Growing a career is not a chance event. If you are leaving your future career opportunities up to others, then you are making a mistake. You MUST take charge of your own career and chart your course. Part of charting your course requires you to figure out where you want to be and who can help you get there. A good mentor provides a valuable service by sharing experience-based ideas to help you achieve your potential.

 

 

 

According to Ken Perlman of Kotter International, an important part of developing strong leadership skills comes from a close association with strong mentors who help show the way to lead. Younger professionals or junior executives can especially gain value from a mentor who can help you focus on your goals. A good mentor provides seasoned perspective and relevant advice uniquely adapted to your situation.

 

One of the most valuable mentoring experiences I had was when a very senior officer pulled me aside and told me to carefully plan where I wanted to be in 20 years and then plot the steps it takes to get there. The first step in that process was to observe the careers of those who had achieved what I was after and then apply their model to my plan.

There is a traditional method of mentoring, which has a hierarchical feel to it. Without question, hierarchical mentors (those senior to you) have tremendous value to add. They can help you spot opportunities to grow your network and expand your vision for what you really offer.

 

 

There is a second type of mentoring, which is called accountability partnership – it is more like peer-to-peer mentoring. An Inc. Magazine article explains the concept nicely. This second type of mentoring uses peer pressure to leverage self-improvement.

 

Another article from Inc. Magazine describes 3 critical steps for attracting the right mentor and then receiving value from that mentor.

Mentor Yourself First

Be Teachable

Be Appreciative

 

A Forbes article reported that Sun Microsystems examined the careers of 1,000 employees and found some striking differences between those who were mentored and those who were not. Those mentored were:

 

 

20% more likely to get a raise

5 times more often promoted

 

Why such a difference? Two reasons. First, being mentored gives you access to wise counsel and information to help you strategically identify opportunities and position yourself to be invited into those opportunities. The difference is you go from asking to be promoted to being invited into the promotion. The second is people that authentically mentor you are also interested in your success and they find ways to open doors and promote you. It’s like having an advocate in the boardroom.

We cannot achieve our ultimate potential without understanding ourselves thoroughly. The process of coming to that complete and ultimate personal understanding is often a life-time journey. Each experience leads to another finding, another self-discovery. We want to use those self-discoveries to improve ourselves and enhance our abilities and prepare ourselves for the next self-discovery opportunity.

 

 

Mentoring is one of the many excellent tools for accelerating self-discovery. An article in Fast Company’s online magazine explains the importance of presenting the real you to your mentor. When that happens, the mentor sees the strengths and the weaknesses and now has some valuable content to work with to coach you. If you withhold and are not transparent you will give your mentor an imposter not an authentic mentee.

 

Use your mentor’s valuable time to help you leverage strengths and improve weaknesses. The authentic transparent approach will give you a true professional look in the mirror.

We commonly think of getting a coach as a way to help us with personal growth, and that is an incredibly valuable component of the mentoring process. Another strong reason for having trusted coaches is the ability to help solve problems.

 

 

Problems range in complexity. There is plenty of formal training on leadership available, but some of the thorny questions are better answered in private 1-1 type of settings with someone who knows you and someone who can provide reflective insight into a problem you are dealing with.

 

For example, some leaders wrestle with making decisions in the face of a culture that encourages high degrees of collaboration. They confuse collaboration with the responsibility of the leader to make clear and concise decisions. This is a perfect problem to discuss with a seasoned mentor.

 

Even the most accomplished leaders seek mentors to help solve thorny problems. Stanford’s eCorner shared part of a talk given by Paul Yock who is a professor in the school of medicine at Stanford and a prominent cardiovascular researcher and inventor. This video segment is entitled “Mentoring Changed My Life.”

 

He sought the peer-mentoring help of three other leaders to help solve the problem of visualizing inside the blood vessel during surgery.