You may want to move forward in your career, but you do not know what steps you need to take. You may want to improve your communication skills, develop your leadership skills, and become the type of person who can help others grow. A mentoring partnership is just the tool you need.
What Is Mentoring?
Mentoring is an interaction between two people to help one person improve their professional or personal development. Your mentor may have received his or her life coach certification or other certification that qualifies them to be a mentor. Sometimes, just their experience in life alone can make them a great resource as well.
A mentor is typically an experienced person who can share their knowledge and provide advice with less experienced people. A mentor is someone who can become your role model and trusted advisor. They talk and teach from a place of academic and personal experience. They are the people who have been there and have done that.
When you work with a mentor, you get someone who can support and encourage you to reach your goals. They offer knowledge, advice, and suggestions. Sometimes, their information is general and based on the industry you are in or the types of relationships you are trying to improve. In other cases, they may offer specific suggestions to you based on what they have observed in their interactions with you.
Your mentor’s goal is to help you advance your career or advance your personal life. There are many ways to find a mentor, but there has to be trust for the relationship to work.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Mentor?
A mentor can help you identify the places in your career where you want to go. You may know that you want to improve or that you want to grow in your career, but you may not have a specific direction to go in. Or you may have a direction in mind, but you are not sure if you are the right fit for the position you want to attain.
Your mentor is going to take the time to get to know you well. They will be committed to helping you grow because part of their success as a mentor is helping you identify and achieve goals.
A mentor can help you develop specific skills and knowledge. They may set the pace and the milestones you need to reach along the way to the goal and choose the learning method.
Mentoring is tailored to your needs. The training offered is designed to help you gain knowledge, skills, qualities, and competencies. When you work with a mentor, you get the hard skills needed to do the job. You also get the soft skills required to help you get ahead in your career.
A mentor can teach you to improve your communication skills. They can help you change your perspective and evaluate situations with fresh eyes.
An experienced mentor has developed a network of people who they have helped over the years. If you are a good student, your mentor will likely introduce you to some of the other individuals they have helped be successful, allowing you to expand your network of personal and professional contacts.
One of the nice things about working with a mentor is that they become your sounding board. They can help you see what ideas are good and what ideas are bad. They may show you shortcuts to help you get to your goal so that you are not spending time trying to reinvent the wheel.
Increase Your Energy by Working with a Mentor
One of the awesome things about working with a mentor is that a mentor can help increase your drive and your energy to achieve goals in your professional or personal life. Mentors are constantly throwing something at you, so you will not be bored or complacent.
They push you to explore new and exciting ways to either contribute to your work environment or improve your relationships. As you start to see the success that results from having a mentor, your interest in your day-to-day professional and personal life grows.
Conclusion
Mentoring shows you areas for improvement that education, websites, and books simply cannot. The right mentor can give you a significant edge over others in developing your career.
