What is the role of a mentor?

Having a mentor could change your life. They’ve changed the lives of many, revealing doors and paths that were available all along, but might have been hidden at a glance. They can be an incredible support tool in people’s lives. Here we dive into what makes a mentor, what their role is and is not, the benefits of a mentor, and more!

What is a mentor?

A mentor is someone in a long-term relationship with a mentee with the goal of helping the mentee grow. A mentor is someone you can trust to provide good guidance and wisdom. They are typically someone who is older offering career or life advice, but this is not always the case.

What does a mentor do?

Mentors can play a tremendous role in people’s lives. Here are some of the things they do:

1. They are great listeners

2. Take a long-term perspective of your goals

3. They are non-judgmental

4. They are patient and understanding

5. Foster learning

6. Are good role-models

7. Encourage the mentee to learn how to learn

8. Are passionate for what they are mentoring about

9. Can talk about their own personal journey

10. Be a source of guidance

What does a mentor NOT do?

Mentors do a lot, but there are a few things they aren’t expected to do. Mentors are not expected to:

1. Offer jobs or positions

2. Provide financial assistance

3. Offer counselling (they are not a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist)

4. A mentor doesn’t force a mentee to do something, and only encourages

How do I find a mentor?

There are far more people looking for mentors than there are mentors out there. There are lots of programs out there to help connect people together, but sometimes it can be hard to meet the right person to be your mentor.

One way is to approach people you think could be a good mentor, and ask them a single question. If you think they give you good advice, go out and do what they said, and return to them with another question once you’re done. However, this approach can be difficult at times. We’ve made it easy to find a mentor at Sharing Brains.

How do I become a mentor?

There are numerous ways to become a mentor for another person. Some people naturally become a mentor to another without formally setting up the mentor/mentee relationship, while others prefer to make the distinction in role from the very start.

There are several ways to become a mentor:

1. Go to a mentor/mentee finding event as a mentor

2. Offer advice to someone when they ask it, and continue to develop that relationship over time

3. Use Sharing Brains to become a mentor

What are the benefits of a mentor?

There are tons of benefits to having a mentor in your life. Mentors can provide greater life satisfaction, help you establish your goals and how to get there, and increase your confidence in making decisions. Some mentors may even become life long friends.

Mentees can also learn to appreciate the perspectives of others, especially those who may come from extraordinarily different life circumstances. In fact, at Sharing Brains we encourage diversity among mentor relationships, and strive to match people who may never normally interact.

Conclusion

Both mentoring and being mentored is a wonderful thing. We at Sharing Brains believe that every human has the capacity to teach another something unique and valuable, while also being able to learn something new. Typical mentoring relationships only have half of the equation; the mentor teaches but doesn’t learn, while the mentee learns but doesn’t teach. We’re changing the dynamic, using two-way mentoring to have the mentor and mentee both teach and learn.