Why do you need a Mentor?

Life in business is tough, especially if you are in a management or leadership position where others rely on you to make critical decisions that deeply impact them and the organisation.  In the current environment, managers and leaders are facing circumstances that are unprecedented in recent history.  To address these challenges, a considerable amount of expertise, knowledge and experience is required.  It is a lonely situation to know that you must demonstrate leadership whilst you feel that through no fault of your own you do not have the necessary personal attributes to adequately address the circumstances.  In the quiet moments you ask yourself “What do I do?”  The answer to this question is to seek the input of a person that has demonstrated expertise, knowledge and experience in dealing with similar challenges.  You need at least one Mentor.

Where do you find a suitable Mentor?

Mentors may derive from various areas including:

• Personal friends/family
• Within your organization
• Fellow members of your business and social associations
• Referrals from any of the above
• Professional Mentors/Coaches that focus on specific market verticals/positions based on their successful career in the market vertical/positions.  Linkedin, Associations, Institutes etc are a good source of identifying Professional Mentors/Coaches.

How do you select a Mentor?

Engaging with the right Mentor is essential.  To gain value from the mentorship, the following critical factors are essential

• Your Attitude.  You have to want to be Mentored.  As the truism states: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink!’  Be honest with yourself.  Do you want to engage with a Mentor, or are you merely going with the ‘latest trend’?  If the answer is ‘I’m not really serious’ then don’t waste your or the Mentor’s time.  Many organisations implement a ‘Mentor Program’ whereby staff are allocated a ‘Mentor’.  These programs have mixed success with the successful engagements being where the allocated staff member enthusiastically adopts the program and engages with the similarly motivated/qualified Mentor based on the following points.
• Personal chemistry.  No matter how expert, knowledgeable and experienced a mentor is, there is no point engaging with someone that you don’t like or who clearly doesn’t like you.
• Mutual respect.  Mentorship is a conversation where each party engages in conversation based on respect for the other.
• Expertise.  The Mentor must have a demonstrated track record of expertise that positively relates to your situation.  This expertise does not necessarily have to be in the particular discipline of your specialty (E.g., ICT, HR, engineering, retailing etc.) however their expertise should be in successfully managing/leading in similar circumstances in a similar area of complexity/discipline. 
• Knowledge.  A Mentor should be ‘widely read’, carrying knowledge well beyond the area of discipline that you are involved in.  Often solutions to issues come from considering seemingly non-related areas such as literature, philosophy, arts, ancient/modern history, sociology, psychology, current affairs, politics etc, etc.
• Experience.  Engaging with a Mentor that has wide experience and demonstrated success provides access to their first-hand experiences of how they approached the many challenges that they overcame to be successful.

Free or Paid Professional Mentor?

Mentoring is not an exact science.  The answer to the question “Should I engage with a mentor ‘pro bono’ (free) or on a paid basis?” is that it depends on various factors that include:

• Personal Separation.  To address your situation, you need to hear what is necessary, not what you want to hear.  Relying on friends and family for mentoring carries with it the danger of being told what is expedient or only half of what should be said because a family member or friend may not want to damage your ongoing relationship or hurt your feelings.
• Impartiality.  Internal company mentor programs tend to focus on work specific matters that are highly useful for the immediate role at hand.  These are to be actively supported because they will assist you in your role and may lead to expansion or promotion.  Given the focus on the current role and situation, this mentoring is not impartial, hence it may not be appropriate if you are wanting to explore your potential in a career transition or a role outside of the company. 
• Focus.  Free mentoring can be very useful provided it is entered into with the best intent of both parties.  Unfortunately, there is only so much time and effort a mentor can devote to mentoring you due to their commitments.  As a result, that they will not necessarily be able to give the mentoring the focus that you require.  Paid mentoring offers focus based on an Agreement which will provide the necessary focus accompanied by a Professional approach from a dedicated professional mentor.

Where you are in a situation that you need some mentoring to assist you to perform at a higher level, some free mentoring may be right for you.  In the instance where you are facing critical situations it is best to identify and retain a paid professional mentor that meets your criteria in terms of expertise, knowledge and experience.

If not now, when?

Time is of the essence.  Once you identify that you need external input, do not delay in seeking and retaining an appropriate mentor who offers the above criteria.  Whilst you may be able to ‘tough it out’ or ‘work your way through things’, you will gain significant advantage by working with a mentor that can assist you in addressing your challenges sooner rather than later. 

Take action now.  Contact LSE Consulting today to discuss how we can assist you with your personal and business success.

About LSE Consulting

LSE Consulting is a specialist management consulting company.  The purpose of the company is to assist business leaders to improve their organisation’s results, turn around underperforming businesses/business units and to be prepared for successful exit. 

The LSE Consulting method focuses on Leadership, Strategy and Execution, hence ‘LSE’, with a strong emphasis on business strategy aligned marketing and sales.

The company was founded by Philip Belcher to assist business leaders through interventions that are based on his and his industry leading associates’ experience in leading, turning around and successfully exiting ICT, high technology and other businesses.  For more information see: www.lseconsulting.net.au