Importance of a Mentor - Your ultimate guide for life

Shricareer
Wed, 07/20/2022 - 13:41

Sooner or later in your life, you will need someone who can help you find what are your skills, and where your interests lie and encourage you to further pursue those things and make a career in them. Well, a good mentor can help you discover your true self, and can also help you develop your creativity, be patient with you, provides unbiased advice, and maintain the proper emotional balance at work.

Just like the quote says,

“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey.

There will be phrases in life where you will need support and guidance. Before making crucial decisions, getting advice from others can frequently help you comprehend all the facets of your issues.

This precise situation where a mentor is useful. A professional with a specialized field of expertise and a lot of experience in academic and professional pursuits is termed a mentor.

A mentor frequently acts as a confidant who may offer you better guidance on challenges that arise in the real world. Mentors are authority persons who have the power to greatly affect the choices you make. Keep reading this blog to find out what a mentor really is and why you need a mentor in your life.

Importance of a mentor

In simple terms, mentoring is a relationship between two people that promotes academic, professional, and personal growth. The term “mentor” is used to describe someone with relevant expertise and knowledge.

There are several mentorship services that are offered all around the world. For instance, it is called career mentorship anytime you ask a mentor for advice when choosing your career. In order to help you live your own life to the maximum extent possible, there are also life coaches who act as a mentor.

Here are 7 reasons why you should have a mentor in your life.

Mentors help you shape your career

With mentors, it is much simpler to stay committed to your objectives and coordinate your efforts to advance them. You may set the correct goals to work towards leveling up and acquiring the right knowledge and skill-set using the expertise that comes through mentors.

Mentors are known for giving excellent feedback on your efforts and investments. You can improve your confidence while streamlining your processes with this.

Mentors will actively listen to you

During the training period of the mentors, one of the fundamental abilities they receive is ‘active learning.’ Hence, an important component of a mentor’s job description is active listening. As a result, before offering advice or their opinion on your problem, your mentor will give you their full attention.

Simply listening to someone and actively listening to someone are both completely different things. A mentor will affirm what you are going through academically and professionally by actively listening. They will then proceed to provide you with some wise advice based on all the information you have provided.

A mentor has experienced it all

Mentors provide guidance and advice from the very beginning of your academic and professional careers. Numerous stages of therapy are frequently carried out until your aim is reached. One of the factors contributing to their high level of dependability is that mentors have years of relevant experience. As a result, their advice and encouragement might help you get through any obstacle you encounter at work.

Mentors help you set realistic goals

Mentors possess high communication skills and expertise to assist you in setting your realistic goals. A technique termed the SMART technique is frequently used by mentors all around the world to assist you in setting priorities for your tasks.

The acronym for SMART goals is--

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-sensitive

Mentor will hold you accountable

Accountability is crucial to taking responsibility and attaining your objectives. Mentors assist you to define and set smaller goals at the beginning of the development process.

Additionally, your mentor will inspire you, support you, and offer helpful criticism that can help you develop in your job. Without these objectives, it is challenging to develop a beneficial course of action.  

Your mentor will be able to precisely point out where you are making mistakes at every level of the process. This might assist you in re-evaluating your resources and making some wise investments with them.

Mentors will encourage you  

It is not that simple to manage all of your daily obligations. Regularly achieving goals might occasionally be demanding and difficult. 

A mentor can help you, in this situation. Mentors are educated to recognize your assets and faults. Therefore, should things get difficult, they can always give you a jolt of encouragement and self-assurance. Your ability to identify your skills and apply them to maintain discipline can be greatly aided by this kind of supportive encouragement.

Mentors give unbiased feedback

Working with a mentor has several advantages. But one of the most important is that they are impartial about your development. Mentors frequently offer objective judgments, assisting you in reaching logical conclusions on your own.

A mentor will frequently try to comprehend your point of view. They will then steer you in a way that is mostly in line with your goals based on their knowledge and experience.

Mentors help you build a network

The most advantageous benefit you can get from your mentor is the network or connection they help us to build. Building your network helps you a lot in your career, and hence your mentor helps you out with building your professional network/connection.

For example- if you are a graduate looking forward to getting into an internship program that matches your skills to gain work experience, then a mentor will help you by connecting you to his or her network to be placed in a fitting position.

Mentors possess relevant work experience

While looking for a mentor, one must make sure that the person must have work experience relevant to their profession or goals. You should consider your mentor’s success stories, analyze all the necessary steps they took and use them as an example to strive toward your success. Mentors might also discuss the errors they made in their career path. The mentee gains from this since they learn lessons about the mistakes' negative impacts but do not have to suffer the consequences themselves. Gaining knowledge about these experiences can help the mentee get ready for obstacles they can expect to face and provide demonstrable guidance on how to overcome them.

Mentors have better industry knowledge

In the past, your mentor must have built many careers in the same industry that you are now in. Since you are in the same profession, their skills, experience, and connections add much more value to your professional development. A good mentor will be able to apply their advanced knowledge to help you learn more about your industry. So, when you are looking for a mentor, make sure, that person at least has a minimum of five years of experience in your field and stays updated on the latest research and trends.

Mentors have strong ethics about the current market trend.

If you are a new graduate or are planning to change your career, then you might not be having a lot of knowledge about different career options. In such situations, having a mentor is a must. As with the evolution of technology, a lot of new career option has taken shape and some careers are not under demand anymore. So, an experienced mentor will provide you with knowledge of different career options and help you choose the right career path that fits your skills.

Qualities That Make a Good Mentor?

Irrespective of whether you want to be a mentor or looking for a mentor, you must know that the best mentors possess certain skills that make them fit to be a mentor.

• Are willing to invest in education and growth
• Helps you build your connection/network
• Availability to invest their time
• Possess active listening skills
• Provides unbiased feedback
• Is honest to his/her mentees
• Have a positive outlook
• Can make his mentees confident enough
• Must be able to motivate his mentees
• Should have the strong industry knowledge
• Resilience and adaptability

How To Find a Mentor?

Prior to looking for a mentor, focus on setting your goals. Map out your goals and be specific about what you anticipate from a mentor. If you are not sure then at least sketch out a general outline and a directional path.

No matter, if you are looking to find a mentor within your company or outside, always look across various disciplines and functions. Which professional should you look up to? Or in which profession you should make your career? Is there someone whom you admire? 

While matching for similar skill sets, experience, and job roles, different functional and industry viewpoints may also be useful. Make your own research to make sure it fits your needs.

If you are looking for a mentor on your own and are not a part of any mentoring program, find them and get to know them first. Follow them on LinkedIn or start an exploratory conversation. Understand their viewpoint. Basically, make a connection with someone before asking them to mentor you.

Starting with your own network of contacts in your industry can be a wise choice at times. We already have people in our lives who can offer us guidance in a variety of ways; all we need to do is develop that connection into a lasting friendship. It is also important to remember that a mentor does not always need to be more senior and knowledgeable. Peer mentorship has similar potential as well.

When companies and organizations support the development of leaders at every level, they stand a much higher chance of progressing and attaining successful business outcomes. Mentorship is an excellent technique to improve employee abilities, support organizational diversity, and promote the desired influence of corporate culture on employee growth.

As an individual, mentorship can be really insightful and beneficial.

At an individual level,. For me, this has been a transformational learning and growth experience, both as a mentor and as a mentee—it has been rewarding! Invest time in it, and keep at it.

Conclusion.

Life is full of unpredictable events. Throughout your life, you must put forth the necessary resources and efforts to achieve your personal and professional goals. In such situations, a mentor helps you streamline your efforts and accomplish your goals by providing you guidance and support.