‘He who walks with the lame learns how to walk.’
- Latin Proverb
Let me share with you a story I came across in a book I cherish so much. The story goes thus.
Many years ago a promising Greek artist named Timanthes was under the tutelage of a well known instructor who was serving both as his coach and mentor. After several years of tutelage, the young painter created an exquisite portrait. The young painter was so enamored with what he had created that he sat day and night gazing at his work. One morning however, he was horrified to discover that his teacher had deliberately ruined his painting. Angry and in tears, Timanthes ran to his mentor and asked why he had destroyed his cherished possession. The wise man replied him by saying ‘I did it for your own good. That painting was retarding your progress. It was an excellent piece of art no doubt, but it was not perfect. Start all over again and see if you can do better.’ The young artist took his mentor’s advice and produced a masterpiece called “Sacrifice of Iphigenia”, regarded by some as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.
What is the moral of this short story? It is that as an individual you do not know it all. No matter what you might have achieved in your field of endeavor, there are still some people better and more successful than you. To achieve more and become more successful therefore, you need to follow in the footsteps of someone who has done it before and will act as your guide. You need someone who will direct your steps when you are straying. Someone who has been there before and will help you avoid certain pitfalls that might befall you in your journey through life. This simply is what mentoring is all about.
Stretching this a bit further, if for example you want to learn how to climb the mountain, you need to watch and listen to someone who has done it before.
What therefore is mentoring?
The word mentor was derived from the character “Mentor” in Homer’s epic tale ‘The Odyssey’. Mentor was a trusted friend to Odysseus, the king of Ithaca in the tale. He was to later serve as a counsel and friend to Odysseus’ son Telemachus after the father’s death.
Mentoring however refers to ‘a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person.’ It therefore relates to a process for sharing knowledge relevant to work, career or professional development. By this is meant supporting and encouraging people to manage their own learning in order to maximize their potentials towards the accomplishment of their career goals. The relationship is therefore non-reporting and does not replace any of the organizational structure. Mentoring is supportive and the mentor guides the mentee through modeling of positive behaviors. Furthermore, the real impact of mentoring is made through consistent and ongoing relationship building.
Why mentoring?
Mentoring serves several benefits. It benefits the individual both as an employee or self employed. It benefits the organization where an employee serves. It also benefits the mentor and of course the profession of the mentee.
In the Workplace
1. You are provided with someone with greater knowledge and experience to turn to for advice.
2. You feel less isolated at work.
3. You are guided through problem solving.
4. You are provided with tips on career growth.
5. Employers enjoys greater productivity from the employees as a result of fewer mistakes
6. Employees enjoys greater job satisfaction
7. There is less employee turnover as a result of greater loyalty to the company.
8. Availability of mentorship program attracts new employees
Benefits to the Mentor
1. The opportunity to teach and advice mentees increases the confidence and job satisfaction of the mentor.
2. Listening to concerns of mentees help develop better understanding of employee issues and enhances stronger communication skills.
3. If the mentor is a supervisor or manager, it improves supervisory and management skills.
4. Through maintenance of professional connections it enhances reputation/connection.
Benefits to the Profession
1. Mentored employees value collaboration and sharing of information which makes the organization stronger.
2. In the workplace, it helps employees become more self directed and develop stronger communication and problem solving skills which allows business to become more creative on focused growth.
3. Mentored employees are apt to be involved in professional organizations which further their career and profession itself.
How do you go about mentoring?
The main purpose of mentoring is to create a better you! If this has been identified, how do you go about doing so? How do you find that mentor who will guide and support you all the way? Even when you have found that mentor, how do you build that enduring relationship that will benefit you?
Listed below are some action steps you could take to achieve your aim.
1. You must first understand the role of a mentor: Better still you must understand the kind of mentor that you desire. Is it a career/professional mentor or a spiritual mentor or a business mentor or academic mentor or a financial mentor? A good mentor must:
Be able to access your strengths and weaknesses
Help you understand the structure and organization of any topic
Introduce to you new perspectives and correct any wrong thinking you might possess
Boost your ability to make decisions
Help you familiarize yourself with the various tricks of your profession
Introduce you to important resources and useful references
Help in developing and creating a better and effective you
2. Think about the best ways of establishing communication and building a relationship with the mentor: Basically this is all about how to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the mentor. This requires certain action steps.
You must decide what specific role you want the mentor to provide, what you specifically want to learn from him or her. Further, you must decide what you are looking for from him and how often you will like to meet with him.
You must make a list of potential mentors according to your own personal criteria and desires for the relationship you are trying to build. Your mentor however must be someone who is well rounded and not one you admire in certain aspects alone.
You must think about what to say to convince him to be your mentor
Start approaching potential mentors on your list until you meet the one who will agree to be your mentor.
Make plans on where to meet.
3. Endeavor to keep the mentorship healthy: The relationship with your mentor has to be nurtured to make it enduring. To do this, you must:
Keep a schedule and keep to it.
Make the relationship with your mentor mutually beneficial
Show appreciation as at and when due
Keep the relationship strictly professional. Remove all forms of emotion from it.
4. Be accountable to yourself and others: That is you should avoid being selfish. You must share your hard work as well as your progress with others. Just like your mentor has done by sharing his.
Mentoring is therefore about modeling yourself after someone you have identified as worthy of emulation, a role model of some sort. Someone who is ready to support and guide you to become the kind of person you want to be. A mentor must be prepared to help you create a better you. Not a person who will be jealous of your achievements. The guidance and support must however be voluntary. It must not be pecuniary.
I hope you have benefited from reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I thank you for sharing your time with me. I really do.
No comments:
Post a Comment