Why Be A Mentor?
(is it your worst nightmare or your dream role?)

Page Key Points

On this page Why be A Mentor you will learn:

* what motivates people to become mentors

* some of the many upsides of the mentor's role

* how to get a feel if it would match your needs

Why be a Mentor for some would be their worst nightmare, but for others it would be their dream role.

WHY?

Because the mentor's role is not “a job” in the usual meaning of that word. 

Being a mentor will suit any person who is willing and able to help others to help themselves release and realise more of their potential.

But it will definitely not suit anyone who is boss-orientated; comfortable in a spoon-fed, dependency culture; searching for certainty or looking for “a cushy number”.

How you feel about what you've read so far should be regarded as the first 'clue' regarding why be a mentor.

ARE YOU:

Excited about a role with no boundaries?
Able to think simultaneously and juggle demands for your expertise?
Enthusiastic about change and helping to create it?
Flexible in your approach to work and ideas?
An excellent listener and questioner?
Confident to trust the change process?
A creative thinker who constantly challenges the status quo?
Able to see the ‘big picture’ and challenge constructively?
Capable of thinking out of the box?
Able to enthuse others to take ownership and contribute proactively?
Assertive enough to “do the right thing”, even when others won’t?

then some or all of the above that you responded an excited 'yes' to have answered the question, why be a mentor?, for you.

Be a mentor if the above would boost your motivation; self-image; learning; fun; and need to 'make a difference' that would really matter to a mentee(s) and the business and that when you looked in the mirror you would justifiably feel proud of yourself and you would smile.

Can I 'prove' what I have said?

YES, I CAN.

I helped to create the list above when we were working with a great client called Lubrizol and we needed to recruit two FULL-TIME Mentor facilitators to support a major culture change in the organisation that had just downsized significantly and it's future was decidedly iffy.

Using the list above (and others below) we recruited internally very well and the selected Mentors played a very significant part in a success story that won us a UK National Training Award which the judges described as 'revolutionary and inspiring'.

For a more detailed understanding of our approach, click the link to go to our Complex Adaptive Systems page.

Another list we used as part of the recruitment process read as follows:

We would expect a Mentor to contribute to business success and the growth of mentees by:

Helping people to reach their potential and use their talent

Championing our unique organisational culture which fosters self-management, trust and values differences

Encouraging an open work environment including face to face giving and receiving feedback

Helping to develop high performing teams

Facilitating ongoing continuous improvements through effective mentoring

Initiating, encouraging and responding to continual, beneficial change

Helping everyone on site through 1-to-1 and team learning and mentoring experiences

Willing to work in, and with, ambiguity to develop and change the role

Making a difference – to mentees, people, the business and self.

How are you feeling now about why be a mentor?  More excited?  Bored?  Terrified?

As a final list to enable people to self-select whether why be a mentor made sense for them and would enhance their future, or not, we said:

You will experience working in an environment which:
- Is continuously changing
- Is unique in it’s structure and philosophy
- Fosters unrestricted openness
- Truly believes that people make the difference
- Strives for outstanding performance in everything we do

You will also have an opportunity to:
- Apply all your interpersonal skills and tacit knowledge
- Learn from those mentees you help
- Work in a facility where everyone manages the business
- Win with people

And now?, feeling more bored, I could never do all that, it's impossible, excited by the challenge it will pose for you or what...?

Now, we need to step back a bit from this real life highly successful situation because it was unique, we had only 2 months to get the major culture changes needed to avoid closure of the company, and this had never been done before in the company and was 'a risk'.

But it seems to me that the info above is helpful in helping you respond to the question, why be a mentor?

You will need though to tailor it to your real-life situation.

If you are not facing potential business closure; if you do not need significant organisational development and culture change; if your mentoring needs are more modest, for example, go through the lists with someone acting as your mentor and cross-out the stuff in the lists that is not relevant for you right now.

Have a look at what you've got left and how you feel about it.  Still excited?, great.

Now, have one more shot at it in this sense: in Lubrizol we had no idea whether people could do what we were asking for, we had deliberately no 'master plan' re the culture change and we had deliberately no 'Plan B' in case it didn't work.

That was the nature of the 'risk' we were taking.

Many people said, you are crazy, this is irresponsible.

My response was, we will see but we believe that the people here HAVE THE POTENTIAL to do what we're asking and the situation is giving them plenty of intrinsic motivation to do it.

Up to now, though, they had never been given the chance to show their talents in the way that my lists invited.

When the people succeeded they surprised everyone, including themselves, but the amazing results they achieved proved it was well worth the risk and our judgement was sound. 

Let me summarise with another list I would use to answer the question why be a mentor?  (you'll need to make your own list to answer the question, 'why do I want to be a mentor right now in this company?'

Hopefully, my list may be of some help or stimulus):

Why Be A Mentor?

BECAUSE:

* it's a unique role that enables the person doing it to fulfil their mental and emotional needs to a unique level of satisfaction only helping others to help themselves makes possible

* it's a role that can be self-managed, boosting self-esteem, self-image and confidence

* it involves working with complex adaptive systems where outcomes are unknowable and unpredictable until they emerge.  This requires a lot of creativity, being comfortable with the uncomfortable, enjoyment and fun

* it will help you to release and realise more of your potential as well as the mentee(s) (no matter how chronologically old you are, how educated or not and a bunch of other 'used as excuses' to avoid the changes needed for personal and professional growth)

* it will help you to step outside your mental, emotional and physical 'comfort zones', see the red box / green box Choice Model below.  You, your mentees and your business will never be the same again

* it will require you to be a role model, work with mentees as a partner in a team of two, be a leader when appropriate all of which will enable you to feel success created by you and your mentee and which will have significant benefits for your mentees and the business by releasing and realising more of the potential of both

* it will be an opportunity to make a difference - to give something back / pay something forward - to the benefit of mentee(s), leaders(s), peers, the company and other stakeholders, and, quite rightly, to the benefit of you.

* it will create opportunities for you to learn plenty of new stuff that, depending on how you use it, could change your life.

I could go on, but my final point may surprise you?:

Q. why be a mentor?

A. because you can,

if you really want it and are able and willing to work for it.

If you think, having read all the info above, I can't do that, it's too demanding for me, OR I'd love to do that, it sounds so interesting, it will be great to make a difference like that:

it's up to you to choose, either:

no, I don't want to be a mentor or

yes, I'll find ways, with help and support, to close any gaps I have to because I know now why be a mentor is the 'right road' for me

or I need more info, in which case, click some or all of the links below or use the contact form below to ask me.

Definition of potential: unrealised possibilities

(just waiting to be realised by someone, why not YOU?)

If you get 'stuck', let me know via the Contact Help Form for Dennis below and I'll be happy to listen and talk with you about it.

Zero cost or obligation for you.

Go to our Home Page

If you would like more information, please visit any or all of the pages listed below by clicking the appropriate links:

* letter to a Mentor

* what is a mentor

* what does a mentor do

* business mentoring and mentorship

* bespoke and different

Page Summary

On this page Why be A Mentor you have learned:

* what motivates people to become mentors

* some of the many upsides of the mentor's role

* how to get a feel if being a mentor would match your needs

* some links if you want more information

We've covered a lot of ground on this page and I just want to THANK YOU for visiting my web site and reading this page.  Your attention is much appreciated.

I hope you found the page as enjoyable, worthwhile and interesting reading it as I did writing it.

Kindest regards,

Dennis