There are probably a lot of professionals who think the idea of having a mentor for work is outdated or overrated. I’m not one of them. You’d enlist a minister/rabbi to help you with a crisis of faith. You might go see a marriage counselor to work on your relationship issues. So why wouldn’t you seek a mentor to help you define and eventually achieve your career objectives?
A mentor serves a critical role in your professional development. You should always be thinking in terms of what you want to accomplish and how you want to get there. Having a source who you can trust and confide in, whose advice you respect and value, is a beautiful thing. I say think because because I never had one.
When I first started out the public relations field, I didn’t have a mentor, perse. I had a lot of extraordinary professionals around me who were invested in helping me succeed, but no one person who generously took me under his or her wing. So I learned to become a good networker as one way of meeting a lot of likeminded professionals from whom I could learn and grow. Mind you, the whole time I’m networking and meeting and learning and growing, I’m praying for one of these amazing professionals to “adopt me.”
Fast forward a few years and I discovered the importance of mentors, not by finding one, but by becoming one. I had the opportunity to manage a wonderful, young PR pro. I learned quickly that “manager,” and “mentor,” are two completely separate things and many fail as managers because they don’t see when their role calls to be a mentor instead. After that experience I realized that I would act like a mentor in my role as a manager, if given the choice. And it made we more aggressively seek someone who could mentor me.
Because we all know from experience, that if you stop striving and growing in your profession, you’re probably yesterday’s news – doomed to be passed over for promotions or be on the chopping block during the next round of your company’s lay offs. So, strongly consider having or being someone’s mentor. I think, on the contrary, you’ll find the concept’s fairly underrated. To help get you started, look for the following traits when choosing your mentor. A good mentor:
- May not be a “manager,” but is definitely a “leader”
- Dispenses advice without reservation or hesitation
- Knows when to lead, when to collaborate and when to listen
- Takes accountability and protects you from being thrown under the bus
- Learns as much from you as you do from her
- Will be honest with you, even if it means being critical
- Will lend an ear or lend a hand, even after you leave that job
