Do you need a Mentor? Read my article before targeting one.

It's an exciting, humbling and satisfying experience to mentor other professionals. While the first time I questioned myself on my eligibility to become a mentor, I soon realised how my vast experience in diverse industries, cultures, and environments could support other professionals, especially those in their early careers or passionate about trying other avenues. I'm fortunate and privileged to have mentored more than 100 individuals, formally or informally, and nothing excites me more than seeing them being more capable than me. I'm the one who's now learning from their passion, determination, resilience and sticking with their value.

Alice, a friend of mine, came to me to approach her ideal mentor. "My potential mentor asked me why I have chosen him," she says. "Good question. Why him?" I replied. Let me share my answers with you.

We are human beings, first, then mentors!

A mentor is neither a God nor the best practitioner in the world. Good mentors have enough experience to share, but more importantly, they are great at sharing those experiences caringly. Every single mentorship session of mine should finish with my mentee feeling empowered and excited about the future. That's what I have in mind before those sessions. I'm on a mission at all times. It takes me less than 5 minutes talking to a mentee to understand if they need mentorship, a job, want to improve or tick a box somebody gave them.

I was awaiting a mentee in a cafe in Adelaide. He arrived on time, sat down and said, "Oh, that's interesting. We can see the tram project you worked on before from here. Good choice for a meeting venue." Well, I must admit I was flattered by the fact that not only did he study me before the meeting, but he showed his fascination on an experience in my life that I cherish. The connection was built in 10 seconds by him.

So, first thing first, find out who these mentors are, their value, their contribution to society and communities, and what they are proud of. See if you share the same value and thoughts with them. If not, don't waste your time or theirs. The connection between two human beings is the key to building a good and long-lasting relationship.

What does excite me as a mentor?

Some of the mentees' questions are so challenging that I need to dig down numerous memories of my career and experience to answer those questions. The best questions are scenario-based when they throw a scenario at me, asking how best I can handle it. Of course, my answers to those questions matured through many years of experience and dealing with various individuals with different backgrounds. If the scenario is theirs, while they can still decide their actions, the mentor's advice significantly reduces the risk of taking a less successful approach.

Another topic that makes me happy is when the mentee asks me about a situation in their lives and want me to give them advice. My answer usually is, "What are your three options to tackle this?" Most of the time, the mentees find the best answer themselves, but occasionally the mentor can give a different perspective to the topic. The mentors have already dealt with many scenarios and learned through the lessons.

Don't stick with one mentor!

Mentors are great humans who like to empower others by giving back their time with no immediate rewards. They have their strengths and areas of improvement themselves, and they are not perfect.

Therefore, as your mentor analyses you, you should also analyse your mentor and determine which of your areas of improvement can be satiated by this mentor. For other areas, find other mentors, and be proactive on it.

Now you know what to do. Get out there, find professionals who share the same value with you and have been driving the value, and let them know that you love to have their vast knowledge and experience in a mentorship relationship.