You never know how much you need mentorship until you are faced with a hurdle you have never handled before. Mentorship is an important aspect of life that helps guide, motivate, and inspire one to achieve success in any given endeavor.
A mentor is a person who can support, advise, and provide guidance in any given area. In professional terms, a mentor is an experienced professional who provides informal guidance to beginners as well as experienced professionals for career growth.
Mentorship is the guidance provided by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company, educational institution, human relations, career path, or an informal sector.
I have had several mentors in my life, some of whom I have not physically met or had a clearly defined mentorship relationship with. Those mentors I have physically met are those who displayed interest in my growth and development in the respective area, alongside providing support when needed. However, for the ones I have not met, it was my personal decision to emulate their success in life to stay motivated all the way.
Technically, mentorship involves a clearly defined relationship between the mentor and the mentee. This is why several voluntary and involuntary organizations organize mentorship programs to link mentors with potential mentees.
While we look at the importance of mentorship to one’s life, let’s begin with some awe-inspiring quotes on mentorship. First, we talk about the importance of mentorship to a mentee, and thereafter, to a mentor.
Inspiring Quotes on Mentorship
- “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
- “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg
- “The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.” — Plutarch
- “You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself.” — Galileo Galilei
- “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” – Phil Collins
- “Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” — John Crosby
- “Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon” — E.M. Forster
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
- “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
- “My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better.” – Steve Jobs
- “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
- “The mediocre mentor tells. The good mentor explains. The superior mentor demonstrates. The greatest mentors inspire!” –Lucia Ballas Traynor
- “Most busy people want to mentor someone great.” –Ramit Sethi
- “The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people” – Patricia Cross
- “It is important for us to see that our mentors are human and, therefore, fallible; it makes our own short-comings more tenable.” –John Wooden
- “The people closest to me determine my level of success or failure. The better they are, the better I am. And if I want to go to the highest level, I can do it only with the help of other people. We have to take each other higher.” – John C. Maxwell
- “My mistakes have been my greatest mentors” – Steve Maraboli
- “Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind” – Samuel Taylor
- “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”― Margaret Mead
- “So having people to shadow you or mentoring people – that’s important to me.” – Maria Taylor
- “Mentoring is not about making people like you, but about helping them become the best version of themselves.” – David Stoddard
Inspiring Quotes on Seeking Mentorship
- “A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey
- “True mentors have this unique ability to pick up vibes that everyone else misses from within you.” – Ahmad R Kazi
- “With careful guidance and mentorship, you will reach your highest self.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Great mentors give wise guidance.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
- “A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you, than you see in yourself, and helps bring it out of you.” — Bob Proctor
- “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton
- “One who refuses to seek the advice of others will eventually be led to a path of ruin. A mentor helps you to perceive your own weaknesses and confront them with courage. The bond between mentor and protégé enables us to stay true to our chosen path until the very end.” – Anonymous
- “Your mentors in life are important, choose them wisely”- Bill Walsh
- “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” – Carl Jung
- “You have to believe it’s possible and believe in yourself. Because after you’ve decided what you want, you have to believe it’s possible, and possible for you, not just for other people. Then you need to seek out models, mentors, and coaches.” – Jack Canfield
- “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” – Khalil Gibran
- “More than mere teachers, mentors are often emancipators, freeing artists from poor technique, clouded vision, and personal uncertainty.” – Paul Soderberg
- “Mentoring is an indispensable requirement for an artist’s growth. Not only are skills and experience shared, but there is value in the essential re-examination of one’s own work and techniques.” – Jim Norman
- “The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth.” – Dan Rather
- “What you want in a mentor is someone who truly cares for you and who will look after your interests and not just their own. When you do come across the right person to mentor you, start by showing them that the time they spend with you is worthwhile.” – Vivek Wadhwa
- “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
- “I have always been a huge believer in the inestimable value good mentoring can contribute to any nascent business.” – Richard Branson
- “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Ken Blanchard
- “We must find the time to stop and thank those the people who make a difference in our lives.” – John F Kennedy
- “A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you than you see in yourself and helps bring it out of you.” – Bob Goshen
- “Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- “Your mentors in life are important, so choose them wisely.” – Robert Kiyosaki
Benefits Of Mentorship
Many of the quotes above have already discussed the benefits of mentorship both to mentors and mentees alike. Mentorship is something every young professional, entrepreneur, student, and so on, should aim to get right.
It is an essential ingredient for sustainable growth and development, a source of motivation, and support for any growing individual. Mentorship is what makes the difference between someone who is highly motivated to succeed and someone who backs out at the sight of any challenge along the way.
Mentors provide motivation, guidance, and counsel on how to succeed in any given area you are. They can help you overcome some challenges you encounter on the way to success, as well as prepare you to avoid making mistakes that make you slower and less efficient at any point in your own journey, from their own experience.
There is hardly ever any successful person who never looked up to someone as a mentor. No wonder Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Even when the mentor does not know you in person, that does not deter you from following their wise counsel and guidance. Thankfully, the internet and television have made it possible to learn about other people’s ideologies, drive, motivation, guidance, and so on, without ever seeing them our entire lives.
Sometimes, you may get financial support from your mentor(s), in cases when you need capital to start a business or need some money for a related venture. But your mentor does not necessarily have to give you money. Appreciate their willingness to guide and motivate you through the journey.
Benefit of Mentorship to a Mentor
Mentorship may benefit a mentor in different ways too, not just to the mentee. I have more mentees than I have mentors and that is one thing that gives me great joy–to help people rise.
