Mentorship: important in building your career

Are you looking for a great way to start your New Year and to make a difference in the lives of others? Why not become a mentor either in your workplace or community? Why not obtain a mentor to assist in your personal or professional development?

Mentorship can help both the mentor and the mentee to learn new things, build networks and grow as professionals, thus this relationship can provide numerous benefits to both parties.

Mentorship is defined as the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced individual. The purpose of mentoring is to connect an individual who has a lot of knowledge and experience with someone who hasn’t gained the same knowledge or experience.

By having someone who knows more than yourself to share advice, offer guidance and be a sounding board for your thoughts, you stand to benefit from experience beyond your own. Whether in one’s personal or profession life, having a mentor is crucial to all of our continued growth and development.

In a personal or community setting mentoring can have a significant impact on a young person’s life, prospects and outlook. It is a key way of ensuring that young people know that they have someone on hand that they can rely on, provide emotional support, educational and career guidance and generally be there to guide them.

In an organizational/ professional setting, a mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. In this setting a mentor is either in the same filed or in the desired field of the mentee and has advanced knowledge or experience in that field. Rather than learning through trial and error, a mentor is a person one can look to for direction and a role model to imitate. 

Mentorship relationships can be built through networking, personal connections or formal mentorship programs.

The benefits of having a mentor are:

• In a new job, a mentor can assist the mentee to learn and adapt to the workplace culture. This is important for building efficient, productive and inclusive workplaces.
• Mentors enhance or support growth and development as the mentor’s knowledge, insights and information can help train and create a high-quality and productive workforce.
• Mentors can help their mentee/s set personal or professional development goals; evaluate and achieve those goals. They help to hold the mentee accountable for their goals through tracking progress towards their achievement.
• Mentors can help build their mentee’s professional network by connecting them to potential opportunities or individuals who can help them in the advancement of their career.
• Mentorship helps in the development of problem solving skills through partnering a younger/ less experienced employee with a more experienced one, thus the mentee gets to learn from the mentor’s experience.

A Mentorship programme can also be beneficial for the Mentor as well as they stand to gain through:

• Boosting of interpersonal skills. Interactions with a mentee offer numerous opportunities for the mentor to practice and build interpersonal skills, such as communication, active listening, empathy and patience. The strong interpersonal skills can help the mentor to develop relationships and collaborate more effectively, etc.
• Establishment and strengthening of leadership skills, the effective management of the mentee assists in the enhancement of the mentor’s leadership skills and helps in the advancement of one’s career.
• Strengthening of knowledge: through teaching others, the mentor’s knowledge is reinforced and at times rebuilt. The mentor also stands to learn new skills through the mentorship relationship as he/she gains insights into the latest trends or practices. Even though they are responsible for the bulk of the skills development, the mentor can also learn from the mentee.
• Building of confidence through supporting others’ improvement or development. Through the interactions, mentor’s confidence, professional and personal self-worth receive a boost.
• Expansion of the mentor’s perspective: as the mentor connects with someone different from them (e.g. in terms of background, age, skills, etc.) this can help the mentor to think or approach matters differently. This ability can help develop more innovative or creative solutions at work.
• A sense of fulfilment: The mentor can gain inner fulfilment through having assisted or having had a positive impact on another person’s life.

Mentorship is important because it provides employees with the opportunity to develop and become more competent in their roles as well as prepare for growth opportunities in the future. Mentorship programmes assist in making employees more efficient and productive. This in turn assists in the development of positive workplace cultures and in the improvement of collaboration within the organization.

Mentorship also helps with the promotion of diverse and inclusive workplaces, which is invaluable in today’s work environment. Providing and fostering mentorship opportunities is key for organisations that want to attract, develop, retain and engage their talent.

One of the ideal aspects of mentorship is that it can be achieved through a variety of methods/ environments in that, it can be conducted in person, virtually or through hybrid interaction.

Businesses that organise formal mentoring programs stand to benefit from building a strong culture that’s more connected, more engaged, and filled with employees who want to grow within the organisation rather than leave. It may be reasonable to say that in the future, organizations with effective mentorship programs will be the ones attracting the top talent and generating novel innovations that lead to tremendous success.

Give your career a boost and participate in a mentorship programme.

References:

https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/importance-of-mentors/

https://www.togetherplatform.com/blog/what-is-the-purpose-of-mentoring

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/why-is-a-mentor-important