Reasons Why You Need A Mentor
Mentorship is essential in the work and business world for career, personal and professional growth. Hiring and choosing the right mentor(s) is vital for people who desire to achieve and attain new levels of success and growth. Therefore, it is essential to research extensively and look out for specific needs and qualities when choosing a mentor. For instance, entrepreneurs, business managers, and upcoming entrepreneurs might have all the creative ideas in the world, but lack experience and technicality in implementing such ideas; hence the need for mentorship. Mentorship has over time become popular, resourceful, and accepted in ever-changing work and business settings.
Who is a Mentor?
A mentor(s) can be defined as an individual or group of individuals with specialties, knowledge, expertise, and experience individuals need to motivate, educate, promote, inspire or stimulate them in their personal life, profession/chosen career, or both. Unlike coaches, mentors are not paid for their services; instead, they offer guidance to mentees, who are less experienced and aid them during the learning process, thereby establishing trust and imbibing positive behaviors in them. Most mentors are driven by the challenge of helping others achieve their desired goals, while others enjoy and understand the value of passing their wisdom and knowledge to emerging talents and people in the business and work environment.
The Mentor and Mentee Relationship; How does it work?
The mentor and mentee relationship works both formally and informally. Formal mentorship involves detailed and specific scheduling; the mentor and mentee choose the specific time(s) and date(s). Depending on the situation, meetings are held in specific or various locations. The informal mentor and mentee relationship, on the other hand, involves conversations, guidance, and motivation through emails, calls, and texts. In this scenario, mentees call or text mentors, without necessarily meeting in person.
Reasons Why You Need A Mentor
Enumerated below are reasons why mentees need mentors to enhance their personal and professional life;
- Personal Growth
- Constructive Criticism
- Words of Encouragement
- Increased Knowledge
- Unbiased Opinions
- Firm Boundaries
- Goal Setting
- New Perspective
- Trusted Ally
- Networking Connection
Personal Growth: Perhaps, this is the most important reason why mentees need mentors. Mentors source for teaching techniques that stimulate mentee’s growth. Rather than creating them in their own image, mentors give mentees the opportunity to create themselves. Relatively, mentors devise means and sought for ways to encourage and stimulate your personal growth. Mentors examine your expertise, skills, and abilities; once they understand them, they may choose to give you a specific task to work on, with the aim of seeing how well or not you perform. Depending on your performance, mentors might choose to give you another task or challenge to test and ascertain your growth. Also, mentors give extensive feedback on the assigned task, detailing what and where you did well, your flaws or mistakes, and areas you need to improve on. This invariably contributes to the personal growth of the mentee.
Constructive Criticism: Mentors are brutally honest; they tell mentees exactly how it is, rather than concealing and downplaying perceived and obvious weaknesses. They have a way of offering constructive criticism on faults they see during the mentoring process. While friends and families may be reluctant to offer criticism that will bring about changes in your professional and personal life, mentors often criticize your faults, which is aimed at strengthening and pointing out areas of your career or life that need improvement. Mentees are often advised to encourage mentors to always point out their fragilities. Without constructive criticism, personal growth takes longer to achieve.
Words of Encouragement: Although constructive criticism stimulates improvement in mentees, words of encouragement arguably play a bigger role in the life of the mentee. When you are faced with and dealing with a difficult situation, negative thoughts and emotions often set in. Words of encouragement and positivity from your mentor will go a long way in assuaging the situation. Mentors, through their positive and encouraging words, spurn mentees, motivate them to do more despite the challenges, and help them come out of tough situations unscathed.
Increased knowledge: Mentors are an island of knowledge; they offer mentees valuable and essential knowledge needed in their careers and personal lives. Whether you intend to change your career, venture into entrepreneurship or make a change in your personal life, there are people who have done and attained similar milestones. Therefore, when choosing mentors, you should go for people who have experienced a similar profession or career, they will give you the best insights and knowledge on what you need to do in your current professional level or phase of life.
Unbiased Opinions: Since mentors are neutral and play neutral roles in mentees’ life, they have the capability and technical know-how to offer unbiased opinions on essential issues. Mentors represent great resources to tap from when you are thinking of starting a business for example. You may be enshrined with different ideas but confused on which to venture into, your mentor may draw from his/her past experiences, examine the ideas, and give unbiased opinions that they believe are best suited for you and your growth.
Firm Boundaries: Mentors have over time created boundaries that make mentees feel safe. They set and map out priorities, define and enumerate unacceptable behavior and guide you on how to balance your work-life schedule. Mentors make mentees aware of issues that are affecting their well-being emotionally and foster solutions on how to overcome challenges with boundaries.
Goal Setting: Mentors provide help and assistance with setting and achieving goals that keep mentees accountable and on their toes. A mentor can help you progress in your career by setting general and specific goals for you and explaining clearly to you the action plan to take in achieving the goals.
New Perspective: Having a mentor is life-changing; because mentors help you find and understand yourself, as well as assist you in knowing who you want to become. Through conscious efforts, mentors enhance the feeling of discovery and awareness in mentees. After working with a mentor, you may decide to pass on experiences and knowledge learned to others, thereby providing you with a new perspective on life.
Trusted Ally: Mentors have become trusted and objective third-party resources. They work to earn your trust by keeping conversations confidential, replying to your emails on time, showing up for appointments promptly, and paying attention to your worries. Having a mentor as your trusted ally accelerates your growth and progress in the business and work environment.
Networking Connections: Finally, mentors are a reliable source or channel for networking. Your mentor can share his network contacts and connections with you. This enhances and increases your chances of expanding your professional connections and subsequently creates new opportunities for you. Also, your mentor may decide to invite you to partake in business conferences thereby, enabling you to make more contacts.