7 Reasons Why Mentoring Matters

What is mentoring (and why DOES it matter)? 

Most often mentoring involves two people. A mentor and a mentee. The role of the mentor is to help the mentee along a road that leads towards some from of life or career improvement.  

Usually, a mentor has experience in an area the mentee either doesn’t, or, has little knowledge of. The mentor uses their experience, skills and knowledge to aid the mentee.  
It could be a job interview, a skill improvement they need for their current job, or a completely new skill with a view to a career change.  

A mentor can help with any and all of these things. 
Mentoring matters because it advances people’s careers and improves their life skills

Does everyone have a mentor?

No, but perhaps everyone should. Mentors are guides for people. They bring a new perspective – often an outside perspective with more awareness and experience in something the mentee needs or wants to learn anew – or get better at. Often a mentor is a specialist in a particular skill that doesn’t exist in a company the mentee is working at. 
Mentoring matters because it opens up more learning opportunities for more people.

Is a mentor like a teacher then?

Yes, in some ways. They are definitely ‘teaching’ their mentee something.  
However – there’s no classroom and no set curriculum. Mentors don’t come with a set agenda that they have to teach their mentee. In fact, mentor and mentee work on the skills and experiences the mentee needs to learn together. All good mentoring relationships start with a session that covers exactly what it is the mentee is looking to get from the mentoring. Whether it’s a new skill, or a way of working, or even a specialist skill like ‘time management’. The biggest difference between a mentor and a teacher – is that the person learning sets the agenda.  
Mentoring matters because a mentor teaches what the mentee wants to learn.

Is choosing the right mentor important?

Yes, critically important. The right mentor will not only pass on the important skills and knowledge to their mentee – they also act as an ally and a connector. The impact of mentorship is greater the better the fit of mentor a mentee chooses. 

As a mentor is usually (not always) more experienced and better connected, they can open doors for a mentee that might otherwise have stayed closed. They are likely to have more influential contacts in the field the mentee is looking to progress within. So, choosing the right mentor who not only has the right knowledge and experience, but who can also help a mentee’s career progression in other ways is important. Mentorship benefits exist both sides of the relationship. 
Mentoring matters because it opens doors and opportunities. 

Can a mentor help shortcut a career then?

Can a mentor help shortcut a career then? 
Absolutely 100% a mentor can and will provide ways to shortcut their mentee’s career. They will have already overcome the challenges the mentee is facing. And because of that, they’ll also be aware of upcoming challenges and roadblocks the mentee maybe hasn’t foreseen yet. 
“A problem shared is a problem halved” a phrase that’s as true today as it’s ever been. Working with somebody who has already overcome challenges a mentee faces in the short AND long-term will allow them to save hours, days or weeks over trying to figure things out for themselves.  
Mentoring matters because it speeds up career progression. 

Does a mentor hold a mentee accountable?

Yes, in fact two of the more important mentoring skills a mentor will bring are goal setting and accountability for those goals. The important ingredient is – they are the mentee’s goals. The reason the relationship exists is to enable the mentee to meet the goals that they themselves set at the start of the mentoring relationship. A mentor will help a mentee set themselves SMART goals. 

Once those goals have been set and agreed on, a core part of the mentor role is to make sure the mentee remembers and works towards those goals. 
Mentoring matters because it ensures actions are taken and goals are met.

What’s in it for the mentor?

An awful lot. While it may seem that mentoring predominantly benefits mentees – there are LOTS of mentorship benefits too.  
Including, but not limited to: 

– Increased sense of self. While talking mentees through their challenges and helping them set goals, the mentor gets to reflect on their own values and accomplishments. Few things in life feel as good as helping another human achieve success. 

– Increased interpersonal skills. A mentor gets to practice several important skills through mentoring. Active listening, patience, empathy and communication skills are all incredibly valuable skills that mentors hone while mentoring.  

– Increased leadership skills. Even if a mentor isn’t in a leadership position at their current job, they are effectively ‘leading’ their mentee by setting frameworks and tasks and helping define SMART goals with their mentee.  

– Increased chances of promotion. Working as a mentor makes promotions much more likely -as evidenced by this experiment carried out by Sun Microsystems large mentoring trial. Mentoring importance is easily measured by increased opportunities as the mentee can showcase a new set of skills that employers find desirable. 

– Increased confidence. As a mentee starts to grow and succeed, the mentor’s confidence grows alongside it. The knowledge that the mentee is blossoming because of the impact of mentorship enables the mentor to also gain confidence from the mentee’s success. Realising they have the ability and wherewithal to impact someone’s development in a positive way. 
Mentoring matters because BOTH sides of the mentoring relationship benefit. 

Who can work as a Mentor?

Almost anyone can work as a mentor. As long as they’ve been successful in some aspect of a job role that someone else wants to learn. If someone has a teachable skill of any description – they can work as a mentor.  

It’s also really good for a ‘career encore’ after retirement or following, (maybe even during) a career break. Mentoring can be a profitable sideline for anyone who currently has a job that gives them free time and they’d like to try their hand at mentoring.  

Sites like Career Navig8r allow people to really niche down their mentoring to defined job roles – which means more people can work as mentors and provide value to people looking to become mentees. 

 If you’re wanting to further explore the advantages of being a mentor – head over to Career Navig8r and get ready to start working as a mentor