The aim of mentoring is to link someone with lots of knowledge and experience with someone who’s not acquired the same level of knowledge or experience.
If you have someone who is knowledgeable more than you do share their knowledge or offer advice and an ear for your thoughts , you will benefit from knowledge that is far beyond your own. In your professional or in your life being a mentor, it is essential to our growth and development.
What is an instructor?
A mentor assists you in developing your skills and make better decisions and discover new perspectives on your work and life. As as a mentee or a student your mentor will use their expertise to offer advice on your career path or your life today and into the near future.
Instead of making mistakes by trial and error, mentors are people whom you can turn to for guidance and as an ideal role model to emulate.
The history of mentoring is long
The word “mentor” comes from the character Mentor in the Homer’s Odyssey. The mentor was the friend to Telemachus, Odysseus’ son and offered him advice and counsel while absent from his family and home.
In the past, the goal of the role of a mentor is to use all the knowledge and experience they’ve gained throughout their professional career as well as their lives and impart it to their mentee to use it for their own benefit.
Mentorship can be intimidating, It shouldn’t.
The word “mentorship” may remind you from Karate Kid as well as the Mr. Miyagi, or Luke Skywalker and Yoda. These images could make mentors feel as if they’re wearing big shoes to take on (or small ones as in Yoda’s situation.)
If you’re a mentor, it may be that you’re required to talk about all the challenges you’ve faced and mistakes. It’s true that mentorship may be daunting. However, it doesn’t need to be that way.
The advantages of having a mentor
Mentoring is an opportunity to give back and can be a valuable growth and learning experience. The best way to teach others is the best method of learning. The same way the mentors develop in their leadership and communication skills by guiding and assisting emerging talents.
Here are the advantages of being a mentor
Check the mentor’s leadership capabilities
Being placed in the position of a role model may assist mentors in becoming better leaders and build trust in their leadership skills. The role of guiding an individual’s career path and goals requires the leader to instruct to motivate, inspire and provide candid feedback during difficult discussions. These skills are on the top of the list for the position of leader.
Visit the website of Scott Hughes to find out more on mentoring programmes.
Be acknowledged as an advisor
Like developing leadership abilities Mentors will be acknowledged for their interpersonal skills and their ability to assist youngsters to advance their careers and personal growth. Mentors will be known as advisors who are willing to helping others.
Learn to communicate clearly
Albert Einstein once said that “if you are unable to explain it to a child of six then you’re not understanding it.” In the same way when you’ve needed explaining something someone and you’ve noticed you needed to think about it and then tidy up your explanation in order to make it easier for someone else to comprehend. Mentors improve their communication skills and listening because of their involvement involved in a mentoring relationship.
New perspectives and new ideas
Although the mentor is typically responsible for sharing knowledge to their mentees mentorship can assist employees with experience to gain new knowledge. It’s not uncommon for younger employees are able to assume their role as mentors in an reverse mentoring system to discuss technological advancements and trends or to sharpen their digital abilities. This is a situation where the student can also be an instructor, helping the mentor to develop new techniques or a different approach to doing things.
Giving back and identifying new talent
Mentorship is a chance for mentors to help the company by helping in the training of young and emerging employees, making the people who are around them more skilled and content. It’s also a fantastic way to discover promising talents for promotions or other special initiatives. Mentorship can be beneficial for both the mentor’s and mentee’s networks.
Benefits for Mentors
There are numerous advantages of being mentored by someone with more experience and expertise than you. Instead of taking your experience by yourself, a mentor can help you to develop and learn faster.
Find out about the workplace culture
One advantage that having an advisor in the beginning of your new job is that they are able to help you adjust to the workplace environment more quickly. Participants in the mentorship program are better informed about workplace rules as well as policies and expectations than employees who don’t participate. This is crucial for creating inclusive workplaces.
Enhance skill development
The majority of mentees are seeking someone who can assist them in advancing their career opportunities. By offering advice and guidance the mentor will help the student realize their full potential and develop an business-minded mindset at work.
Opportunities to network
A mentorship program in the workplace is an excellent method for new employees to build their networks. For many new employees it may take months to to know their coworkers. With a mentorship program, the mentee will be able to access important connections in their career earlier. This is especially the case in remote working situations.
Possibility of promotion
The majority of mentoring programs require the person being mentored to think about their future plans or goals they wish to achieve by the process. When you ask young workers to think about how they can improve their skills through the process the program can give them greater control over their career. Research has proven that employees who have mentors have an advantage in their career over those who aren’t. This is due to receiving higher pay and higher promotions, and greater satisfaction with their careers.
Problem-solving
A mentor could be an advocate for employees who are less knowledgeable. confronts a situation or issue that they are not experienced with or don’t find a solution for. When a young employee is paired with an experienced mentor and allowing them to gain knowledge from the mentor’s experiences.
Transfer of knowledge
The most experienced employee must be able to comprehend the nuances of the business and the programs or classes that a student can take advantage of in order to assist them in reaching their goals. Mentors can share wisdom gained from their work in the course of time, as well as information and workplace policies or expectations to help the student achieve success in the long term.
Why is mentoring so vital?
Mentorship is essential as it offers employees the opportunity to learn and grow in their jobs and also prepare for opportunities to grow in the near future.
The ability to provide these opportunities is essential for organizations that wish to retain, attract and retain their employees.
Attracting talent
In a research conducted carried out by University of Southern California, “Attracting and retaining Talent Enhancing the Effect of Mentorship in the Workplace” they discovered a number of ways to combat employees’ turnover. There were the usual solutions such as salary and opportunities for promotions, but there were other, less tangible solutions such as “job embedding” as well as professional and career development.
Job embeddedness
Three main elements that influence job embedding:
Links – the degree of which an individual has strong connections to other people or groups at work and within their local community.
Fit – the degree to which they suitability to their work (e.g. work culture, company culture) and their community.
Sacrifice – the degree of sacrifice that one is willing to take to let go of things should they quit their job.
Organizations who want to attract top talent must form teams and plan initiatives that encourage the social connections that employees would like. The presence of professional mentors for employees who facilitate coaching will offer them the benefits of professional growth and development and give them the feeling of belonging and accountability to their work.
Professional and career development
Organizations that offer professionally-friendly working environments are more likely to attract top talent and enjoy more retention rates with those they recruit. Offering career mentors to employees with less experience encourages their development in their skills as well as social ties to the organization in a manner more effective than job training.
Instead of taking on new tasks and being assessed on the basis of them, employees wish to improve their overall performance by developing friendships with mentors.
