Seriously? Do I need a mentor?

In one of my huddles in a local university, this question came out. It prompted me write about it, so that more can learn about my belief in mentoring. Hope you are blessed with this article too.

With so many problems that people have to go through every phase of their life, mentoring can be the constant source of support you need. A trusted and experienced mentor can provide you with the guidance in order to make the right decisions in life. As the co-chair and Executive Director of the Mentoring SG (www.mentoring.sg ), allow me to share why I have benefited so much from mentoring. My commitment? To build great communities in and outside organisations, where youth can thrive from ample opportunities and find the best of themselves.

1) Practical Advice

In my career and life journey, I have reached many question marks e.g.

• When I had to make decisions about relationships, marriage and parenting
• When I was challenged to build mentoring programmes with zero experience in 2010
• When the mentoring projects ran into difficult funding challenges and I had to decide if I should touch my own money
• When I was asked to use technology to systemize mentoring and it was hard to get people to believe in the vision of an omni-channel mentoring ecosystem
• When I had to switch my career from being a business to HR leader
• When I had to make big changes in life to save for something I really wanted
• When I hit a point in life when I question my purpose and existence

Someone, or some people, walked into my life, held my hands (not literally) and walked through these times with me. Interestingly, now I am mentoring many in the same areas. Life’s challenges and transitions do not change much, don’t they?

Getting impartial advice in today’s world is something that does not happen to everyone. But with a mentor by your side, you can always ask him/her to give you some practical advice. A piece of practical advice will help you understand that the mentor has been in your shoes and knows exactly what he is saying.

This gives a sense of reassurance, and you gain confidence in his abilities. Having a few mentors, with a combination of formal and informal mentoring, allows you to balance the right amount of advice you need, and to discern together with the help of one you can trust.

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2) Psychosocial Support

We are faced with multiple-stress points in society today, and it is normal for us to go through these. When a person undergoes some traumatic event either in their personal life or in their professional career, their social life is also affected due to the consequences or psychological shock that the person gets. But deterring from a healthy social life can aggravate the problem even more. That is why psychosocial support can put a huge impact on our minds and help us return to their normal lives again. Of course, there is a limit as to how much a mentor can support in certain mental wellness related areas, thus, be opened about seeking professional help if needed.

I lost a youth who is so precious to me in 2020, during the heart of the pandemic. The loss was so great that I was unable to perform my role at work. At that point, my leaders at work, played the role of mentors to reconfigure my scope to help me focused on youth impact. Being able to actually do something for our young people helped me recovered quickly, and I became even stronger than before. With that, I am deeply thankful to my leaders Lazada .

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3) Career Navigation

The youth of Singapore who have just got a new job or maybe are dissatisfied with their old one often feel unhappy and lost. But going to a reliable mentor will help you navigate your career in the right direction. The right mentor will help you build your personal and/or leadership skills by giving you the confidence you need. Refining your skills will even help you to progress your job role and take on bigger responsibilities. A mentor can identify the skills that you need to work on. They will help you expand your viewpoints and see newer perspectives that suit your qualities.

In 2010, I fell in love with sales training. I remembered how my leaders in 苹果 and DHL encouraged to take up the challenge to learn how to design content and deliver trainings. I did that, and that opened up a new career trajectory. What was even more precious was that many mentors journeyed with me, coached me and guided me with valuable feedback on how to be a better facilitator. These, then built a natural segue for me into 联合利华 , which is such a supportive company to nurture me, and incubated in me the idea of social mentoring in 2018. Happy to share this amazing journey over my coffee sessions.

In short, a mentor can help a person stay focused in life and achieve greater goals. You can even expand your existing professional network with help from the right mentor. The best course of action is often not visible until and unless someone guides you on the right path and that is exactly what a mentor will do for you. Find a good one.

I have always had strong desire to do more for our young people, but the natural demands of life always made it so difficult to find that balance. I constantly consulted many mentors who continued to point me the right way, gave me a pat on my shoulders, introduced me to new mentors and encouraged me to focus on the mission. I am glad I have great mentors, and I am greatly motivated by the government teams in National Youth Council Singapore , Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) , Ministry of Education, Singapore (MOE) Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore (MSF) as well as corporate organisations such as LinkedIn , TikTok , WeWork and many more for partnering, uplifting our morale, but more importantly, believing in the same mission.

4) SignPost You

I believe that a complete mentoring support consist of a good balance of informal, group and formal mentoring. Not every mentor is responsible to journey life with you the same way, some, will, walk with you a longer way that the others, while some, are simply just ad-hoc buddies who listen and share their stories, injecting inspiration to progress your life. They can play the role of a signpost to point you in the right direction within the Mentoring SG ecosystem. Imagine, your life will always have an inflow and outflow of mentors. You too, will become a mentor to someone, playing different roles depending on when you enter their lives and how you can best support them.

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In short,

Everyone should find a mentor, and everyone can play the role of a mentor.

Every organization can creatively build a complete mentoring network to catalyse your talent outcomes (happy to share more)

Together, we can, and we must, build thriving mentoring communities where youth can find growth opportunities, to be future-ready for what is to come. That is truly the Singapore core.

Check out www.mentoring.sg for more information and I will love to connect with you.

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Kelvin Kong

Executive Director

Mentoring SG

www.mentoring.sg