One of the best ways to succeed in any career is to follow in the footsteps of people who have made it before you. In other words, you emulate and imitate their behavior, their lifestyle, and their mannerisms among other characters. Note; it doesn’t mean that you have to live a life like theirs but rather you learn from them.
By definition, therefore, a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor.” It, therefore, follows that mentorship is the process of guiding and helping others through experience and skills developed in overtime in a given field. Thus a mentor plays a valuable role in helping to shape the future of his or her mentee. How does he do this?
A mentor sets an example
It is important to know that a mentor doesn’t need to be personally known to the mentee. Nonetheless, the mentor and his life at large can be copied and applied in the life of those he is mentoring. How does this happen?
Many young people today admire and aspire to be like people in the public limelight. They might be politicians, artists, authors, scholars and the list is endless. Some of them have done very well by widely sharing the stories of their life to encourage those who look up to them. Wherever you look, you will find a biography, a story on the web or even a television program highlighting the journey of an acclaimed figure. Adapt Education affirms that it is from these positive stories that the mentor sets an example as affirmed.
When a mentee has an opportunity to personally interact with a mentor, they are able to gain insights and secrets to their achievements. In some cases, this is information helps to make a great, life-changing impact on the mentee especially in the choices of their career.
Guiding through resources
One of the challenges that learners face is choosing appropriate material for use amidst huge volumes of materials As a mentor, you can help them with these choices and save them time, energy as and misleading information. It is considered that you’ve been through the process and therefore are in a position to differentiate between materials that are accurate, relevant, reliable and helpful to the student at that point in time.
In fact, a mentor has the role of interacting and sifting through new material and passing the most relevant to his/her students. Guidance through resources impacts knowledge by helping to brighten the world of the mentee.
Critique
One of the most helpful processes of learning is looking beyond the information presented. In other words, going deeper by analyzing, questioning and seeking answers. In the same breath, a mentor should be able to critique the progress of his students. The critique here entails a number of things including:
- Listening to their ideas of the mentee and helping to shape them
- Encouraging them when they need a little push
- Offering a helping hand and a shoulder to cry on when need be.
A mentor is probably the best life teacher a student can have especially in relation to their career. For this reason, the mentor must positively and constructively critique the work the progress of his/her students.
Inspire and Motivate
In an ever-changing learning environment, inspiration and motivation are sometimes overlooked as more concentration and emphasis is given to performance. Yet, inspiring and motivating students play an essential role in helping them to make the right career choices.
Sending uplifting messages is one way of motivating students.
Note: There are things a mentor doesn’t engage in such as:
- Directly telling you how to do things
- Lift you from transactional and short-term troubles
- He isn’t an all-time counselor and therapist.
- He is not your advocate and your relationship is only formal
Mentorship sheds light
There are so many students whose have no idea what careers would suit them best. Mentorship helps to shed light and guide them to a fruitful life. This also applies to people with ideas direction to take for them to become profitable or helpful.
Important to note
The mentee, however, must also be willing to learn, ready and open to various options. Quite often, things will not always go in the anticipated and preferred direction but an open mind should be receptive. Deliberate effort to make progress is key in any learning process.
Conclusion
It is generally considered that a mentor has more wisdom, experience, and alternatives to present. In this regard, his/she is very instrumental in influencing the people that look up to him.
History has demonstrated that working under the guidance of such mentors produces some of the most refined personalities. The practical application of knowledge gained is more important and helpful to the mentee especially when applied in the right way.