How does one increase their skills, abilities, and potential to advance in their career?
Education and experience within previous workplace settings are certainly helpful. But what happens while the individual is working within a workplace environment?
It’s an important question that touches the public sector, not-for-profit organizations, as well as those in the private sector. Having worked with entrepreneurs over the past 30 years, the ability of a business and those within it to improve their efficiency and productivity has been top of mind for entrepreneurs at every scale of operation! And every organization needs to find ways to effectively pass knowledge and skills on to those who work there today, while building improvements into the organization for the future. In a competitive environment, a failure to develop the capacity of your people, could very well lead to the failure of your venture. So how can we build the capacity of our people and our organizations?
One of the things I frequently hear from entrepreneurs is their desire to have someone Mentor them. Personally, I think that’s great, and here’s why. Perhaps you’ve noticed ... Entrepreneurs thrive on change! They’re constantly looking for new ways of doing things, making improvements - coming up with better products or services that match an opportunity in the marketplace. Entrepreneurs are open to learning, and what better way to learn, than from the experiences of those who’ve been down a similar road! Mentorship provides an ideal opportunity to learn from others - others who are willing to invest their time into the development of another entrepreneur.
In my personal experience, I’ve found that a Mentor can tremendously add to the breadth and depth of our business and life experience. As I reflect over my years of working with entrepreneurs, whether that’s as a facilitator, an instructor, a business coach, or as a mentor, I recognize that I've also grown from the input of those in my circle of contacts. Needless to say, there is a vast and deep ‘pool’ of valuable expertise available, and I’ve been most fortunate to have benefitted from tapping into some of that expertise on my journey.
If it’s helpful, here are a few thoughts for your consideration, drawn from my past experiences, and those relayed to me by others:
Mentors have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their sincere interest in a business Mentee through the sharing of relevant aspects of their personal business experience. This seems to be more beneficial for the Mentee after the Mentor has taken some time to get to know the Mentee and their priorities for the mentoring relationship.
For me, this speaks to the importance of building a positive foundation for the mentoring relationship in the very early stages. Gaining a better understanding of why both parties feel that mentorship is of value, what each can contribute, their respective priorities, and the basis of the working relationship can all be established during this time period. For both the Mentor and the Mentee to say that their mentoring relationship was a worthwhile ‘investment’ of their time, the mentorship experience must be positive, with evidence of progress having been made in their growth and development.
A Mentorship Agreement can serve as a guide over the duration of the mentoring relationship, and is very important to have in place. With this, the Business Plan might be viewed as being both a ‘map and a compass’, keeping the entrepreneur on track and headed in the right direction. A business plan shouldn’t be seen as an added weight that holds you back! Rather it should be a valuable tool to help you identify important targets that you set for yourself. It should serve as a place where you ‘zero-in’ on your priorities, and contain useful notes on how you will achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Does it take a little work? To be honest - Yes, but it doesn’t need to be overwhelming either!
(BTW - We’ve helped many business owners with our simplified approach to exploring their business planning. Let us know if you’d like to make business planning easier for your business!)
Mentors add value ... by sharing their experiences and expertise, and by asking some very good questions for the Mentee to consider. Mentors will find that their ability to communicate with their Mentee improves as they better understand what the Mentee hopes to achieve, the Mentee’s current strengths and weaknesses, and use their personal experiences to help the Mentee look at the road ahead.
Just in case you’re wondering, we’ve not found it critical for the Mentor to have been in the exact same business or industry sector as their Mentee. Mentors typically have a broad-base of business knowledge and experience that provides a valuable depth of helpful insights for growing entrepreneurs.Openness, caring and listening will go a long way towards building mutual understanding, confidentiality and trust in a mentoring relationship. Get to know each other by sharing some of your experiences – things you’ve seen along your career path or in business. Mentors could talk about the challenges they’ve faced and overcome, 'sticky' situations that required finesse and tactful negotiation. Mentees could share some of their previous experiences, things they’ve learned as a result, and how that may be helpful in the future!
Mentorship – it won’t solve all of the problems that you’ll encounter in your career or in your business, but it will definitely help you to build the capacity that’s needed to move you forward with your business, and continuing in your personal development and growth!
We’re currently working with ... a number of groups, organizations and individuals in various aspect of Mentorship and Mentorship Program development.
We’d be pleased to speak with you regarding your interest in using Mentorship as a "Capacity Building" tool in your Workplace!
Please let us know if you’d like to explore that further.
We welcome your comments to this Post.
FYI: If you’re also interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on both Mentorship and Business Success. These can all be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca
