create SMART goals—specific, achievable, relevant and time-based. These goals can help focus the mentee's efforts and make it easier for the mentor to track and assess progress.
They may identify smaller tasks in pursuit of a larger objective to develop specific skills or meet particular priorities. A mentor helps hold their mentee accountable for their goals. By tracking progress, the mentor helps the mentee stay focused and on track towards completing them. It can also ensure that the mentee does not forget about the goals they have set.
Knowing that someone else is watching can serve as motivation, as the mentee likely does not want to let the mentor down by failing to meet goals. When the mentee finds themselves struggling to perform their job or reach a goal, they can turn to their mentor for support. This encouragement can motivate them to keep moving forward despite challenges. A mentor can also identify and express their mentee's strengths to instill confidence in them.
Having a strong sense of confidence can make the mentee less likely to give up on their goals. A mentor can help build their mentee's professional network. When the mentee identifies professional or personal goals, the mentor can connect them to potential opportunities or individuals who can help them. As the mentor typically has more industry experience or a higher-level career, these connections can be valuable for career advancement.
When an individual has ideas, they can use a mentor as a resource to discuss or try them. The mentor can provide unbiased advice or opinions using their relevant knowledge and experience.
With these insights, the mentee can better understand what steps to take and whether to pursue the idea or walk away. Similarly, a mentor can also listen and advise them on daily concerns, such as workplace conflicts. Trust represents a core element of mentoring relationships. The mentee must trust that the mentor has their best interests in mind and will provide accurate and honest guidance.
The business world can also be competitive, so they need to rely on one another to keep confidential information private when necessary. Communicating regularly and following through on their promises demonstrate two methods of establishing trust in these relationships.
Related: 14 Ways to Build Trust in the Workplace. A trusting mentorship relationship enables honest feedback. By establishing trust, the mentee understands that constructive criticism aims to build their professional growth rather than make them feel bad.
Mentors can identify weaknesses and advise them on ways to improve. Because this is a professional relationship, the mentor plays an objective role. Meanwhile, a friend may hesitate to identify the mentee's weaknesses because they do not want to appear critical. For individuals just starting their career, a mentor can help set guidelines on professional expectations. For example, they may clarify the priorities of the role and proper workplace behaviors.
These guidelines can help the mentee establish appropriate work habits that enable them to focus and perform their job successfully. These effective work habits can help them be more productive and impress their supervisors. When possible, individuals should choose mentors who have the experience relevant to their profession or goals.
From not making certain business decisions to fostering certain partnerships, a mentor can help guide you through your entrepreneurial journey. Mentors provide information and knowledge. With a mentor there from the start, I tapped into a wealth of knowledge that got me up to speed faster and shortened that learning curve. Mentors can see where we need to improve where we often cannot. Movie maker George Lucas noted, "Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults that we would like.
It's the only way we grow. This constructive criticism that my mentor offered helped me to see things in myself that I could not recognize. I appreciated that insight because I didn't want someone to pad my ego. Well, I did want someone to pad my ego, but I had to decide that the business was more important. Instead, I wanted to know exactly where I was lacking so I could improve those areas.
Mentors find ways to stimulate our personal and professional growth. Another famous movie director explained, "The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.
He would also set various goals for me and let me loose to see if I could accomplish them on my own, all the while watching from a distance to see how these projects helped me to develop.
For instance, the Talent Mobility Research Report found that over 40 percent of organizations said they did not provide this type of support to employees. And performance reviews and feedback from managers should be enough to point employees in the right direction. Because of this, they also miss out on the benefits of mentorship. One study found that companies promoted employees who were:.
If employees are moving up the career ladder faster with mentorship they must be doing a good job. A mentor is someone who acts as an advisor and support person for someone less experienced. Traditionally, the relationship is between an older employee and a younger one for the purpose of career development. However, many other types of mentoring have also proven successful. Peer mentoring is where colleagues mentor each other and reverse mentoring is where the traditional mentoring relationship is flipped on its head.
And determining whether or not the person giving the feedback has your best interests in mind can lead to confusion. The relationship between you and your mentor is one grounded in honest self-appraisal and valuable guidance. It takes a more holistic approach to your development and includes personal and professional growth.
With the support of a mentor, mentees can stay focused on their career, gain confidence, attain goals, and expand their networks. Having a mentor leads to self-discovery and helps you continue growing your career.
One of the main reasons for mentorships is for the mentee to set goals. SMART goals setting is an acronym that stands for:. One survey found that 93 percent of workers believed that goal setting was key to their work performance. For that reason, mentors are key to employee development. By defining goals and creating smaller steps to get there, mentors help focus mentees on what they need to do to advance their careers.
These goals are also a way to measure the success of the mentorship. Without goals, a mentee has no direction and no plan to get where they want to go. The success of any program is based on the quality of the employees in that program. The world will be a better place for it and so will the legacy you leave. Amazing information in the article on Mentorship.
Most of us think of this as an extra activity — being either a mentor or a mentee or both. Something that takes time, energy and a lot of thinking. Thank you, Sanjeev Menon. I congratulate you Mr. Menon for the article. I started less than 2 years ago in the compliance field. Mentorships are one of the most sacred relationships you can create during your work life.
Not only it is satisfying for the mentor, but also life changing for mentee. You must be logged in to post a comment. Skip to content. Paying it Forward The legacy of mentorship lives on through those you mentor. Finding a Mentor Just like becoming a mentor, finding a mentor is a process that is both deliberate and organic. These questions can include the following: What are my strengths?
What are my weaknesses? What skills do I want to learn? What are my ultimate goals? How much time do I have to dedicate to a mentor-mentee relationship? What is my learning style? What skills do I possess now? Here is a list of qualities that veterans in compliance and in AML look for in potential mentees: Possesses intellectual curiosity Do not just go the extra mile, live in the extra mile Is receptive to guidance without an agenda Listens with intention and mutual respect Highly engaged in both work and tasks assigned received Is willing to share both experiences, success and failure with others Becoming and Being a Mentor Becoming a mentor is one of the most fulfilling roles that experienced professionals can have.
For example: Mentors must make a formal call to action and declaration that you will test the mentorship relationship. This requires a process. How will you communicate? What will you work on first? Mentors have to be available and ready to be there for their mentees while they experience their inevitable struggles inherent to all growth. Mentors have to be tough.
Mentorship is not friendship at least not at first. The ultimate goal is to test the capacity and determination of the mentee. This can be done through questions, activities, conversations, and raw—but constructive—feedback and instructions.
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