If you are looking for a mentor you are in luck! Today mentoring is more accessible than ever before. What is a mentor? A mentor is someone who can guide you towards achieving your full career potential.
Definition of a Mentor
So, what is a mentor exactly?
A mentor is defined as someone who gives support, advice, encouragement and accountability on a particular topic. This advice often relates to a job or career.
A mentor is a person who has walked the path ahead of you. They can provide guidance and insight on how to navigate a career or a workplace based on their own experiences.
What Does A Mentor Do?
In your career a mentor will provide you with the following benefits:
- Support
- Inspiration
- Encouragement
- Accountability
- Feedback
- Role model
- Different perspectives
What Doesn’t a Mentor Do?
A mentor won’t:
- Solve all your problems
- Tell you how to do things
- Advocate publicly for you
- Drive the mentoring relationship
What Are The Different Types of Mentor?
You may have noticed that the answer to your question ‘what is a mentor’ is broad. That is because there are actually many different types of mentors. And you can have more than one!
Once you know the types of mentors available, finding the right mentor for you is personal. A great place to start is with this simple mentoring wishlist exercise.
Traditional Mentor
A traditional mentor is a person who:
- Is in the same field as you;
- Is more experienced than you;
- Has followed the career path you would like to take;
- Has skills, experiences and qualities that you would like to learn from;
In a traditional mentoring relationship, you would meet regularly and have conversations about career development, career challenges and opportunities. The relationship may be for a fixed period of time as part of a mentoring program or it may be ongoing.
Mentor For The Moment
Mentoring can also occur outside of a formal relationship, without regular scheduled meetings. A more experienced person can provide inspiration, encouragement, feedback and support in a single encounter while going about their day-to-day work.
I like to call this a mentor for the moment.
You don’t meet them once a month for coffee. They don’t even know they’re your mentor. But that doesn’t matter. They can profoundly shape your career.
If you sharpen your ability to learn from those around you, the number of mentors in your career is limited only by your ability to ask questions and to listen.
Mentor From Afar
A mentor from afar is a mentor that you connect with through the ideas they put into the world. You may connect with them through books, podcasts, ted talks or interviews.
In this inspirational talk Sheryl Sandberg states that she isn’t going to talk about mentoring, although it’s very important. Yet, by giving the presentation, she is mentoring thousands of women around the world in achieving their career potential.
If you listen to the talk below (I hope you do, it’s amazing!) Sheryl Sandberg can be your mentor from afar.
Are you looking for a mentor?
If you are looking for a mentor in your career, a great place to start is with this simple mentoring wishlist exercise. It will give you direction when searching for potential mentors and help you generate thoughtful and insightful questions to ask in a mentoring meeting.
What types of mentors do you have in your career? Are you looking for a mentor? Let me know in the comments below!
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