Whenever I get the chance to interview amazing women on how they achieved their success, I am often delighted to hear many of them have role models or mentors. This has been a huge part of my career as I sought out mentors from an early age. Mentors can have a significant impact on you personally and can escalate your career. The selection of a good mentor requires good research and willingness to ‘check out’ lots of people before you decide. Here are my strategies on how to find a good mentor.
Decide what area you want help with – examine your life and determine if you want help with your career or your health or your relationships. When you know the area you want to focus on you can then begin searching for a mentor.
Investigate top performers in your industry – if you want to find a career mentor, find out who are the experts in the field of expertise you want to develop.
Find out where your role models hang out – check out networks, industry events and conferences to watch out 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 organisations now have internal mentoring programs you can become a part of. If you work for yourself you can also investigate Government areas that have established mentoring programs also.
Select the mentor – when you find the person you believe would be suitable, spend some time watching them in action. Ask to go along to a presentation or meeting with them or ask if you can spend a “day in the life of” them and watch what they do.
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 them or make an appointment to see 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 dong the right thing.
Have an agenda – when you meet have an outline of what you would like 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, full honesty etc.
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.
Once you determine who you would like to be your mentor there a few guidelines listed below to help you maximise your time with you mentor.
Have a written agreement. Put your mentoring agreement in writing by outlining each person’s responsibilities and commitments.
Set a time limit. Limit your formal mentoring relationship to six months. This gives you a timeframe within which to achieve your goals and learnings.
Meet monthly. Make a regular time (that is convenient for your mentor) for a one-hour meeting each month. Plan to meet in a location that suits your mentor, whether it is his or her office, favourite coffee shop or some other place they suggest.
Set an agenda for each meeting. Keep an ongoing list of things you would like to discuss with your mentor as issues arise throughout the month. Let your mentor know what you would like to discuss, what challenges you have been facing and what questions you have a few days in advance. If you can’t meet in person, book a teleconference and run the meeting in the same way as you would if you were face-to-face.
Do your homework. Your mentor might give you activities to try or challenges for the next month – always complete these tasks and report back on your success.
Promote your mentor to others. Always take the opportunity to let others know about your mentor’s skills, achievements and successes.
Thank your mentor with the gift of service. Being a good mentee is all about serving your mentor to create opportunities through which you can draw from their experience – offer to assist them with a project, help out in their business unit, drive them to an event or take them to the airport.
Do your homework on your mentor. Find out what your mentor likes to listen to, what books they read, which movies they enjoy and details about their family. This helps you to find areas of common ground where you can deepen your relationship and also thank them in ways that are important to them.
Maintain confidentiality. Keep discussions between you and your mentor private. Never disclose details of your discussions with others.
Avoid contacting your mentor outside of agreed times. If you agree to meet once a month, save your discussions for this meeting. If you do need to contact them outside of this time, use email so that you don’t interrupt their daily activities.
Try to outdo your mentor. Learn from their experiences but always try and develop your own work that is even better than your mentor’s. If you are successful, you could share your new ideas with them and add value by improving their business.
Make time in time – find opportunities to support your mentor and also debrief conversations. If they are driving for long periods of time, keep them company (either face to face or on the phone), if they are flying interstate for the day, go with them and use the uninterrupted time on the plane to gain wisdom and assistance.
Never ask your mentor “What can I do for you?” – always be creative and find ways to assist them without being asked. Offer to do some data entry in their office, offer to pick them up from the airport instead of them taking a cab, and offer to help recruit staff for their business – find ways to help them without expecting anything in return.
When I chose to become a professional speaker I sought out the most talented Australian speaker I could find. He was accomplished, fantastic presenter, had won many client and industry awards and ran a profitable speaking business. I asked him to mentor me and for six months - I followed him everywhere. I went to client meetings, sold books for him at the back of the room when he presented, helped him on projects, worked in his office, paid for interstate flights to get uninterrupted discussions during travel time. Spending time with him accelerated my speaking career in an astronomical way, helped me form valuable relationships and also lead to my next exciting career move. I was a dedicated mentee and would do anything to serve and learn.
When you invest your time in being a committed mentee you will be rewarded with accelerated experiences from your mentor. You will avoid mistakes they may have made, learn about the industry, meet great people, form valuable relationships and then be able to mentor someone in your future.
To find out more about how you can find a mentor, be a dedicated mentee or be a great mentor yourself – you will find many tips in ‘How to Achieve Amazing Things in Your Work Life’ CD Pack with workbook. You can order this online at
www.neenjames.com for only $99.00 - or check out my 'Stiletto Mentoring Program'
www.neenjames.com Neen James, MBA, is a Productivity Expert: by looking at how women spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps women to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Check out
www.neenjames.comLabels: mentee; productivity; management, mentoring, stilettos
