• Maynard Leigh
• Thought Leadership
• Blog
• Make Mine a Mentor

Do you have a mentor? Many successful people have a close friend or colleague from whom they draw wisdom, advice and knowledge. The right mentor relationship however is two-way, not one-way.

Nor can you simply whistle up a suitable mentor just because it’s regarded as a good idea. If possible aim to attract a mentor through your work and other activities. Put simply, are you the sort of person someone would want to mentor? Show people you’re excelling in your career and producing impressive results, and the chances are they’ll want to mentor you without you having to make a direct request. 

What should you look for in a mentor? Here are five essentials to track down in a potential mentor:

• Trustworthy: The right mentor is trustworthy. You can safely tell them your worst fears and most ambitious dreams. This person will be someone to whom you can turn in a crisis; not a parent or saviour, but a person possessing the ability to look calmly at your situation and give honest, if perhaps uncomfortable feedback
• Knowledgeable: A great mentor knows what they’re talking about. The world is filled with people only too keen to tell you how to run your life. Or as the comedian George Burns once put it: “Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.” A viable mentor will have facts and information at their fingertips, often drawn from years of experience.  
• Connected: It helps to have a mentor with a good network of lots of the right people. They must be able to offer help, wisdom, or to lead to other relevant contacts.
• Self-confident: The best mentors have the assurance to tell you uncomfortable truths, not just what you want to hear. They do it in ways that feel acceptable rather than confronting or undermining. Because they’re sure of themselves, they don’t tend to pull their punches when giving you support .
• Listener: Someone who is highly directive and tells you what to do will seldom make time to listen to your concerns. Be sure your chosen mentor has good listening skills and leaves you with plenty of air time.

Building a mentoring culture in which mentoring happens widely takes time and commitment. At Maynard Leigh Associates, we’ve worked with a number of organisations over the last thirty years to help establish such initiatives. These enable leaders, teams and individuals to create and implement solutions specific to their organisation, and to locate inspiring mentors.

Supporting people in their performance requires far more than direction or instruction. Great mentors willingly invest time in the development of people and their ability. They use insight – looking at what it would take to lead each person towards their full potential.