If you want to put yourself on the road to success, you may want to consider finding a mentor. A good mentor will raise your confidence, help you develop leadership abilities, teach you to problem-solve and give you a general head-start in your chosen path.
There are mentors to help people in many different fields from people in the medical and law fields to people getting involved in different types of industries, businesses, trades and professions.
Slotocash online casino slots real money wants to give you some ideas about how to find the right mentor who will set aside time to meet with you, share tips for accomplishing goals, give you advice and feedback and cheer you on as you set out to attain your own goals.
Getting Started
Before you go looking for a mentor, you must figure out what your goals are. What do you want to accomplish? In the short term? In the long term? Think about whether those goals can line up with your current employment situation or whether they will require you to switch jobs or get more education/training.
By taking the time to think out these issues you’ll be better able to identify a mentor who can help you reach those goals.
Looking Forward
Identify someone who you look up to, either within or outside your organization. Try to determine why you look up to this person, what it is about him/her that makes you want to be like them. Think about where you want to be in the next 10 – 15 years.
What job would you like to have in the organization. Consider someone in your organization with whom you feel comfortable speaking, discussing issues and sharing your aspirations. Keep a running list of the people and jobs that you are visualizing.
Research
Once you’ve identified an individual that you want to emulate, you need to think about how that person got to his/her current position. Try to get the person to open up about his/her journey to his/her current position and take notes so that you have an organized chronology of what the person needed to do to reach the position that s/he is in today.
Consider the existing network. Is there already someone who may be informally mentoring you? Someone who you can ask to help you? Someone who offers suggestions and advice? If there’s already someone who seems to be aware of your work and abilities, they will likely be more amenable to becoming your formal mentor and will be able to build on the existing relationship.
If you want to approach someone who doesn’t seem to be aware of your work or someone with whom you’ve never spoken, consider how to approach them – is there some kind of connection on which you can build?
Mentor vs Sponsor
Clarify whether you’re looking for a mentor or a sponsor. Sponsors can give you a promotion, a raise or assign you new tasks. Mentors give advice. Sponsors can be an employer, boss or recruiter. A sponsor can also be a mentor (though usually isn’t) but a mentor isn’t a sponsor. Mentors, however, can connect you to sponsors.
Request
Once you identify the person that you would like to act as your mentor, you can’t expect him/her to read your mind. Speak to him/her about your request that s/he act as your mentor. Explain why you think that s/he would be the right mentor for you and discuss your goals with him/her.
Be clear about your expectations including your expectations for a time-commitment and what you are willing to put into the relationship. The clearer that you about your needs from the start, the better the communication will develop.
You might want to have some preliminary meeting with the person before you ask them to be your mentor where you discuss your goals and trajectory to see how they respond.
When you make your request, explain what it was about the person that made you choose them. Talk about what you like about their work, their approach to the profession, etc. Your efforts may help to make someone who might be reticent become more willing to work with you.
Some things to mention might include:
- How past interactions with the person have helped you.
- How often you’d like to meet and for how long.
- How do you plan to prepare for your meetings (creating agendas) so that their time isn’t wasted.
- Your understanding that your request may not work for them and that you will understand should they give you a negative response.
Optimizing the Relationship
Once you’ve found your mentor, how should you proceed?
Getting a mentor can be a tremendous step forward in your chosen path. Now it’s your job to optimize the relationship and take advantage of what a mentor can offer. Some suggestions for maximizing your relationship with your mentor include
- Continue to focus on your goals so that your meetings stay on track
- Meet on a consistent basis (in person or by video-conferencing) to keep things orderly
- Stay open to feedback. A good mentor will provide positive and constructive feedback but even if the feedback seems hurtful, turn it around in your mind so that you take the information provided and figure out how to use it to meet your goals.
- Keep boundaries. The mentor-mentee relationship is not therapy – keep personal issues out of the conversations.
- Don’t feel glued to one mentor. Maybe one person can help you achieve a leadership position while another person can help you acquire the skills that you need for a job change. Different mentors can help you attain different goals.
Some companies create mentoring programs because they realize the importance of person-to-person contact in building skills and abilities. If your employer doesn’t offer such a resource, take the bull by the horns and identify your own mentor to help you reach your goals.
