How can you benefit from having a mentor in your field?

Yes, Mentors are excellent! In my experience, having a Mentor perfects one's craft. They help you see further than you were able to see, before the connection. Mentors challenge you to be open-minded, to explore new perspectives. Personal branding is very important in career/success development. Therefore, Mentors can help one examine previous pitfalls, creating ways to avoid things that don't help hone, improve, construct success. It's important to really utilize a Mentor to their fullest; pick their brain and listen with the intent to exchange "fear of failure" with an attitude of acceleration and altitude.

There are many benefits to mentoring in my field, such as strategic development. Here are some of the most significant ones: Learn from your mentor's success and avoid their mistakes. Additionally, they can provide insights into the industry. Career support. Making a career plan and defining your goals can help. Invest in networking. Mentors can introduce you to other strategic development professionals. help you find a job. Self-development. Mentoring can help you improve your problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills. Their feedback and support will help you succeed. Mentoring improves confidence, broadens perspectives, and re-energizes. Enhancing your skills and advancing your career can be made possible with mentorship.

Mentors in your field are important, but what if it is the wrong field? What if the mentor is great at the usual way, but has not integrated important areas? When we matched health professional students to mentors in underserved communities, there was rich learning in many dimensions as they worked with a non-clinical mentor, worked on community projects, did COPC cycles, and worked with a wide variety of community members? You are not going to fix the problems of health care with the same designers mentoring their colleagues and replacements the same way in key positions - CMS, Congressional staff, literature, research funding...

Mentors should NOT be in your field. Masters are the teachers of the Apprentice who becomes a Journeyman who becomes a Master in a field of craftsmanship. Mentors are NOT in your field because a mentor is a Sage, a Guru, a spiritual counselor. The Mentor is not a teacher in with expertise in a field of study like architecture, science, accounting, medicine and law. When lawyers begin to believe they are Doctors of Medicine when they are a Doctor of Law or when engineers believe they are architects the world will be infected with COVID and hospitals will collapse in a hurricane or earthquake.

A mentor is someone who has had more life experience in the field. They can assess your skills, build your confidence by praising things you do well and assist you to develop in neglected areas. They coach, they provide advice but they are also humble enough to know they can learn from your strengths. They push you to do more than you think you can achieve. A mentor can help you because bigger fish in the pond you are in, but very few can help you transfer into a large lake.

Mentors have the ability to push your brand! They are very helpful in broadcasting your talents and unique qualities, thus advancing you into the next career level. Mentors work with you to establish meaningful connections and offer tools on ways to add Professionals to your deck that believe in your skills and abilities, those who want to see you successful! Mentors don't just talk with you without pushing you forward. New avenues arise when you take a Mentor's advice, especially since they have an abundance of resources, friends, coworkers, business partners, etc. Mentors push you from simply having potential into progressing forward by having meaningful connections. Similarly, Mentors "mentor" you to pay-it-forward, mentoring others.

One of the things that I’ve found to be extremely helpful about mentors, aside from their shared experiences and expertise, is when their values and goals align with yours. If you and your mentor are on the same page with respect to your mission and what you want to accomplish in your field, then the experiences they share and the advice they’re able to provide will likely prove to be exponentially helpful, so my advice would be to seek out a mentor who has a similar vision or has already accomplished the goals you’ve set for yourself.

A mentor's purpose is to help you to think at a higher level and provide guidance, so you mature professionally. A good mentor doesn't provide many answers, rather they ask you the questions that you should be asking. Good mentors give you the questions to the test. It is your job to learn and answer those questions: as it is your personal journey not theirs. Having a good mentor can be frustrating and the value of the relationship is dependent on how much work you put into it. A mentor is not a life coach, nor is it their responsibility to promote your brand and open doors for you.

In order to absorb everything that a Mentor has to offer you, humility is at the forefront. You must see the need for their guidance, time and effort. Mentors are very focused on helping you succeed but your help. You're in the driver's seat and they're there to assist you, much like a navigation system. They want to make sure that you take the fastest and wisest road to your success. Mentors want to help you build career longevity. Mentees must be interested in taking constructive criticism, no matter how hard it is to swallow. Mentors aren't successful because they've never listened to anyone, rather they've listened and as as a result, they're successful! You can be too as long as you listen to take their advice!

I have benefited from mentors in the same field. Because my mentor was in medicine, she knew the unique issues that those in medicine face, when I entered pharma, a more experienced pharma professional mentored and guided me as I acclimated to this new role. Now, I have again pivoted back into medicine, but in the education arena. I had taught part-time for years, but full-time education is a different ballgame! Having a more experienced educator take me under their wing has been helpful. My mentors' roles were not to train or "in-service" me. Their role was to give me insight and advise me.

Mentors are a pivotal part of growth and development, both in personal and professional life. Mentors value you and work with you to operate at your fullest! Setting expectations are important when starting a Mentorship experience. Choosing a Mentor that has been successful at mentoring others is also important; you want to select someone that you can see yourself working with for however long you both decide. Some Mentors turn out to be lifelong friends! Be sure to research them and also to make sure that you've properly constructed your goals so that you can focus on those. Make the most of your Mentorship. Listen with intent to improve, enhance, hone your skills. Make use of their time wisely.

In my experience, it is important to first understand your expectations and needs for what you want in a mentor prior to seeking out one. This helps to ensure you find a mentor tailored to your goals and needs. The benefits of a mentor are incredible as long as you are active in learning through the mentorship. Mentors (both inside and outside of your field) are a valuable resource in personal and professional growth.

Medicine has a tradition of "mentors" since before Hippocrates. Those fortunate enough to find medical mentors receive enormous benefit to their careers, though there can be exploitation by a mentor for his own gain. The article's advice is helpful in terms of seeking out and working with an ideal mentor who has the complementary skills that you need, and the time to work with you to develop them. But mentoring can also be received from those who are not intentional mentors. Physicians can seek to emulate those qualities that we admire in others, no matter their field, and even sometimes if they are not alive. Patients can be wonderful mentors for physicians. We can even learn from miserable "mentors": how NOT to be in this world.

The best compliment I have ever received was an acknowledgement from a staff member stating, “you have been an amazing mentor and boss”. Leaders are mentors without having the role assigned. Mentors are basically role models. Teach others, guide them, provide constructive criticism and positive affirmations often. Your success as a leader is based on the success of the people you supervise on a daily basis. Embrace the mentor mentality. It is truly self fulfilling.