But while I do so simply because I want to help them, I can’t fully recount how these have come to benefit me personally. I have received favors, respect, support, and gifts from some of my mentees who saw that I was invested in helping them grow.
Mentoring someone is really an exciting experience. It makes you a teacher, and by teaching others, you learn better about yourself. Mentoring people can give you an opportunity to think deeply and critically about their peculiar situations, which can help you understand more about yourself and your own journey.
As much as we think we don’t need anyone else, especially those seemingly unimportant young people who are struggling to make something of their lives, they can help you in ways you never imagined. Providing help and support to mentees can also stimulate them to find ways to help you too.
It is wonderful to be a part of someone’s success story. Some of your mentees would rise to become your partners in the future, and some would do greater feats than you imagined of them. Eventually, some of them can rise to positions where they can truly help you grow and achieve even bigger success.
As interesting as mentorship can be, it can be particularly burdensome. Having to carry on your own tasks and challenges together with helping other people go through theirs can indeed be challenging. But it can be very gratifying. Also, when you think back on someone who helped raise you, you feel the responsibility to help others too.
How to Find Mentorship Opportunities
Now that you have seen the importance of mentorship, it is time to explore some ways to find mentorship opportunities.
To find a mentor, the following steps will be helpful.
1. Define your goals for mentorship
What do you want from the mentorship relationship? You need to have a clear plan as this can help you know who to get mentorship from. One simple rule is that you should seek mentorship from people in your field who motivate or inspire you.
2. Build relationships with existing networks
One of the easiest ways to get mentorship is by networking with leaders in your profession. Many people are too shy or reserved to build relationships with their teachers, lecturers, and potential mentors. Once you give it a try, you will realize how easy it can be, particularly when they have been seeing you around.
3. Attend conferences and events
If you desire more mentorship opportunities outside your existing networks, conferences and professional events are the next way to go. Many conferences have a meet-and-greet section to allow for networking. Seize that opportunity if available, but if not available, make time to intercept a mentor you are interested in at the close of a section.
4. Find mentorship online
Several online platforms can allow mentees to connect with mentors who have relevant experience in the area of their interest. Examples of such online platforms for potential mentorship opportunities include LinkedIn, SCORE, and Meetup. These can help you get mentorship with people you have not physically met at that time.
5. Join professional organizations
If you are a professional, there are several professional organizations that will be available to you. You can become active in your local professional organization and connect with those ahead of you. You can also join the regional, national, or international professional organizations relevant to your profession to seek more mentorship opportunities.
6. Build genuine relationships
A mentor-mentee relationship should ideally be a mutually beneficial relationship to a large extent. Although, you would be benefiting more as a mentee in the short run, aim to build genuine and mutually-beneficial relationships with your mentors. Also, find what you can offer them to motivate them to keep the relationship with you.
How To Be A Good Mentor
Whether you like it or not, it does not stop at finding a mentor or being a mentee. As you grow in the industry, a time will come when younger fellows will be looking up to you for mentorship as well.
Being a good mentor requires you to connect well with your mentees as well as provide them with the best possible nurturing to help in their professional growth and development. The following tips can help you become a better mentor.
1. Know your mentees
It is common to get carried away with busy schedules, and it is totally understandable. With so much on the table and other family and professional responsibilities, anyone would understand the situation.
However, asking your new mentee about his/her name and background in a respectful way can make him/her feel closer to you than ever.
2. Share past experiential lessons with them
There is so much you can read about in the books today, but some experiences can never be found within book pages. Sharing such valuable lessons based on your experiences will make them feel closer and more indebted to you. This is because they acknowledge how much you are open to sharing with them.
3. Freely provide them with advice
It is important to show your mentees that you are approachable and willing to help. Readily providing them with advice can go a long way to achieving that.
Some mentors seem to hide a piece of their minds from the mentees. This makes the mentees feel reserved and perceive that you might not be ready to help them. To draw them close, always advise them when you have an opportunity to do so.
4. Be genuinely interested in their growth and progress
Some mentors try to put a cap on what they can teach their mentees. Maybe they do this to prevent the mentee from achieving more than they did in their own time. This is a tight-fisted attitude and is unacceptable if you want to build a good mentor-mentee relationship.
Being genuinely interested in your mentee’s growth and progress will make you share as much information as possible with them. Also, once they see this uncensored commitment to their growth, they will never take you lightly forever even after they have become well-grown.
5. Give to them when they have genuine needs
There is no limit to what you can give to your mentee even when we try to limit it to guidance, and moral support as much as possible. When your mentees have other important needs and you are in the right frame to help them, don’t hesitate. Achieving success also involves other important things aside from guidance and advice.
The only precaution to keep is to be aware of genuine mentees and separate them from parasitic ones who are only interested in exploiting the relationship without any effort to develop themselves.
6. Don’t let mentorship drain you
Mentorship is exhausting. You should do your best not to allow it to drain your energy. You don’t have to always worry about your mentees when you are loaded with many challenges.
First, take care of yourself by disassociating yourself from mentorship for a while until you are ready to pick up again.
7. Stay connected with your mentee
You might not have all the time to contact your mentees but they would be free enough to contact you when they need some help. Do well to respond to their messages and show as much connectedness in the conversations as possible.
Final words
Again, what is mentorship? I am sure we have x-rayed this as much as possible in this post. Mentorship is a beneficial relationship between a mentor and a mentee.
This post also contained some inspiring quotes on mentorship both to a mentor and to a mentee, highlighting the importance of mentorship and how to do mentorship the right way.
The last section talked about how to find a mentor (for mentees) and how to be a good mentor to your mentees (for mentors).
I hope this was enlightening!
