From time immemorial humans have always grown and become better by learning and being mentored by others. Mentorship has and will always be part of successful humans and their societies. Knowledge and expertise have been passed and exchanged through mentorship relationships. If you want to go far, you have to be standing on the shoulders of the giants. Mentorship ranges from personal, professional, careers, etc and it is more of an agreement on the journey of success together with another person, usually someone who has travelled the journey that you want to travel. Getting the right mentor and the most out of the relationship requires time, skills, and knowledge.
Mentorship Definition
Mentorship can be defined as a relationship between two people where the individual (mentor) with more experience, knowledge, and connections carries and is able to take the junior one through a journey of passing knowledge to a more junior individual (mentee) within a certain field.
A mentor is defined as knowledgeable someone whom you would like to motivate, inspire, guide, and educate you through your journey; that could be in your career, personal life, marriage, talent development, business, etc.
This person is usually someone you emulate and has been successful in the chosen area. A mentor can charge you but most mentors choose to offer the mentorship service for free as they often value the process of helping others become better and achieve their goals. A mentor basically is someone who has what it takes to mentor and is willing to mentor someone of which that someone is a mentee. In mentorship, it takes two to tango.
How To Find The Right Mentor For You
Many of us are often confused when it comes to choosing the right mentor for ourselves. A good starting point is to know yourself; this is often where we tend to lack. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What areas do you want to be mentored on? Is it business, personal, career, talent development, etc? There are many people who can be mentors but not everyone is the right one for you.
If you want to grow your career, find a career mentor, and the best one could often be in your line of profession. If you want to do better in your relationship, find someone good in that area. A mentor should have travelled the road that you want to travel and should be willing to guide you through the journey. A mentor should be someone who can inspire and motivate you; that is their achievements, past experiences, and knowledge. A good mentor should be one willing to guide you, carry you through, and should not be stingy with knowledge.
Find a mentor that is interested in your growth and betterment, they have to be strict and hard on you when it comes to that which makes you grow and succeed. A mentor must show you tough love and should not be soft on you.
Most often got caught up in trying to find a perfect mentor, there is no perfect mentor. Everyone has their own flaws and good areas. They might be good in business but with failed and yet they can still be a good business mentor but obviously not so good marriage mentor. Most are trying to look for an all-perfect mentor and they end up falling for some mediocre ones. It is still ok to have more than one mentor with each one covering your certain area of need.
Define Your Mentorship Goals
A mentorship relationship is often agreed to last for a time, it could be months or often a few years and to get the most out of it, goals have to be determined from the point go. A mentee and their mentor have to agree on the goals, and what it is that they would like to achieve. Is it the mentee who wants to be helped in time management, growing their startups, or marriage?
The goals have to be SMART and should be measured and periodically reviewed. For you to see if your mentorship was a success, then metrics have to be your friend. What worked and what failed? What has to be improved and all?
Most of the time, the mentees often have vague goals, and no wonder why most fail to realize the beauty and results of mentorship.
Be Committed
Most mentorship programs often start all charged up but a few weeks or months down the line, all the vibe is gone, What happened? There was no commitment; most mentees are often fascinated with the idea of mentorship especially after attending a mentorship program or event and are usually paired with mentors or are forced to go and look for one. The fun fact is that, there is no real commitment from them, they often start on a good note but as time goes by they will no longer be putting in the effort.
Trust me, mentorship is not an easy journey but can be truly exciting and transformative. With commitment, you win. You should be committed to your growth and betterment. There are moments when your mentor will probably give you an assignment when you are already overwhelmed with other stuff to do. There are moments when you will have to attend a session or report to them and you still have to do them.
It is often good to remember that it is often you the mentee who needs the relationship the most, hence you have to put in the effort.
What Do You Have To Give
No matter the mentor is the one to give you, you also have to give something, no matter how small. There is nothing that sucks than helping someone or being in any form of relationship with a person who has a ‘take-take attitude’. They just want to receive but with nothing also to give in return.
Despite most mentors agreeing to help you for free and to give away their all for your betterment, they also kind of expect or would greatly appreciate it if you would also have something to give away.
That something could be a small help or offer. It could be some skills you also teach them etc. They would also want to learn one or two things from you and as a mentee, you need to have that mindset of giving.
What is it that you have to give away? Don’t always try to just receive but have something to give away. It’s also good to show appreciation for their mentorship, show gratitude, and say thank you and even small gifts can go a long way.
Benefits of Mentorship
Mentorship comes with many benefits and chief among them is a new wealth source of information, that is often gained from the mentor. A mentor usually possesses massive information in the areas that they want to mentor you in and it’s often acquired from their past experiences and knowledge. They will also share with you their success values, principles, and ideas.
Mentors also act as a close ally, someone who can give you constructive criticism and at the same time be your cheerleader. A mentor is one who can constructively criticize you because they are interested in your growth and betterment. A mentor also supports you through your goals and aspirations, often acting as an accountability partner.
Mentorship helps boost your network, which will often result in your increased net worth, as they say, your network is your net worth. Your mentor is often someone better than you in that area and they will probably introduce you to their network which can also become your network too. If you get mentored by a millionaire you are likely going to meet their other millionaire networks.
There are many benefits of mentorship but in a nutshell, a mentorship relationship is necessary for your growth and betterment. It should leave you better and improved, in fact, it should benefit you.
