The right mentor relationships will accelerate your career, increase your self-development and improve your relationships. Investing time finding the best mentor also saves you time.
Wikipedia shares in Greek mythology Mentor, was the son of Alcumus and in his old age, a friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus left for the Trojan War he left Mentor in charge of his son Telemachus. When Athena visited she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from suitors. As Mentor she encouraged Telmachus to stand up to the suitors and go abroad to find his father. That Athena was a smart chick and great mentor.
Today this term is used freely in business and is often used interchangeably with terms including coach and teacher. I believe mentoring is different to coaching. A shout out to fabulous coaches I have benefited from Joan Walsh, Michael Port and Dixie Gillespie – these guys have incredible agreement with their clients, ask phenomenal questions and I admire them.
In my humble opinion, a mentor is someone who shares their experience, the good, the bad and the ugly! If you want to accelerate your productivity – find a mentor, hire a mentor, work with a mentor.
Decide on your focus areas – determine areas of your personal and business life where you want to develop and then search for a suitable mentor.
Investigate top performers in your industry – for a career mentor find out the experts in your field of expertise and seek them out. Small Business = Michael Port and Dixie Gillespie, Business = Joan Walsh, Speaking = Matt Church.
Learn where your role models hang out – networks, industry events, conferences, and your association are great places for potential mentors. Spend time watching the people in the room and make note of anyone who stands out and has the ‘presence’ you are looking for.
Investigate official mentoring programs – many organizations have internal mentoring programs. If your company doesn’t have one, can you start one? In my Stiletto Mentoring program women participate in an accelerated six month plan focusing on areas including productivity, presentation skills and relationships. Some mentees claim productivity increases of 50%, others have doubled their teams, one expanded her company opening multiple offices, another grew an international database of over 1,000 connections in less than 6 weeks – you can check it out here.
Select the mentor – when you find the person you believe would be suitable, spend time watching them in action. Ask to attend a presentation with them or spend a “day in the life of” them and watch what they do. A fabulous speaker buddy I admire, Scott Ginsberg has a cool mentoring program called ‘Rent Scott’s Brain’ – he has brilliantly built a brand using his name.
Ask others opinion of your selected mentor – when you have chosen someone, ask around to find out what you can about their achievements, beliefs, values and way of operating. This will give you insight into them before you approach them about mentoring you.
Approach the selected mentor – phone, email or make an appointment to meet with them. Advise them why you want to meet and schedule time. This is an important step in the process so you can show them you respect their time and you are committed to doing the right thing.
Have an agenda – when you meet with your prospective mentor, have an outline of what you want to discuss. Your agenda should include why you want them to mentor you, how long it is for and what you hope to gain during that time. If they agree to mentor you, you can then work out how you can also support them.
Set up an agreement – if you both decide to proceed, set up an agreement with guidelines for timeframe, contact boundaries and a full honesty policy.
Fulfil your mentee commitments – always turn up to meetings prepared, always complete any assignments or tasks given to you from your mentor and always look for opportunities to support your mentor.
When I joined the speaking industry I searched for Australia’s best speaker and found Matt Church. I pestered him for 6 months to mentor me (no that is not a typo, I begged him several times). Initially he said no (well lots of times actually) but when we finally agreed I spent twelve months being mentored by him which probably saved me five years of learning in the speaking industry. Matt also runs a phenomenal Global Thought Leadership mentorship program and occasionally takes on new mentees.
A good mentor will change your life and increase your productivity, help you achieve your goals faster and accelerate your potential – find your fabulous mentor today!
