#Mentorship. Do you need one?

In the last few years, I have got one comment many times from juniors “No one ever explained like this.”
And every time it triggered a thought, oh no one ever told that to me too. And then I every time I replied “These are very hard-learned lessons .”

And then one thing comes to mind, “Shouldn’t everyone has a mentor?” “Shouldn’t seniors/managers tell their juniors/reportees to find out a right mentor for them?”
But is that really easy? I mean are you really ready to look for a mentor? And is it really easy to find out the right mentor?

Let’s first understand what’s mentorship?
It’s the relationship between 2 people where the senior one (mentor) is more experienced and has faced many challenges and now he is ready to pass the learning to junior (mentee).

Many times I have seen that seniors are very reluctant and afraid of passing their knowledge to juniors and they feel that it’s their bread and butter. But I think till learning is not passed to juniors and they are not empowered, seniors too won’t get a chance to think beyond their day-to-day work. And if a senior doesn’t pass the baton then one day some smart junior will snatch it.

And if you have a question, “Do I need a mentor?”. My answer would be, “Yes my friend, everyone needs one.”

But how do you know who is the right mentor?
- One who thinks beyond “I” and has a desire to develop other people.
- Willing to share his/her knowledge and expertise and not threatened by empowering others.
- Can listen and understand.
- Can give constructive, honest, and direct feedback.
- Has flexible mentoring style.

Are you ready to get mentored?
- Are you willing to go the extra mile?
- Are you are ready to set up regular catchup and ready to work on feedbacks?
- Are you ready to absorb the knowledge?