Mentors help to raise awareness, build trust, break down barriers, and create an impact.
By Hopelyn Brown — Written on Oct 11, 2016
Mentoring and networking are essential tools in developing leaders. To love the live you lead, having a trusted guide alongside you is a very powerful tool. Mentors help to raise awareness, build trust, break down barriers, and create an impact beyond the individual to help produce greatness in women from all walks of life.
As our society breeds more and more demands on women; taking care of her husband, taking care of her children, developing a career, pursuing further education, involvement in the church, as well as other demands, it becomes more imperative for women to network with other women. These mentoring relationships will help to take away the feeling of “being alone” and create a better space for enjoying the life she was meant to live on purpose. In addition, it creates an atmosphere where she can feel safe and comfortable to share her concerns and receive support from others. The start of any mentoring relationship will be a unique process depending on the needs and skills of the individuals involved. The rewards of the relationship will also be unique, reflecting the achievements and challenges experienced by the pairing.
So What is Mentoring?
‘Mentoring’ has become synonymous with wisdom, guardianship, teaching and personal and social development. “Mentoring is a time-honored method of encouraging new talent, of sharing expertise and connections, and of providing rapid, upward mobility…" And the Oxford English Dictionary defines a mentor as, "An experienced and trusted counselor." A mentor is generally someone already experienced in a role new to a mentee. For example, a new team lead looking to a team leader who has been successful leading a team for a number of years, or a life coach who has become the go-to person for helping leaders create wins in their profession.
The mentor guides, advises, and is supportive of the mentee. According to Mentoring Women in Higher Education (Weisbard, 1996), “some studies have found differences from the traditional male model of mentoring when women are involved, suggesting that informality and friendships are more characteristic of successful mentoring of women.”
In this mentoring relationship, the mentor (generally more experienced) advises or guides the mentee (the less experienced) in matters relating to achievement of their specific area of development. In mentoring relationships the mentor will assist the mentee in creating an agenda for working toward her spiritual, emotional, professional, or social development goals and will provide the mentee with insights into the realities of building a successful future in each of these arenas. As such, the mentor is an active participant in the process and does not serve merely as a role model for the mentee.
Do you have a strong desire for more success in your personal and professional life. Why not take that step to secure a coach/mentor and become more empowered to awaken to the life you were created for.
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Dr. Hopelyn M. Brown is a Keynote Speaker, Author, and is trained as a John Maxwell Certified Speaker, Trainer, Coach. She offers empowerment and confidence building keynotes & seminars to her audiences. Contact her for information on how she can partner with you to create a win-win relationship for you, your teams and your organization.
This article was originally published at My Website - http://DrHopelyn.com. Reprinted with permission from the author.