What is the best way to find a mentor in the workplace?

Goal identification is the key element. you need to be clear to achieve your goal what skill sets are required and where you think there is gap and you need to fill the gap quickly. Identify such mentors who have expertise in the areas where you wish to upskill yourself. show genuine desire, humbleness and curiosity to learn new skills from the mentor. Be respectful, responsible to have closer interactions with the mentor. This shall go in long way in fostering relationships with your mentor who in turn will help you.

Begin by identifying individuals whose career paths inspire you. Reach out with a genuine expression of admiration, seeking guidance. Attend company events or join mentorship programs to expand your network. Building authentic connections is key to unlocking mentorship opportunities in your workplace.

Identify first why you need a mentor. What do you want from your mentor? Will you follow the mentor's advise or not? Will you willing to learn something new or not ?

Start by setting clear career goals and expanding your network within and outside your organization. Keep an eye out for experienced colleagues or supervisors who exhibit qualities you admire. Before reaching out, make sure you have a clear and concise introduction prepared. Then, begin the conversation by expressing your admiration for their work or achievements. Be specific about what you admire and why you believe they could be a valuable mentor.

Agreed. If you don’t have a vision, goals and an idea of the skill set needed in the mentor you have no real guidance to set you or your team up for success. Laying this foundation by establishing necessary capabilities and expectations of the mentor will help you differentiate between an employee who is good at their role vs an employee who is good at their role AND has the skills to motivate and train another employee.

You have to take it a step further than just finding someone who is familiar with the position. I can be excellent in my role and know the ins and outs that doesn’t mean I know how to train another person, how to motivate them, and how to keep their spirits high during the difficult times. It takes a lot more than experience and knowledge to be a good mentor. I feel the empathy, patience and understanding are all required in order to coach another individual and be a good mentor.

Mentors can be in the workplace or not at all. I think, here is more about mentorship at all, than the co-working mentor. You need to find someone (mentor) for whom you have sympathy and are willing to learn to from this person, listen advise, and follow them.

Once you know what your ideal mentor looks like, use your network. Tell some colleagues, managers or friends about it. That's how I often find what I need and every time I am surprised by my amazing network and the power of people! Your network may know somebody who knows somebody and can introduce you. Don't be shy blocking yourself from "asking for support". Especially in Asian countries like China, people do more over their network and we even have WeChat (like WhatsApp) groups for every kind of topic and purpose to get the right resource.

Be respectful and explain why you need a mentor? What you wanna learn from your mentor? Share your goals and expectation form the mentor and what you wanna achieve.

Seek feedback and improvement from your mentor - in my opinion, it should be first. As the clear communication at the first spet will help with many other steps, and also will help to set goals together with the mentor.

We are blessed that we are getting an opportunity to work with five generations (Traditionalists to Gen Z) of the workforce. While this article nicely captures the options for reaching out to someone who has a similar role or a higher position, it misses the whole idea of "reverse mentorship" which is very much required because of frequent changes in technologies. This not only closes the generational gap but also makes the workplace more inclusive.