Mentoring for Success

Over the past year I’ve been working with Mentor-net. Mentor-net is the business mentoring scheme for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It is a confidential service provided by the not-for-profit Mentor-net program and volunteer Business Mentors, who are drawn from experienced members of the business community and the professions. I would like to extend my experience to people who are not part of this wonderful service.

My understanding of a mentor is essentially a ‘wise or trusted adviser or guide’. The word has its origins in Homer’s The Odyssey. Before leaving to fight the Trojan war, Odysseus leaves his son and estate in the care of his friend Mentor, who then guides the young Telemachus. I rather like this connection as Telemachus's name in Greek means "far from battle” and mentoring is most definitely a relationship of support .

To give it a more modern context, I see a mentor as someone with experience or wisdom, sharing and imparting their knowledge on to someone younger or less experienced. The concept works incredibly well in a business environment where an entrepreneur may have a great idea for a business but needs a bit of guidance turning it into a successful and profitable venture. Successful entrepreneurs will often attribute much of their achievement to the support and guidance they received from a mentor. Most notably, billionaire airline and entertainment industry mogul Richard Branson was mentored by the British airline entrepreneur Freddie Laker.

A business mentor is someone who can act as a sounding board for your ideas and plans. They bring their own unique experience of life and business and are willing to share their skills and knowhow with you. Having a business mentor can help you to focus, to look at your business from a different perspective. This is essential to identify strategies and opportunities for improvement and growth.

As a business mentor I am not a consultant, I will only mentor from my own experience. By acting as a sounding board for you, I walk alongside you as your business grows. My role as a business mentor is to support and develop, stimulate and challenge.

The way you choose to approach mentoring will be dependent on how much involvement you agree to, or request me to have with your business. I can work extremely closely with you, speaking or meeting most weeks or even days. However, in most cases I will have less of a day-to-day involvement. Instead I’ll provide help every few weeks or months which could take the form of phone calls, emails, face-to-face meetings or a combination of all of these.

Mentoring can be a very formal and structured process with regular meetings which follow a specific agenda and set of goals. It can also be quite a casual arrangement, where you as the mentee calls on me as and when problems or questions arise.

The main thing to remember about mentoring is that it’s not just a one-off meeting, or opportunity to pick my brains. It’s an ongoing relationship where both parties must be committed to achieving certain goals and willing to live up to their end of the bargain.

If you’d like to try it out please visit my mentoring site and we can arrange a taster session.

A Trusted Advisor

“Nowadays we seem to put a price on everything and you think you only work or do something if you are getting paid for it and I do think that in recent times a lot of people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. I have always been passionate about community and people having a sense of place." Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet

I’m fortunate to have a rewarding career that has been centered around working with other people. Recently I’ve been looking for a way to use my business skills to support the community that I live and work in. I’m already working with the Small Charities Coalition and the Portsmouth Business Champions. This has led to an opportunity to act as a volunteer mentor with Mentor-Net.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what a mentor is. My understanding is that, in an employment context, a mentor is a person with skills and experience who counsels an individual and helps guide their thought processes. I suppose that a mentor relationship is one where the outcome of the relationship is expected to benefit all parties in the relationship for personal growth, career development, lifestyle enhancement, spiritual fulfillment, goal achievement, and other areas mutually designated by the mentor and partner ( I’m not sure about the word “Mentee”). The dictionary definition is “A trusted advisor”.

A few times in my life, I’ve had someone see potential in me, and give me advice on a continual basis. I considered these people mentors, although at the time I would not have used this title. I believe a true mentor sees potential in someone by taking a personal interest. They will advise and motivate, celebrate and commiserate, but never control. I suppose they are your critical friend

So what are the characteristics of a mentor? I think of a mentor as a role model, a teacher and a companion. They support you by listening to your ideas and concerns. They will boost your self-esteem and encourage your efforts, whilst introducing you to new people, places, interests, ideas, or suggesting new sources of information or ways of doing things.

Perhaps I’m being too idealistic. Do you have a mentor? Could you see a mentor being beneficial to you? What do you think a real mentor provides?