Making Mentoring Work
An article by Di Ryall
 Mentors are important in helping us realise our
career (and life) aspirations. A mentor can be many
things: a role model, a sounding board, a coach,
someone who can teach us specific skills, a
confidante. A good mentor helps us tap into our
potential.
As my own experience shows, a great mentor can
be the difference between leaping ahead in our
careers and staying in our comfort zones. If it hadn’t
been for one of my mentors saying to me, ‘I think
you’d be great as Apple’s Managing Director,’ I
would never have even applied for the role - let
alone taken it on!
How do we choose mentors that are right for us? The first thing is to know exactly what we want from
a mentor at this point in time. Do I want to learn
specific skills? Bounce ideas off someone? Have
someone connect me to other people and
opportunities? You might say, ‘All of the above’, but
the point is to be really clear about your goals now
and who best can help you achieve these. It may
involve be more than one mentor.
A common mistake in choosing a mentor is looking
for ‘the perfect one’. A more useful way of finding
mentors is to observe specific skills or behaviours
that different people use to be successful. It is very
easy to find people who are ‘like us’ or who we ‘like’
– it is much better growth for us to learn from
people who have different styles and different
things to offer us.
The critical step is to be prepared to experiment
with other styles and behaviours. Courage and
growth come from trying new things and finding
what works, and what doesn’t, for you. A mentoring
relationship can be a safe space to experiment and
grow.
If you don’t have a mentor, identify someone you
would like to approach and simply invite them for
coffee. Tell them you are interested to hear about
their career journey and mention some of the
specific reasons that you have contacted them.
Most people are flattered to be asked to talk about
themselves and their career. (You don’t even have
to mention the ‘M’ word!)
Remember, you are building a relationship so
sharing information about yourself and your goals
helps build rapport. When you meet them, have
some questions or thoughts prepared so that you
can start the discussion - but don’t worry if the first
session is really just breaking the ice.
A day or two after the meeting drop them an email
thanking them for their time and identify one or two
things that you found most interesting in your
conversation. Maybe seek out an article that could
be of mutual interest. Finish off your note with the
request to meet again in a month to six weeks.
Your mentor doesn’t need to know that he or she is
your mentor. Some relationships are informal, some
are formal and are chosen and structured by your
organisation. The most important thing to
remember is to be clear about what you want from
your mentoring relationships so that your mentors
are in the best possible position to be able to help
you achieve success. Good luck! Articles Of Interest
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