There are many roles we play or hats we wear in our lives. We are
professionals, family members, brothers, sisters, co-workers, leaders,
coaches, friends, parents, and neighbors to name just a few. While you
may not wear all of the hats I listed, you can likely add several more
that I left out! Many of these roles are a given – we don’t have much
choice of having the role – they come with being a responsible adult.
Because of these many roles, we find ourselves very busy. Many tasks
and priorities find us perhaps busier now than we have ever been before!
With these two factors, many roles and little time, it may seem absurd
to write an article that encourages taking on yet another role and
adding another task to your over-booked calendar. But that is exactly
what I am going to do. In this article I’m going to show you why,
despite the competition for our time and energy, being a mentor is one
of the best things you can do.
There are many reasons why being a mentor is valuable to the other
person. They get the value of your expertise, knowledge, and
experience. They get a chance to advance more rapidly and create
greater success than they would have been able to without your insight
and advice. While these are altruistic reasons, they don’t say anything
about how you benefit. And while we all like to help others, sometimes
we need to see what is in it for us as well.
There are benefits to you personally to spending your time and energy,
sharing your expertise with others as a mentor. In fact, there are at
least nine benefits that you might derive from being a mentor. These
include:
You’ll develop a close relationship with your mentee. We can
never have enough close relationships. And chances are the person you
mentor will be someone you benefit from being around. After all, they
are interested in improving themselves, care about learning, and are
likely excited about the possibilities in their future. Which brings me
to the second benefit…
You’ll be re-energized personally. Get around someone
enthusiastic, and you naturally become more enthusiastic yourself. Some
activities sap our energy while others spark it. Being a mentor is like
carrying a book of matches with you. If you want to re-energize
yourself to your own possibilities, be a mentor.
You’ll increase your commitment to your own career and organization. This one applies most if you are mentoring in a business situation. You
can see how this would happen – as you get more enthused, you see new
ways you can contribute. You see how your mentee can make a difference
in the organization and this new vision will increase your commitment.
You’ll learn more by talking about and teaching things. It is
funny how our brains work. When we teach something or explain something
to someone else, we then understand it more clearly ourselves. As a
mentor you will relive experiences, teach or share ideas. And when you
do this you will learn and re-learn these concepts for yourself. Often
you will find yourself “taking your own advice” to your great personal
or professional benefit.
You’ll expand your impact in your organization. Not only will
your personal commitment grow, but as you help others be more
successful, the organization will succeed at higher levels. Think of
the satisfaction you will get from knowing you are playing a part in
making that happen.
You’ll enhance your self-esteem. It just feels good to help
others. You will feel better about yourself and your abilities when you
share your wealth of knowledge and experience with others. Your self
esteem will rise because you are doing good things for someone else.
You’ll increase your skills. As you mentor others, you will
become a better mentor. The skills that make you a better mentor;
empathy, listening, caring, building trust (to name just a few), make
you more effective in many other parts of your life. Being a mentor is
actually great training in itself!
You’ll grow more confident. The culmination of many of these
other benefits is that your confidence will increase. You’ll be more
confident in many sorts of interpersonal relationships and
conversations. You’ll know that you can have a positive impact. You’ll
know that you can make a difference.
You’ll leave a legacy. Successful athletic coaches do more than
grow their teams and win lots of games. The best also create a linage
of coaches that leave their staff to become head coaches as well. This
is an important legacy that they leave – a statement of their influence
and impact. By mentoring others with care and compassion you will be
adding directly to your legacy.
Take minute now to be selfish. Think about yourself as a mentor.
Identify what you see as being in it for you. Envision how it will feel
to give back to someone else. Then go out and become a mentor – you,
along with your mentee, will be glad you did!
