The value of mentoring

Mentoring is a relationship in which a person with expertise and experience in a particular field helps someone who is just starting out and steers them in the right direction.  

“Give it a go… It’ll make you feel warm inside” 

Mentoring programmes are increasingly popular due to the advantages and opportunities that arise for both parties involved. Although life is busy and we might struggle to make time to do what we truly want to, here a few reasons why you should consider joining the mentoring scheme. 

Sense of achievement 

This is a definite for both parties. The person being mentored will feel a sense of achievement the more they improve. After getting a dose of positive feedback, the mentee will make it their mission to carry on improving their work to get approval from the mentor. The mentor can also gain a sense of achievement from knowing they are helping someone accomplish things they didn’t think possible. 

Photographer and mentor David Alan Harvey believes that you need to make someone have faith in their work in order for your own work to be good. He says: “That mentality allows me to mentor other photographers without fear. I’ve had other photographers tell me, ‘Hey Harvey, you’re giving away all your secrets and telling everybody how to take your job!’ But I never thought of it like that.” Mentoring is a way of giving back, helping someone get further in life. It’ll make you feel warm inside.  

New perspectives, fresh ideas  

Mentoring programmes are a great opportunity to step outside your comfort zone. By meeting and talking to people outside your group of friends or social media followers you can see things from a different point of view, get a fresh outlook and encourage ideas you’d have never of thought of had you stayed in your bubble – and find contacts to work with in the future. 

Mentor benefits 

Mentorship programmes are not only beneficial for the mentee, but also for the mentor. They can update and improve on their own knowledge as well as adding to their experience. Developing their teaching and leadership skills, and maybe even their social skills, can lead to better opportunities further down the career line.  

Strengthen lessons already learned  

The best lessons you learn from life are the ones where you actually put yourself out there and experience it for yourself. With your actual life experience, you can teach the mentees the ways of the real world, stop them making the same mistakes you did and guide them how to find a better way. As a mentor you will be helping graduates fast-forward past common mistakes many people make and help them to succeed.  

Be the teacher you always wanted 

Think back to your younger days when there was a subject you struggled in. No matter how much you tried, you just couldn’t get the hang of it, everybody just gave up on you and you wished you had that one person who had faith in you. Your mentee has most likely felt the same and is still waiting for that person, too. 

American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey has previously spoken about a teacher she had in school that believed in her and made her realise her full potential: “One of the defining moments of my life came in the fourth grade, the year I was Mrs. Duncan’s student. What Mrs Duncan did for me was to help me not be afraid of being smart.” You can be your mentees version of a Mrs Duncan.  

Be a mentor 

Mentoring not only helps shape someone’s career it also has its rewarding benefits for the mentor, making them feel as though they have made a difference in somebody’s life and contributed to the success of the next generation. Give mentoring a go. It could provide the feel-good factor you’re looking for.  

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.