The Myth Of Mentorship

This may not surprise you but the role of "mentor" is a very old one. From trainee samurai warriors to the echelons of the business place, mentorship is everywhere. It's important to distinguish between being mentored and being an apprentice, (the latter has to learn a lot more). Mentorship is more of a hands-off guidance and nurturing rather than the role of trainer and trainee.

"I never have to mentor someone!" I hear you cry. That's not true, if you've ever held a role where you've had to teach someone any part of it. If you're a team member - let's say, in a Microsoft training centre and a new person joins, they obviously have the skills required, or else they wouldn't have got the job. What they don't know is how that particular business runs, and the culture of the workplace and the people who work there. This is where mentorship comes in.

Mentees are basically "newbies" to an environment on which they are either qualified or just in need of a polish. Mentorship is NOT the full training of an individual, it is guidance and the imparting of wisdom and experience. Yes, even if the mentor is young!

Sometimes you are nominated as a mentor by someone else ("look after the new girl, please"), or sometimes you can put yourself forward with your manager. Sometimes mentoring is the role itself, although this is less frequent. If you have experience, knowledge and are enthusiastic in imparting it: that's it, you're qualified to be a mentor. You need to set objectives and goals, naturally - your mentee should pick up certain points within certain timescales, but this should be at a pace that suits you both. Being a mentor can boost the confidence of both parties - a bit like a grandfather teaching a grandson how to repair a car and then consequently be given a ride in it. This example is a little twee, but is a perfect representation of what a mentorship should be.

In business, it's a little more clear-cut concerning the objectives in mind. You have to give feedback and encouragement, and even gently tackle it when your mentee is not picking up the job at hand. Everyone needs time to settle into a new role and the mentor should approach it in a clinical sense. Although you may feel the urge to "mother" a new person, you have to retain a certain objectivity: this person is new to the business, and selecting them as a favourite is not very professional. Helping them do their job well is.

Mentorship rarely has a formal construct and that's where your own personal experience (and indeed, personality) comes in. Where apprentices and trainees have the end-goal of learning the role, a mentee merely needs a helping hand in grasping it. Mentorship requires good people-skills, planning, objectivity combined with sensitivity, so it's harder than it looks. However, get a good reputation as a mentor - especially in business - and it gives you a good reputation throughout. Be the person people come to for help. Nurture other's skills yet develop your own. If that sounds like the kind of person you'd like to know - make it the kind of person you'd like to be, and take that latest new recruit under your wing!