Why a mentor is important.
Having a mentor could be one of the best things you do for your career. That is why a mentor is important.
Here are some of the people that would benefit immensely in taking the positive action in getting themselves a mentor.
- The continuous developer
- The stagnater
- The leader
- The newly promoted
- The dreamer
- The solopreneur
- The no-getter
Lets delve into each of these characters in more detail.
The continuous developer
Are you the type of person that is always looking to learn and continually grow? If it isn’t a LinkedIn training course on how to lead effectively, it’s listening to the high-performance podcast on your commute to work.
Having a mentor is an amazing way to help makes sense of all that information and to apply it correctly to grow your career. You will also learn additional skills from your mentor who has probably walked the path you want to walk.
The stagnater
You have had a great rise in your career over the last 10 to 15 years but of late you feel you are stagnating. The exciting jobs, the promotions, the opportunities… they have all dried up. Do you feel you are branded as “useful” in the company but do not feel “important”.
Getting yourself a mentor will allow you to discuss these concerns and start to plan solutions to getting back on track with your career. Most experienced leaders have gone through this phase and have managed to pull ourselves out of it, let them help you do the same.
The leader
You are a leader.
Ok, it may not be explicit in your title as companies seem to have a habit of holding on to the “manager” moniker. But you are a leader! You lead people.
But are you leading people correctly?
Having the correct mentor allows you to explore and discuss various points of being a leader. How do you inspire people? How do you delegate effectively and what should you delegate? How can you ensure you have diversity of thought in your leadership team? If you have these questions and more, having a mentor that has successfully led teams before
The newly promoted
Congratulations, you have just been promoted into a new role or moved jobs into a more senior role. Well done, it was thoroughly deserved and it’s time to stretch yourself further.
But in your head, you are thinking “how the hell am I going to do this?”. You have been thrown into the deep end and you are unsure if you will either swim beautiful, tread water for a while until rescued or just sink.
A mentor will help you discuss various issues you come up against in your new role that you may not feel comfortable speaking to your boss or peers. This is all done in a safe space and your mentor has no ulterior motives so you know you won’t be judged. Your mentor will then help you work on your solutions to these issues, allowing you to thrive in your role.
The dreamer
You are harbouring a dream to do something different, something better. You know this is your calling in life and you can visualise your success… but you just don’t seem to do anything about it. You are still stuck on the conveyor belt and it is frustrating!
Getting yourself the right mentor will help you talk about those dreams and start to put actions in place to turn those dreams into reality. This could be moving into a new role with your company, changing career or starting your own business.
The solopreneur
Firstly what is a solopreneur? It is an entrepreneur who works solely by themselves.
Being a solopreneur has its benefits such as making decisions quickly about your business without having to seek agreement.
But what if the decision is not clear cut. What if you are unsure which direction to take? What if you need to rethink your business model entirely?
Having your own mentor to discuss decisions with really helps you get clarity on what you should be doing with your business. The mentor isn’t there to tell you what to do, but having time to discuss a topic and be challenged on your potential solutions really helps you hone in on the correct answer.
Being a solopreneur can also be quite lonely, and having a mentor to chat with can be a god send.
The no-getter.
You have heard about go-getters.
These people always seem to get the various development opportunities such as getting nominated to join a company sponsored leadership program. Or being part of a company run mentoring program (perhaps that was set up by Next Level Mentoring).
But you do not seem to get these opportunities. And you would really love to because you know it will help you continuously grow as a person and as a leader. “Why do they get it and not me” you may think to yourself.
You have two options now; do nothing about it or do something about it.
Getting yourself a mentor is doing something about it, and you are in control of the process of your development. That is the beauty of mentoring, it is always specific to your development needs at that time.
These are just some of the people that would benefit from having a mentor.
But guess what?
Everyone would benefit from having a mentor in their life. So even if the above didn’t properly capture how you are feeling at this moment, there will be parts in your business and career that you would like to see improve. A mentor will help you with that.
