1. There is always someone who is further along than we are. Whether it is our supervisor or a respected colleague, there are always people around us that hold positions of greater influence and responsibility. If you're attempting to take on a leadership role or expand your current duties, who better to lean on than someone close who is already a master at the duties you aspire to undertake.
2. Personal and professional development is a life-long pursuit. No matter how far we have come, in any position there is always a long way to go. This ever-expanding approach is rooted in technological advancements, our ever-growing social needs and our desire to always bring innovation into the workplace.
3. We don't know what we don't know. It is so easy to forget that we don't have all of the information needed to do our best on any given day. A mentor can be a promising source of course correction should we find ourselves taking the long way around when addressing an issue there is already a solid solution for.
4. Mentors can open the door for career advancement. On more than one occasion I have been hired by the very person who mentored me and help mold me into a valuable candidate for a specific position. They tend to know exactly who to talk to, how to talk to them and what areas you might be best suited for in their institution. Mentors have also secured me internships, since they tend to be connected in their field of expertise.
5. Its never a good idea to be the smartest person in the room. While some might find it flattering to be the person in the room with all the answers and who believes they are the most capable when it comes to making the best decisions, having a mentor handy might encourage us to humble ourselves, and in essence make room for the possibility of new ways of seeing our role.
6. You can avoid making career mistakes. There is nothing worst than lacking direction that would save you a year or two of your very precious time. When nurturing our careers, if we don't have a specific direction or a solid path to get from one point to the next, we might misuse our most valuable resources. It is much easier to learn from the mistakes of others rather than making them ourselves.
7. Mentors can see our professional and personal blind-spots. We might think we have a task handled or that our project is airtight, but having the right mentor can act as a career proofreader. They can see aspects of our personality where we might have become complacent.
8. Mentors offer both encouragement and constructive criticism. A good mentor should never make us feel bad about our shortcomings. They should notice when we're on track and when we need some much needed guidance. Both the great and the not so great should be acknowledged equally.
9. Long-term friendships can blossom. Although we often outgrow our mentors, this does not mean that we have to dissolve the relationship. Some of my favorite people in the world are former mentors who know exactly how far I have come and to this day, they never miss the opportunity to congratulate me for meeting a goal or rocking a new position.
10. They help us steer both our personal and professional lives towards success. A good mentor should not only help us advance our careers but they should also help us better balance our professional and personal lives. There is no benefit in being a workaholic. While nurturing a solid career might require some late nights and overtime, free time should always be made for socializing and reconnecting with the people, places, hobbies and pets we care deeply about.
Feel free to share your own mentor stories in the comment section below!
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