Question Proposed on LinkedIn: Should Everyone Have a Mentor?

Others’ Responses:

– Hello, I think it’s best that everyone has a mentor. This way it sometimes makes it easier to ask certain things about the work environment.

– Having a mentor is an added advantage. It can give you a lot of information before you chose a particular field or path to achieve your goals.

– This is an interesting question. In my experience, people are not always looking for a mentor, but are really wanting a sponsor. These are two very different things. Both can help with career development, but in very different ways. Sometimes a mentor can also be a sponsor, but not always. In the best mentor/mentee relationships both sides get insights into the other’s world and learn from their conversations.People looking for sponsors are typically looking for an advantage or inside track on their next career move and are not as interested in the learning aspect of the relationship.

– I agree with Bob – mentorship can be advantageous to both participants – especially when the mentor and mentee are of different generations. Great new ideas and perspective are shared that allow everyone to work more effectively together. For the person being mentored, it also comes down to “you don’t know what you don’t know” so many receive a great deal of value from the relationship even when then don’t see the value entering into the process.I personally am a big fan of mentorship program for new employees regardless of what their level is in the company – it more effectively acclimatizes them to the culture of the business and helps them navigate the nuances associated with working with the various personalities present.

– No, I think it’s childess.

– I agree, “you don’t know what you don’t know.” With that being said, I also believe the mentor/mentee relationship is great for the person that desires to be in that type of relationship and can recognize the value of having it.

– A mentorship program adds value to the organization and to each participants on both sides for the reasons that have been mentioned in previous comments but it has to be said too that not everybody wants to be part of it neither can be part of it or is ready for it no matter their age. I strongly believe that everybody gains but when it’s somehow imposed by the buss culture or a manager it won’t work and the work atmosphere will turn negative.

– Mentoring program is the best way of developing, of course beside of coaching. I had mentor for myself in the past (some mentors didn’t reliza that they are mentor for me ) and may be it was more informal way but absolutely it gave me a lot. For egzample how can you learn make business? The best way is to talk and spend time with someone who mad business , who had many success in this area and from whom I can learn this. Of course there is a challenge to implement this kind of process in organization and to say formal way ” ok now we will support each other in mentoring process”. I implement mentoring in one organization (IT) and the final result was very good. To do it you have to have appropriate organization culture which will be support this kind of tool.

– I agree with many of the comments, however wanted to add that whether we like it or not, we all have mentors, someone we chat to or turn to, bounce ideas off and seek out for discussion purposes. Organisation have adopted “mentorship” as a way to provide guidance to multi-generational employees, seeking to bridge the gap and share knowledge, and through formalisation have tried to capture the essence of “mentors”, with mixed success. We all have mentors, and we are all mentors at the same time.

– I agree with David, we all have or should have mentors regardless of the position we hold in a company. Having a reliable, trusted person to bounce ideas off is great. One can have a mentor in the office and in private and they could be different people; I have seen this work very well.

– Yes I agree that everyone should have mentor because even if we are good at what ever profession we are associate with, sometimes we may require someone who can make us clear.

– Having a mentor could shape you for the future. Taking on a mentor, if you actually ‘learn’ from them, you could take good and bad and create BEST practices….I have always found someone within the organizations I “learn” from, whether good or bad. Both have been very helpful in my career.

– When I started my job.. it was e very busy time for my colleagues. It was in the middle of a change I came there and nobody had time to be my mentor. They didn’t have time to talk because they were busy answering the phone and questions from employers.So I had find a lot of things out on my own. So it took me longer to get to know the job and the opportunities.The first few months I really didn’t feel so good in my work situation because of this.I see now when somebody new is starting and they get a mentor assigned and there is time to ask things to the others.. they learn a lot faster and better. They feel a lot better than I did at the time.So in my experience, it’s good to get a mentor assigned but you still have to talk to other people too because of all the comments you said.

– Sorry Hanne you had to start a new position under those conditions. Management should have made each employee set some time aside to train you, no matter how BUSY they are. It doesn’t make sense to spend the money and time to hire an employee if they can not spend even some time to train you.Each team member should have been assigned some one on one time…to both to have you sit and shadow and time to ask questions. Unless you have been there before and performed those duties, they should be assigning you people to work with you.Personally, I have always ‘found’ the time to train new employees…see, the better they are at their job, the better I am at mine.

– yes … every person born in the world need and must pass in the mentorship from childhood to adult life.. in one way or the other everyone of us had become a mentor to others. at work all human activity must be taught to us from basic principle of life, basic skills, academics,technical including trivial subjects. i thank all my mentors who taught me for becoming who and what I am now. KUDOS!

– If I had a mentor when I started my career I may have walked down a different path.Both the experience of being a mentor and being mentored is rewarding. As one learns and teaches at the same time. I agree with the article.

My Response:

– To fully understand any industry or profession, you must seek out advice from those who’ve had success and have done the grind. They know what it takes. So go buy someone lunch and start networking with another level of people. You don’t always need to be meeting with prospects or clients, you can meet with people that will not give you a sale, but the tools to land more sales.