Mentorship

Mentorship or being mentored is intangible and immeasurable but it has enormous benefits to both people and organizations.  I’ve been phenomenally lucky in my career to be mentored by some incredible people and be able to pay forward to others on different stages of their career.

A common misconception is that mentorship is simply advice-giving – it’s much more than; it is a dynamic, two-way relationship that fosters learning, growth, and empowerment.  From the perspective of a mentor, it is a way to nurture talent, build leadership strength and, at least for me, connect better with people.  Some of the most rewarding moments in my career have come from working with people and seeing them flourish and knowing that I’ve been able to contribute in some way towards that.

As a mentee I think the greatest benefit is the different perspective and context, as well as simply building and extending your network. The most common mistake I see is when people enter into a mentorship is approaching someone without a clear idea of what they are looking to get out of the arrangement.  Frequently I have seen people seek mentorship after feedback in reviews or line manager coaching and view it as a box-checking exercise – ‘I have asked someone to mentor me, I’ve done my part’.  Not only will this approach not yield any results, it’s more likely to cause harm as while it may raise the profile of the mentee it won’t necessarily be in a good way!

When choosing a mentor, I recommend people be completely prepared and that means knowing exactly what their own internal goals and needs are – is the mentee looking for career progression, knowledge transfer, skill development or another area of expertise?  I heartily recommend an Individual/Personal Development Plan (IDP/PDP) to help with this (and something I will write about in the future) – not only will it lay out the goals and objectives but also provide structure to the mentorship. Another key element is picking the right person - is the mentee simply going for the most senior person who will say yes or are they aligning with an individual who shares their values, possesses a distinct skillset and has the time and experience to mentor successfully?

A mentor can come from any source, in any job - my first real mentor was my manager back when I was at university, working in a student nightclub.  It’s probably laughable to most people in corporate America to think that working for $4/hr where my peers got drunk was where key leadership lessons were learned but it was extremely informative to me.  The mentorship was not formal, nor was it based on 1:1’s, instead it was driven out of on-the-job-coaching and leading by example.  I learned that being a leader isn’t just a job-title, it’s inspiring people through action.  This person was a full missile shield to her employees, she truly empowered us to act and held us fully accountable with it, creating a true atmosphere of trust.  I remember describing her later to a friend as the kind of person who if they told you to jump off a cliff you would because you knew there’d be a safety net at the bottom set-up.

As I left hospitality and entered the corporate world I found the opportunity for more formal mentorship.  My approach was centered around my IDP and what I was aiming to achieve – for example I knew that the key areas I was struggling with was exposure and navigating the organization I was in.  My mentor didn’t give me the answers on a sheet of paper or do everything for me – quite the opposite – they taught me ‘how’ to recognize and take opportunities as opposed to presenting them to me.

 Cadence and agreed format were key – I set up regular meeting with a specified agenda – I also left ego at the door, after all the reason I was in these meetings was because I, no-one, knows what they don’t know.

When I look at the teams and organizations I’ve worked in, the very best of them have strong history of mentoring up and down.  It’s not a coincidence and it’s not just because mentorship builds confidence, networks, improves leadership skills, and increases knowledge (although it does) – it’s because it changes the culture. 

Having an environment where multiple levels talk to each other, candidly and learn, fosters an environment like that of which my first mentor created, one of trust and safety.  That empowers team members and only then will you get the best out of teams.