Having a mentor is a privilege, it should never be underrated. In the same way, having someone to guide you and share their experiences so that you can learn from them should also never be taken for granted.
We have already highlighted that having a mentor is a good practice as a budding entrepreneur so you should never feel intimidated or think that it is a sign of weakness to seek advice and guidance on your journey to success.
Who is a mentor?
A mentor is someone you can rely on for advice, guidance and support for personal or professional development. Typically, individuals seek mentors to help with their careers, however, it is not only limited to your field or career path. Mentors are about people and they help you to grow as a person that will also translate to your job.
Oprah Winfrey met her mentor Maya Angelou back in the 1970s when she was just starting out her career and credits her as being the greatest mentor she’d ever known. She called Angelou one of the greatest influences in her life.
Similarly, Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, served as a mentor to co-founder Mark Zuckerberg during the early years of the company.
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin says, “I wouldn’t have got anywhere in the airline industry without the mentorship of Sir Freddie Laker.” Freddie Laker was an airline entrepreneur best known for Laker Airways. In his blog, he has also highlighted some of these great mentor relationship between successful entrepreneurs.
What is mentorship?
Mentorship is about a relationship. A relationship between two people that is involves acts of knowledge sharing, providing guidance and direction.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s close friendship is constantly highlighted so it is no surprise that Gates credits Buffet for some of his success.
He also understands the significance of mentorship. “Understandably there’s a lot of ego, nervous energy and parental pride involved, especially with one- or two-person start-ups…Going it alone is an admirable, but foolhardy and highly flawed approach to taking on the world,” he explains.
Nevertheless, we also don’t want to confuse coaching with mentoring. Coaching is generally a short-term relationship between two people in which the coach uses thought-provoking and creative strategies to help the client develop personally or professionally. The sessions are more structured and goal specific to just the individual. On the other hand, a mentorship is usually a longer relationship where both parties benefit. The mentor helps the mentee develop professional skills or expertise, and the mentee allows the mentor to hone their leadership skills.
Essentially, both involve development and growth but it comes down to the goal that is to be achieved that will determine whether a mentor or coach is required.
Click on the link to see more differences between a coach and a mentor.
The Top 7 Qualities to Look for In a Mentor
The best mentors typically have five or more years of experience in their fields. However, they also possess certain soft skills that make them successful advisors to those seeking guidance. The qualities are not limited to the industry or field but are applied no matter where you find one. We take a look at seven qualities to look for in a mentor.
1. Enjoy Mentoring
Find a mentor who actually wants to be a mentor. A mentor who is only persuaded or pushed to become a mentor due to company policy or doing a favor for someone, isn’t really a mentor. You won’t be doing yourself any justice, if this individual doesn’t know or doesn’t want to mentor. Typically mentors are one of a kind, they are persons who want to make a difference in someone else’s life and is ready to impart their knowledge, lessons and experiences because they actually want to.
Mentors who want to mentor will have a genuine interest in wanting to encourage, empower, motivate, guide, criticize and help you to grow.
2. Listen and Provides Feedback
You want a good mentor who will not be distracted and practices active listening. Having a mentor who not only talks but listens allows them to ask the right questions and in turn fosters better and open communication. If they are not mindful in the conversation with their mentee, they can miss out on a lot of information that can result in miscommunication and misunderstanding.
A mentor who truly listens to you will ask the right questions. In asking the right questions, the individual is able to find the answers themselves which is more rewarding and allows them to develop their critical thinking skills.
Active listening also helps to identify issues and provide better solutions. If not, they will not be able to precisely identify the mentee’s challenges. As a consequence, the solution that is provided may not be as effective.
All in all, when a mentor can listen to their mentee, they will also provide the right guidance and can provide feedback tailored to them.
3. Experts in their Field
Typically, a mentor is sought in the same field that you are also hoping to become an expert in. As we have mentioned, mentors are seasoned professionals and individuals who have demonstrated years of experience in their field.
This goes without saying. A mentor cannot offer guidance if they do not have the knowledge and experience to impart about their job, roles and responsibilities. However, one of the key things to consider is that when you have someone with experience, you get a front row seat to all the real life insights of the highs and lows of your future career. You will have an idea of how to accept victories with humility and how to overcome challenges with grace.
4. Honest and Shows Integrity
Integrity means doing the right thing. Integrity along with honesty comes from a place of trust. In order for the mentee to grow and develop, they also have to be comfortable with letting their guard down and share their own experiences. For that to happen, honest communication and sharing from a place of truth must start with the mentor.
Additionally, whilst sometimes we don’t wish to hear the truth, a good mentor will always be honest with you. When constructive feedback is provided, you are much more likely to improve and work on the best version of you
5. Willingness to share knowledge
A good mentor is willing to share their knowledge and is never worried about job security or about the mentee working to take their position.
They want to share everything that they know will help you, not just professionally but also personally. All the lessons, the difficulties they had to overcome and triumphs they faced allows it to be relatable and will really help to build the relationship.
By sharing their experiences, you get an opportunity to learn from them. So as the mentee, choose to be curious. Learn and seek out those experiences so you can grow faster, and in return share your experiences freely. Experiences offer so much more value than an opinion.
6. Continuous improvement
Mentors are dedicated. They start from the bottom and put in the work to ensure that they get to the top. Once they get there, it doesn’t stop there. They show an eagerness to continue to learn and are constantly improving themselves.
In the same way, they will challenge you. They help to you to set goals and stick to them. The ultimate satisfaction for a mentor is for them to positively influence your growth from their guidance.
With that said, you also need to be prepared to try new things or adjust your current way of doing things. The mentor is expected to offer their expertise or advice, but if the mentee isn’t willing to learn, the opportunity is wasted.
Ultimately, the aim is not to break you down, but to build you up.
7. Respectful
A fantastic mentor treats everyone equally and with respect. They also respect the time that they spend with you and demonstrate all the skills and qualities that we have highlighted above.
Mutual respect is critical to the growth of the mentorship as if there is no respect the rewards of the experience will be limited.
Therefore, respect needs to be central to the connection as it should go both ways. A mentee should also be willing to respect the experience, wisdom, and authority of the mentor and their time that they took to impart it all. The mentor also respects the trust that the mentee places in them by allowing them to have a say and not having to fear being judged.
If you are looking for a mentor, choose someone who has been where you want to be. Leveraging the knowledge and skills from those more experienced than you in your field, is one of the best ways for self-improvement, to help you grow and sharpen your skills quickly and efficiently.
The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves— Steven Spielberg
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