Mentorship is a valuable way to learn from experienced professionals, gain insights into the marketing industry, and develop your skills and network. However, to make the most of your mentorship experience, you need to prepare yourself and set clear goals and expectations. Here are some important steps to follow before you start your mentorship journey.
What do you want to achieve from your mentorship? Do you want to improve your technical skills, learn new strategies, explore different career paths, or get feedback on your work? Having a clear vision of your desired outcomes will help you find a suitable mentor, communicate your needs, and measure your progress. Write down your specific and realistic objectives and prioritize them according to your urgency and importance.
Your mentor should help you achieve your goals. But first, you have to know what your goals are. Do you want a mentor to help in your personal or professional life? Do you want their feedback in regards to your corporate job or an entrepreneurial side hustle? Focusing first on your vision ensures you find a mentor who is a good fit with where you are and where you want to be.
Once you have defined your objectives, you need to look for potential mentors who can help you reach them. You can search for mentors within your organization, network, online platforms, or professional associations. When researching potential mentors, consider their background, expertise, reputation, availability, and compatibility with your goals and personality. You can also ask for referrals from your colleagues, friends, or other mentors.
After you have narrowed down your list of potential mentors, you need to reach out and introduce yourself. You can send a polite and professional email, message, or call to express your interest in their work, explain why you want to learn from them, and request a meeting or a phone call. Be respectful of their time and avoid being too pushy or demanding. You can also attach your resume, portfolio, or LinkedIn profile to showcase your skills and achievements.
The first meeting with your mentor is crucial to establish rapport, trust, and expectations. Before the meeting, you should prepare some questions to ask your mentor, such as their career journey, their current projects, their challenges and successes, their advice and tips, and their preferred style and frequency of communication. You should also be ready to answer some questions from your mentor, such as your goals, your strengths and weaknesses, your challenges and opportunities, and your expectations from the mentorship.
After the first meeting, you should work with your mentor to set SMART goals and action plans for your mentorship. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Your goals should reflect your objectives, align with your mentor's expertise, and challenge you to grow and learn. Your action plans should outline the steps, resources, and deadlines to achieve your goals. You should also agree on how to track and evaluate your progress and performance.
The last step to prepare for your mentorship experience is to seek feedback and follow up with your mentor regularly. You should ask for constructive feedback on your work, skills, and attitude, and use it to improve and learn. You should also give feedback to your mentor on how they are helping you, what you appreciate, and what you need more or less of. You should follow up with your mentor after each session, thank them for their time and guidance, and update them on your achievements and challenges.
A mentor can be anyone who is an experienced person & has the expertise to advise and thereby help somebody with less experience in a few selected matters over a period of time. They may be a SME ( Subject Matter ?Expert) related ?to a specific field or may be any other person from unrelated fields who can help us navigate through our profession or personal journey. Now, before we opt for a mentorship journey, first of all, we must identify the key areas where mentors can help with their specific abilities.? In marketing, if we are thinking of developing our competencies related to knowledge about products, markets, and competition, we might need a SME of Marketing, & for Behavioral or Conceptual skills, we may need a different mentor.
Develop a list of questions or topics you want to discuss with your mentor. This ensures that your conversations are focused and productive.