Mentors - What's in it for them?

Most mentors have altruistic motivation but that’s no reason not to promote the many valuable benefits that they can get from mentoring.

There are lots of reasons why people volunteer to mentor – personal satisfaction, the desire to assist others, or the wish to give something back. It is essential to recognise and publicly acknowledge their generosity.

However, mentors often tell me that they feel they gain as much from mentoring as do the people they mentor.

There are four major areas of benefit to both mentors and mentorees as well as their organisation:

1. The development and growth of the individuals that builds organisational capability;
2. Connecting and building relationships, as well as the thought process used in mentoring, contribute to people’s well-being. This has significant implications for organisational productivity;
3. Tapping into tacit knowledge. Literally picking someone’s brain for the wisdom born of experience. For organisations this is vital knowledge management; and
4. Gaining perspective. Increasing the intelligence people bring to any situation by seeing more than one point of view. This improves, decision-making, teamwork and workplace harmony.

Development

The main aims of workplace mentoring are personal, professional and career development for the mentoree. Yet mentors report that they enhance their communication, become better leaders and develop their own career skills as a result of mentoring others. Some management development programs require participants to mentor others as part of the professional growth process.

Tacit Knowledge

Many organisations employ mentoring for knowledge management, recognising that the implicit knowledge in experienced workers heads is too valuable not to pass on. In addition, mentoring is a better way to “know what you know”. Sharing knowledge with someone else deepens your understanding and appreciation of your own expertise. Mentoring allows people to learn why, as well as how certain actions produce outcomes. A mentoree’s questions can also help experts re-examine and perhaps change what a mentor knows.

Well-being

A lot more attention is being paid to well-being at work and people are much more aware of the importance of relationships and communication in reducing stress. Neuroscience is identifying ways to create and strengthen neural pathways and stimulate growth in parts of the brain vital to mental health. It has been shown that the act of giving (or even observing someone give to or help another) stimulates areas of the brain that release the feel-good chemical, dopamine.

Mentoring does more than make people feel good. It provides timeout for thinking and reflecting. It encourages critical thinking, goal setting and planning.Mentors learn to be present, to listen consciously, to reduce judgmental attitudes, all of which promote well-being.

Perspective

Developing a relationship with someone they might not otherwise meet, someone older or younger, or in some other way different from them, or from another part of the organisation expands a person’s perspective. Scientific research is now showing us that difference, dissent and discordant ideas actually make us smarter. Mentoring builds the confidence to acknowledge differences and respectfully disagree. It reduces resistance and defensiveness and allows people to explore ideas dissimilar to their own. This can produce more harmony, creativity and productivity. That’s how mentoring works!