Find a mentor – discover new perspectives and thrive
We all have them in our life, consciously or unconsciously - mentors. In an ever more complex, fast and complicated world, it is essential to take time to connect with people that are important to us, to absorb their knowledge, learn from them and hear their stories they have to share. Weather at work or in our private life, we all have and need mentors that will give us the advice and guidance we need to develop and discover our full inner potential in going where we want to get to. Mentoring is a powerful tool to help us go get there - let’s use it to the best of our ability.
Mentoring primarily means connecting with others. It means networking and building important relationships with our peers. It means listening and sharing knowledge which leads to a strong bonding experience for both the mentor and the mentee.
It is important to understand both the perspective of the mentor and the mentee for a successful relationship between the two. The mentor is there to share, give advice and create a safe space for the mentee to talk openly and share experience. On the other hand, the mentee should actively listen, observe, ask questions and give the mentor the impression to be open and thankful for the support they are getting. Creating a so called safe and trusted space is essential here that both mentor and mentee feel they can be open and honest, to get the most out of the relationships.
The difference between a mentor and a coach is the mentor is allowed to provide advice, the coach is just there to listen and not judge or give opinions. The mentee can therefore also explicitly ask the mentor for advice and should do so. Very often, especially in corporations, mentors are very experienced and have a lot of knowledge to share. It can help the mentee to avoid mistakes, build self-confidence as well as settle in easier into a new environment by having a person that has been their for a long time to connect and bond with.
Mentoring can help both the mentor and mentee to develop. The ideal is therefore to create a win-win scenario between mentor and mentee. The mentor can help the mentee put things into perspective and help them understand where they want to go in their career or at a certain point in their life when they need some clarity. For the mentor, it is a great way to share knowledge and help the mentee with their experience they had over the years to make good use of it. Through mentoring, both mentee and mentor can develop, become self-confident, share knowledge, and move further in their journey to go get what’s next.
Mentoring is therefore a very powerful tool for both our corporate and private life. It is important to choose our mentors wisely, as somebody we fully trust and can open-up to. It can also be someone we see as a person of respect for what they have achieved in their career or in any other way. I tis important for mentor and mentee to create an environment of transparency and trust to fully bond and get the most out of their mentoring. Mentoring is about giving advice, not about criticizing, and judging. Only if this fundamental principle of mentoring is achieved, can there be a win-win situation for both mentor and mentee in which both thrive, develop and open up to new way of thinking and working together.
