AdvancingWomen.com

Absolutely you need a mentor.  Most successful women have had one.  Sometimes it is their boss, father, mother, more experienced colleague or someone respected in their field who they sought ought and convinced to mentor them.  But without a doubt, the time between where you are and when you become a success is dramatically compressed when a mentor shows you the ropes.

In fact, research indicates mentoring is one of the crucial and important factors in business and career advancement. Having a mentor or going through some type of mentoring program dramatically increases one’s chances for success. Although it is not fatal to lack a mentor, it certainly helps one a great deal to have one, both in technical and conceptual knowledge, learning from a broad base of experience and rapidly gaining a wealth of contacts.

Mentoring can be a shortcut to career success because it provides a safe, protected environment in which one can learn. One benefits from the mentor’s experience without having to go through the trial and error of learning those same lessons over the years; time is compressed, mistakes don’t have to be repeated. Valuable lessons, knowledge, attitudes and recognition of opportunities are passed on.

The mentor guides his or her protege or partner in developing skills, methods and work habits which the mentor developed painstakingly over her entire career.

An equally important aspect of mentoring is teaching one’s less experienced partner how to network and who to network with. The mentor becomes, in effect , the gateway to the business experts and resources his partner will need. Frequently the mentor provides the introduction, and by taking his partner under his tutelage and introducing her in this manner, his endorsement provides an entree and an acceptance by other experienced business people that the younger person might take years to achieve on her own. In fact, she might never achieve that acceptance on her own because business cliques can be quite closed and intolerant of newcomers, particularly women.

When major decisions or choices arise, the mentor can be an effective source of advice and encouragement, sizing up not only the business situation, but evaluating your skills , attributes and natural talents and bringing to bear seasoned judgment on where you would best fit and what are the right choices for you, not just as a business person, but as an individual.

Finding A Mentor – The First Challenge

No doubt about it, finding a mentor can be a challenge. Mentoring demands a broad base of experience, a high level of skills, and an ability to teach and nourish. Generousity and openness are required of a mentor. A second obstacle is the fact that there are many women who want and need to be mentored and few mentors to help them. Those in a position to mentioned have reached a position where they have great demands on their time.

Each of the following approaches can add a piece to the mentoring puzzle which you are trying to solve:

The Direct Approach. Search out the person you admire most in your field, and one with whom you feel comfortable. Ask to speak to her at a convenient time. Then you can explain you know how busy she is, but you genuinely want to improve your skills and knowledge and ask her if she would be willing to spend a small amount of time…..even 30 minutes a month, reviewing your situation and mapping out a path for your progress. You can even ask her to give you homework in the form of books to read or presentations to attend. Most people, however busy and important, are flattered by this approach and probably will be willing to help you. Some may not have time to see you in person but will gladly mentor you by email.

An Electronic Support System. Although not as warm and fuzzy and personal as a real, live mentor, sites on the Net like  AdvancingWomen.com, and its Advancing Women in Leadership Journal, were designed as an electronic support system for women, to help them meet their many, multifaceted challenges. If you read and follow the advice given, you will be reaping the benefit of successful women with deep experience who are , in effect, mentoring you electronically. If you want specific advise, don’t be shy, ask for it. You can do this by writing to the editor and asking if the website will address a particular issue. Preferably you should frame your questions in a way that the answers will apply to more than just one person, but to an entire group facing a particular work situation. You can also put your questions on one of the bulletin boards and get a lively, hopefully informative discussion going.

Mentor Yourself. At a meeting AdvancingWomen.com‘s Gretchen Glasscock attended in Austin with some of the national leaders of the Women’s Department in the Department of Labor, a regional director said she had met the mentoring challenge this way: “Everything you really need to know is inside yourself.. You just have to focus on the areas you need to develop and then do whatever it takes to make yourself into the person you aspire to be.” Although this approach may not give you everything you need, it certainly will increase your self reliance and take you a long way down the road to career success.

For more on this subject see:
Get A Mentor To Help You Learn The Ropes

85 Broads

85 Broads is a network of trailblazing, visionary women who aspire to use their talent and leadership savvy to effect professional, educational, economic, and cultural change for all women globally.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Find a Mentor (Formal)
• Mentors Help Others Achieve Success With Internet Marketing
• Search for mentor II
• Ten Tips For Finding A Mentor