So, you’re thinking about finding or becoming a mentor? If so, you might wonder about the benefits of workplace mentoring, whether you’re the mentee or the mentor. The good news is there are benefits for both parties’ careers and professional development.

What is a mentor?

A mentor advises a less experienced person (the mentee). People typically seek mentors who work in a similar field or profession to which they want to work or advance.

Mentors assist a mentee in growing and developing as a professional, frequently providing advice based on their knowledge and experience.

It’s widely accepted that finding a mentor can help build career confidence and extend professional networks, but there are many other lesser-known benefits that go both ways.

Benefits of becoming a mentor

The benefits of becoming a mentor include gaining personal satisfaction, leadership and management and interpersonal skills, and increased networking and profile.

1. Gain personal satisfaction in helping others

There’s no better way to positively impact another’s career than to become a mentor. You don’t have to be a gifted teacher to share your expertise. You just need to be passionate about your career and share what you’ve learnt. Contributing to someone’s growth and professional development can be personally and professionally fulfilling.

2. Develop leadership and management skills

A mentor is a leader. So, this new role, whether formal or informal, will sharpen your leadership and management skills. It’s a position that will test your initiative, adaptability and problem-solving skills – all crucial in leadership and management roles.

3. Enhance your interpersonal skills

When you take on the responsibility of mentor, you open yourself up to working with people from different backgrounds and life stages. As a result, you learn to communicate with various people and strengthen your interpersonal skills.

Your interactions with a mentee will provide many opportunities to practice and develop interpersonal skills, including communication, active listening, empathy and patience.

4. Boost your professional networks

When you’re at a stage in your career to be a mentor, you might think your networks are strong enough. But, taking on a mentee will broaden your horizons. You may be working with someone decades younger than yourself and will gain new skills and opportunities you hadn’t even thought of. An example is of a Baby Boomer mentoring a Millennial – there’s a generation gap that will be filled with new ways to connect with others – social media and digital marketing come to mind!

5. Increase your profile/your organisation’s reputation

If your mentee becomes successful, it also demonstrates your value to others. It may encourage other people or businesses to seek your guidance and position you (your business) for collaboration and career and business opportunities.

Benefits of becoming a mentee

Thinking about finding a mentor? It also provides many personal and professional benefits, such as:

6. Helps you establish realistic career goals

A mentor can help you set personal or professional goals. They can create SMART goals—specific, attainable, relevant, and time-bound—for effective goal setting. These objectives can help you prioritise your efforts and support your mentor track and evaluate your progress. The process may identify smaller tasks to pursue a larger goal, such as developing specific skills or meeting specific goals.

7. Identify and correct gaps in skills and knowledge

A mentor can help you identify gaps in your skills or education holding you back. A mentor can also help if you’re starting a business by gaining the skills needed to create an initial business plan, budgets and marketing.

8. Boosts your confidence

A good mentor recognises your abilities and encourages you to set and achieve your goals and seek new opportunities. Mentors will celebrate your smaller achievements and help you see the big picture, a huge confidence boost. They will also bring inspiration from their own experience to motivate your success.

9. Helps you avoid career mistakes and pitfalls

Ideally, mentors have a wealth of experience you can draw from to help guide your career or business success. As such, they’ve made mistakes and know how to guide you around known pitfalls. Sure, you’re bound to make some mistakes, but you can avoid the big ones others have encountered before you!

10. Extends your professional network

Enlisting the help of a mentor helps you to expand your network and visibility in our sector. As a result, more opportunities open up for career progression or business development.

Whether you’re considering becoming a mentor or finding a mentee, you’ll reap benefits to your well-being and career development. If you’re interested in developing the skills required to be a professional coach or mentor, take a look at our professional development course, Introduction to Coaching and Mentoring.