Let's start from the beginning.
What is mentoring?
“Mentoring is a partnership between the master and the student, focused on discovering and developing the potential and skills of the student”
A master is a person with extensive experience and knowledge in a given area, which he imparts this knowledge to the student, the ward. A mentor is a master. Master in the subject. A person who has experienced successes and failures, and now shares his experience so that the student does not have to duplicate his mistakes, or even more so - learn from his own.
“If you want to get somewhere, it's best to find someone who's already there.” — Robert T. Kiyosaki
Mentoring is a voluntary, partnership relationship between two people - Mentor and Mentee, aimed at effective learning and transfer of knowledge. It consists in developing the competencies necessary for the realization of the professional path of the trainee. Mentoring is giving advice not only on specific tasks, but also developing the internal motivation of the mentee, helping in the formation of a professional career and personal development.
Mentor does not give ready-made advice and solutions. This is the help of a counselor, a consultant. The mentor tells about his experiences, conveys insights, at the same time giving the mentee a fishing rod so that he himself can find the answer to the question posed. This approach teaches correct behavior in a variety of situations. And mentoring should equip the student with just such a universal key that opens many doors. Even if they are made of different materials and painted in different colors.
Benefits of Mentoring
It would seem that, due to the nature of the mentoring process, only the learning side benefits from cooperation. Mentoring, however, brings mutual benefits, both for the mentor and the mentee.
The benefits of mentee mentoring:
- Receiving expert knowledge from an experienced person
- Substantive support in the tasks performed
- Developing personal competencies and team cooperation
- Increase self-awareness by receiving constant feedback from the mentor
- Discovering career potential and identifying strengths and weaknesses
- Strengthening motivation for further work and belief in one's own abilities
- Assistance in the delineation and implementation of a career path
Benefits of mentoring for a mentor:
- Building the authority and position of an expert
- Leadership Skills Training
- Transfer of knowledge and experience
- Refreshing basic expertise (experienced people often work “from an automaton”)
- Understanding the needs of others
- Learning through mentee a new perspective on different topics
- Satisfaction, by irreplaceable help for new people in the industry:)
Where to start mentoring?
There is a misconception among some people that the mentoring process is led by a mentor who leads the mentee by the hand and tells him what to do. The situation, on the other hand, is the opposite. First of all, the mentee must know what he wants to achieve through cooperation, as well as be aware of his abilities. At the beginning, it is crucial for the student to define real, measurable goals and verify the possibility of their implementation with the mentor. It is good at the beginning of cooperation to define its framework - the frequency of meetings, which is extremely important, the topic of subsequent meetings and what each of the parties is to prepare for a given meeting. Open communication, transparency and constructive feedback are also extremely important in the mentor-mentee relationship, which should be the basis of the whole process.
Why is mentoring becoming so popular?
The market is multiplying with subsequent specialized courses, webinars, bootcamps. Many people participate in them with the hope that they will radically change the professional situation. However, a really small percentage of the knowledge gained, great advice and best solutions is implemented in everyday work. Why? It is difficult for yourself to maintain high discipline, motivation and consistently make changes in your current life and professional work. And even if they succeed, it is often difficult to objectively assess their effects.
Mentoring gives the learner holistic support in developing and building a career path - we receive individual, personalized meetings with an expert based on our skills and goals, constructive feedback, motivation, as well as help in finding oneself in the market realities. It is good to have someone who will show us the way and help us achieve our goals more effectively.
Finally, we encourage you to check out our mentoring program. We are starting the next edition soon!
