How to Get All You Can from a Mentorship
Posted January 20th, 2017
Mentorships are often touted for the insight and support they provide to younger employees in the workplace. However, they represent only one half of the mentor-mentee relationship. The other half, often represented by a coworker in a senior position or a manager when used in the workplace, can actually receive as much benefit from the collaboration as the person they are mentoring. To help ensure you get all you can from the mentoring relationship, here are some tips to guide your efforts.
Choose the Right Person
Just because two people work in the same field, and one person is at the beginning of their career while the other is established, that doesn’t guarantee the mentorship will be a success. Consideration must be given to other aspects, like work style, drive, and ambition. A strong mentor-mentee relationship requires both parties to be equally invested. So, if the idea of mentoring someone feels more like a chore than an honor, it is best to leave that option on the table.
Be Open to Learning by Dropping the Ego
While the mentor is often considered the more knowledgeable individual, it is important to check your ego at the door. Yes, you will spend much of your time guiding and teaching, but you may be surprised at the opportunities that arise for you to learn from them along the way.
Just because someone is new to this particular field doesn’t mean they don’t have experiences that have provided them with knowledge you might not possess. In fact, it is almost a certainty that they do. College degrees today may include courses on technologies that have recently entered the market. Additionally, prior work in an unrelated field could provide you with useful insight into other facets of your life.
For example, a recent college grad may have experience in newer processes or updated technology that might not have made it into your workplace yet. This makes their knowledge incredibly valuable as you work towards integrating these new systems.
Part of finding the value you can receive from them requires being open to learning too. And an inflated ego may prevent those opportunities from being spotted even when they do come around.
Improve Your Skills
Whether you are a member of management today or aspire to be one tomorrow, working with a mentee give you an opportunity to work on your leadership and communication skills on a regular basis. By being a mentor, you have placed yourself in the position of teacher, and effective teachers must be able to convey potentially new information in an accessible manner while guiding them towards additional growth.
Mentorships provide the unique opportunity to work on these skills outside of the traditional workday experience. And it is a chance that should be embraced enthusiastically.
If you are looking for a new employee to bring onto your team, and potentially mentor, Bayside Solutions can help you find the right candidate. Contact us and discuss options with our professional recruitment team to see what we can do for you.
