The Value of Mentorship

“A mentor is someone who provides guidance in dealing with daily challenges at work, takes you under his or her wing, and nurtures your career quest. Akin to a Glinda the Good Witch to your Dorothy Gale. What differentiate mentors from the average network contact are long-term dedication and a deep-rooted investment in your future.”

 More often than not, the value of “Mentorship” has been brought up in various settings of discussion, identifying an array of benefits for organizations of all sizes, especially small businesses. An effective implementation of a mentorship program provides an avenue for employees to connect, learn and grow within the company and along their own career paths.

At present, there is no universally agreed-upon definition of mentoring and much hopeful thinking about what good mentoring relationships are understood to be. Mentoring, at its core, is both an art and science. Over the years, there has been extensive research on mentoring practices across organizations – What works and what fails?

Research has shown that the model of mentoring has shifted from what was commonly known in the past as a traditional model to becoming an alternative model now as shown in the figure below.

 Figure 1: The shift from a Traditional Model to Alternative Model of Mentorship

Differences in the both models vary from the means of approach and degree of involvement. However, in both models, the similar key takeaway is what differentiate mentors from an average network contact are long-term dedication and a deep-rooted investment in your future. A successful mentorship is a two-way interaction.

In an effective mentorship, a good mentor-mentee relationship is a two way street; thus, if you want a good relationship with your mentor, become a good mentee. Such requires both a genuine interest in your mentor and a readiness to do what it takes to become successful as new employee in the playing field.  There are many benefits of mentorship, and they differ from program to program and participant to participant.

Benefits of mentorship extend from the individuals to organizations. As a whole, everyone who is involved in a mentorship will benefit in some ways or another if the individual is open to the concept of being mentored. The most valuable mentoring relationships occur when the mentors and mentees bring certain skill sets to the table. And in my opinion, every successful mentoring relationship displays four key attributes which help to identify the perfect candidates in every organization.

The four key attributes are as such:

1. Active listeners – Primarily, active listening requires energy. As such, active listeners take note and ask constructive questions in return to facilitate the conversation.
2. Strive in success - Effective mentorship requires devotion and responsibility to making the two-way interaction a success.
3. Be curious – As the saying goes, “If there's a will, there's a way.” Do not wait for answers to be fed, explore with your options and seek for answers.
4. Step out of one’s comfort zones - People who are willing to step out of their comfort zones embrace new perspectives and exposures for the purpose of personal and professional growth.

In essence, I believe any individual can be mentored as long as the person is receptive to the concept and willing to do the work.