The Benefits of Mentoring
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10/08/2021
Do you want one off the shelf or perhaps a unique one? I think I want one a bit different to the rest!
Do the costs of training and ensuring you have a right fit candidate outweigh inheriting another’s issues? Depends!
For me the answer is YES! We certainly want to employ staff who have the aptitude and desire to do the job you need them to do. But I certainly do not want someone that is a walk-up expert for the job. I want them to want to still learn and to be able to see the benefits in different or opposing ways to what they have done in the past.
The benefit of mentoring is one of the greatest gifts of all when it comes to leadership. I suppose that is because I was gifted with the opportunity to be taken under the wing of my best boss ever when I was just 18 years of age. I am not sure I knew it at the time, but he presented challenges, opportunities to make mistakes, to learn by them, to work out how to correct them, to think, to research and to make projects mine. He guided me, sent me away to present findings to him, made me step put of my comfort zone yet never allowing me to fall to far.
Studies will tell you the benefits of mentoring others includes:
- The opportunity to support and encourage your employees in their career and personal and professional development,
- Improving your leadership skills
- Boosting confidence and fulfillment (both yours and theirs)
- The ability to give useful behavioral feedback
- Respect and understanding
- This in turn builds your professional network through reputation
So, for me I think the opportunity to mentor others is quite an empowering skill! Does it mean that you get to keep those staff with you forever? Absolutely not! However, fortunately, you are sometimes lucky enough to hit the JACKPOT and staff will stay with you. The ones that leave you don’t forget you, or what they have learnt – for better or for worse! They become advocates for you – in the open. They in fact, one day may become mentors themselves!
Overtime your staff end up being one step ahead of you which allows you to continue to work on your business not just in it. The more challenges you can present to your staff the more opportunities will present to you allowing the challenge cycle to continue.
Helping to build your success story through your staff is a testament to new employees. This shows progression, succession and encouraged continuous improvement and development. This can become a pivotal selling point without you having consciously creating a path. Organic growth within your team sells itself.
This helps build your strategic plan and if you are really lucky, they then flip the coin and they start to challenge you back – and you respect them for theat. So, your never stop learning or being challenged.
Mentoring means that we all win.
