How Mentoring Can Help To Level Up Your Leadership Skills

As business owners, entrepreneurs or team leaders, establishing a mentoring relationship can be an effective way to further learning and boost leadership skills. We can simultaneously provide, as well as gain focus and clarity on issues, inspire, offer moral support and encouragement where needed and have access to people in different networks that may be a useful resource for us.

Great Leaders Have Mentors And Mentees

Mentoring is a relationship between a more experienced and knowledgeable person who has certain expertise and who offers advice, direction and general guidance to a less experienced and knowledgeable person. Many successful leaders have had mentors during their early professional development and have in turn engaged others in mentorship. Apple tech giant Steve Jobs benefitted from mentorship from Bill Campbell in his formative years, Jobs went on to mentor Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. Likewise, Microsoft founder, Bill Gates had Warren Buffett as a mentor and Gates went on to mentor a host of younger tech and business professionals. 

But what exactly can Mentors expect to get out of it? While the Mentorship relationship is primarily designed to help the mentee, mentors also benefit in these ways: 

1.     Sharpening Listening Skills

As busy leaders, giving undivided attention and listening intently, may prove be a challenging. Providing mentorship helps to train ourselves to focus our full attention on others when they are speaking to us so that we can help them. 

2.     Giving And Receiving Feedback

Providing constructive feedback to our mentees is a mentor’s main responsibility and learning to do this with diplomacy while getting results is the goal. Asking for feedback communicates that you are also willing and open to learning and growing.  

3.     Have Maximum Impact

As a mentor, you are a role model and a leader, and this responsibility forces you to show up as the best version of yourself. You learn to bring out the best in others, be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses, offer sound advice and support. You recognize that when you need to make changes, you look within. 

Mentorship requires commitment, honesty, time and effort. When done well, reaps benefits towards personal and professional leadership development.

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Nadine Burrowes-Seaga is a Life & Leadership Coach and the Founder & Chief Energy Officer (CEO) of People Development Consultants.