I have had a few mentors through my career, some official mentors and some that have just naturally happened. I have found that the ones that are natural have been the ones that I have got most from.
What Is A Mentor?
A mentor is an individual that can help you through your career by offering their advice using their personal experience and expertise.
I would always select someone that is not my line manager as they are more independent and it is easier to open up and be honest about situations without thinking that the person may have an agenda about what you are talking about.
I guess you could have a mentor outside in your personal life but for the purposes of this post I am purely looking at it from the perspective of your professional life.
It is different from a coach where I believe a coach is trying to help you improve by teaching you something or trying to help you get technically better at something.
5 Advantages From Having A Mentor
Someone to let off some steam
As I would only pick someone that is independent and does not have an agenda in the work I am producing it is a great asset to have someone that you could speak to when you feel things aren't going as you'd like.
We all encounter situations that we want to react to straight away but reacting in front of the wrong person can be damaging to your reputation or career.
So what is really useful is to have someone that you could talk to in confidence and get everything off your chest. You may want their opinion or you may just want them to listen whilst you rant.
Someone with different experience
If you are selecting someone independent to be your mentor, it would also be wise to select someone more senior than you.
If you do this they will normally have more experience than you which is very useful as they will have probably encountered situations that you want to discuss.
The advantage of this is you get someone that had been in that situation and is independent to your situation so therefore you should get sound advice that would help you!
A second opinion
Sometimes you may come up with a bright idea but unsure as to whether it is a good idea or not.
This is where the mentor can come in. You can ask for their independent opinion. They can ask you questions to stress test your idea in a 'safe environment'.
That way, when you go to your stakeholders with the ideas you would have hopefully encountered all of the difficult questions and come up with answers to them.
Broaden your network
One of the things that are key to having a successful career is to have a strong network. I don't believe you should ever have a mentor purely because of the network advantage, as you may not come across as genuine when engaging with the person.
However it is an advaantage to having a mentor as if you have selected somone independent and more senior they can be a great advocate in your career.
Because you will be talking regularly, you will hopefully develop a strong relationship which will mean that your mentor will want to help you with your career in any way that they can.
Having a practice partner
One of the things I have probably found most useful in my mentor is using them as a practice partner. When you have a big presentation or even an interview, you can use them to practice on.
Again, it is using a 'safe environment' to get comfortable for when you are in the real situation. The mentor being senior and independent will again be able to offer you advice to help you where you may be struggling.
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Thanks for reading,
Gav
