The Power of Mentorship

I’ve been both a mentor and a mentee many times over in my career. I can confirm from experience that on both sides of that relationship, mentorship offers a wealth of benefits that extend far beyond professional development.

What’s great about mentorship is that you can take on either role at any point in your career (or life!). There’s always someone who would love your help, and always someone who can further your progress. Everyone has value, and I want to help you see it, and use this powerful relationship dynamic to your advantage.

Finding a Mentor: The Search for Guidance?

A mentor can provide the guidance and support needed to navigate new challenges and identify solutions, no matter where you are in your career. Whether you seek guidance as you strive for a career milestone, look to pivot completely, or are simply in need of a seasoned sounding board, the right mentor can be invaluable.?

Here are some of my tips to help you find the right mentor:

• Look across your network. Identify colleagues, former managers, or someone within your industry whose career path inspires you. Pro tip: You can check your LinkedIn connections (2nd and 3rd degree count too!) by industry, job title, etc. to make the initial connection.
• Seek out those you admire. Don’t settle, and don’t stop at job titles. Approach people whose work ethic, approach to challenges, or mindset really resonate with you. Make this decision based on career/track, reputation, published work (follow them to see what they share)...
• Don’t be afraid to ask. Reach out and express your interest in learning from them. Most people appreciate the opportunity to share their experiences if you approach the conversation correctly. Pro Tip: Based on my experience, please don’t just focus on what you stand to gain from them. Instead, show how much you appreciate them and their expertise to start a more mutually-beneficial relationship.
• Stay open to informal mentorship. Some of the best mentor-mentee relationships develop organically through casual conversations and shared experiences. You don’t have to officially have the “will you be my mentor?” talk to derive value from people.

Being an Effective Mentor: The Art of Giving Back

If you’re considering becoming a mentor in an official or unofficial capacity (i.e., you want to help others level up their careers), it’s important to understand that it’s more than just offering advice; it’s about building a relationship based on trust, respect, and mutual growth.

Here are some of my best tips for being an effective mentor:

• Listen actively. Focus on understanding your mentee’s concerns and goals before offering advice. It’s better to empower them to articulate their own thoughts, come to their own conclusions, and take ownership of their decisions than it is to push them in a direction that you think is right. To ensure I’m actively listening, I like to rephrase and repeat what I’m hearing back to them, to make sure I understand the point they’re making and allow them to course-correct me when I’m just a little off.
• Set clear expectations. Be honest with yourself and your prospective mentee about the commitment you’re making. If you’re formalizing the relationship, it’s important to discuss the goals, frequency of meetings, and preferred methods of communication early on. Otherwise the relationship can easily fall low on the priority scale and end up doing more harm than good.
• Share your experiences. This is an important one – experiences of all kinds are valid and important – and sometimes mistakes are the most valuable thing you can share. Don’t hesitate to be vulnerable. Sharing your own challenges, failures, and ‘lessons learned’ can have a profound impact on your mentee, and serve as an important reminder for you. Leverage a bad experience into a positive learning experience.
• Encourage feedback. Foster an environment where your mentee feels comfortable providing feedback, and be open to making adjustments to improve the relationship. This means providing plenty space for questions, answering with honesty, and sometimes letting silence linger to allow room for deeper thinking.

The Mutual Benefits of Mentorship

Something that’s easy to forget when you’re on the mentor side of the relationship is that this should be a two-way street. Both mentors and mentees get considerable benefits from a well-run mentor relationship. Here are some of them, from my experience:

For Mentees

It can be scary to put yourself out there and try to find a mentor. But there’s a lot you stand to gain if you’re willing to put in the effort, including:

• Access to knowledge. This is the first and most obvious benefit, so I’d be remiss not to include it. Mentors provide insights from past experiences that can help you avoid common pitfalls, accelerate your growth, and make more well-rounded decisions.
• Fresh perspectives. A mentor helps you see opportunities and challenges in a new light. And not just any new light (because your siblings, friends, and parents could fill that role), but a new light with relevant context and the benefit of experience.
• Network expansion. Finally, mentors can introduce you to industry contacts and unearth new opportunities as they get to know - and trust - you more.

For Mentors

Though it’s less intuitive, the mentor gets a lot out of this experience too. I didn’t realize how much mentoring would help my own journey, but here’s what I’ve gotten out of it:

• Meaningful Reflection: Mentoring challenges you to think critically about your own career journey. It gives you an opportunity to reframe situations you’ve experienced in a way that’s geared toward practical knowledge sharing/learning. While that may seem to primarily benefit your mentee, trust me when I tell you that I’ve learned just as much through this process.
• Improved Leadership Skills: Mentoring is, in effect, a leadership exercise. It provides a setting for you to hone your ability to practice patience, display empathy, and honestly communicate about work issues, but outside a work environment.
• Personal Growth: I’ve enjoyed a lot of personal growth out of my mentoring experience. If you’ve ever taught someone something, you may have noticed this requires you to understand it better. Teaching is more than talking. Guiding someone else leads to your own development, as both a teacher and a student.

Closing Thoughts

Mentorship is one of the most valuable relationships you can build in your career – and I believe that’s true for both parties. So here’s your permission slip (or gentle nudge) to reach out, connect, and take the plunge.?

If you’re lucky enough to be approached, or to sense that there may be an opportunity to share your experience for the benefit of someone in your orbit, please embrace it. That’s the benefit of your experience, so consider sharing it.?

Let the power of mentorship propel your career forward—no matter what side of the relationship you’re on.