Mentoring Peers (How & Why)

I've had a lot of mentors over the years. Some good, some bad. How's that possible?

Rookie Mistake = Managers Aren't Mentors

Early in my career, I made the mistake of assuming my managers were my mentors. They were in charge of my work, so they should be the ones guiding my growth, right? Wrong! I had more than a few managers who were poor mentors - and for good reason. They didn't see being my mentor as their job. I quickly learned if I wanted good mentors, I needed to seek them out on my own.

My First (Unexpected) Top Mentor

Years ago, I landed a job at a large staffing company. It was the biggest company I had ever worked for. I saw lots of potential to climb in my career there. However, I was new to the industry and didn't know a soul at the company. I put my head down and got to work. One day, I was given the opportunity to meet with the Managing Director. She wanted an update on the project I was working on. She was very well respected in the company and known for "fast-tracking" careers of top performers. Needless to say, I was excited to meet her.

As we discussed the project she bluntly said, "I've heard a lot of good things about you. Your manager and co-workers really like working with you. But, I want you to know that I didn't agree with the team's decision to launch this project. I think it's a lost cause. I hope you can succeed, but I doubt it can be done."

Imagine being told the project you were hired for wasn't going to succeed by one of the most powerful people in the company? Kind of scary. Don't ask me what possessed me that day to do this, but instead of running off to hide or cry, I smiled and said, "What makes you feel that way?" She began to explain the backstory of what lead to the decision to launch the project and where she felt the logic was flawed. I then said, "What do you need to see happen to deem this project a success?" She stopped for a moment. Then, she smiled and said, "Well, I think we need to...." and she proceeded to map out what she wanted. Finally, I said, "Would you be willing to mentor me as I do this so we can achieve these objectives?" She agreed and we set a schedule to meet regularly. I'm happy to say she was an incredible mentor, the project was a success, and I was promoted in under a year.

Most importantly, I learned a powerful lesson that day...

Secret Revealed: You Must Earn the Right to Ask Top Mentors to Guide You

When you gain the respect of top mentors, you can also earn the right to ask them to guide you.The best mentors need to see something worth mentoring in you. Good mentors want to help you leverage your strengths and tap into your larger potential. Which means, you need to prove yourself worthy by working hard and showing your strengths and potential. The best mentors don't waste their time on people who won't make the best use of their mentoring.

With that in mind, here are a few tips for earning the right to ask someone to mentor you:

1) Build your personal brand. The best mentors will review your professional track record to ensure it's solid. Make sure your LinkedIn profile and resume are complete and detailed. Build your credibility with your co-workers and managers and, when the time is right, ask them to post recommendations about working with you online. You need to be known as a top performer who is career-minded AND a good team player. So, act accordingly at all times so you can build your personal brand.

2) Learn what matters to them. Study potential mentors. Review their LinkedIn profiles and do an internet search on their names. See what they care about. What associations are they a member of? What kind of volunteer work do they do? What awards have they won? What does their career trajectories look like? The more you know, the easier it will be for you to connect with potential mentors when the time comes.

3) Consider how mentoring you could help their work. If you do enough studying, you should see how your work could help potential mentors with their own professional goals i.e. how being your mentor could benefit them and create a win-win situation. For example, I recently asked the CEO of a very large company to mentor me. He had just written a book. I offered to work with his PR team on promoting the book and share with him my insights on how we could get more exposure for the book in exchange for some mentoring sessions with him. I benefited from his incredible experience and felt good knowing I could repay him by assisting with the book promotion.

Don't Forget! Here's The Real Reason They Mentor You...

Ask great mentors and they will tell you they get as much out of mentoring (if not more), as they people they mentor. Mentoring helps them evaluate their own approaches to achieving goals. Having to guide others means being able to articulate your own process for success. Top mentors know mentoring others makes them better professionals. So, don't be shy! Build your reputation and go after the best mentors. If they say "yes" - you both win!

- by J.T. O'Donnell