Episode 18 Why having a mentor will boost your career
In this episode Sarah explores the power of mentorship in career growth. She shares the key benefits of having a mentor, how to identify what you need from a mentoring relationship, and practical ways to find the right mentor for you. Whether you're looking for guidance, career development, or industry connections, mentorship can be a game-changer. Learn how to take a proactive approach to finding and working with a mentor!
Show Notes:
[00:00] – Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable and introduction to the episode
[02:00] – Why mentorship is your career secret weapon & why so few people have mentors
[03:00] – The research: 76% of professionals believe in mentorship, but only 37% have one
[04:00] – 12 key benefits of mentorship, including career growth, networking, confidence-building, and navigating leadership challenges
[06:00] – Sarah’s personal experience with mentors & how they helped her career transitions
[08:00] – How to identify what you need from a mentor (role model, industry expertise, networking, leadership support, etc.)
[09:00] – Finding the right mentor: Industry fit, seniority, chemistry, and shared values
[10:30] – Different routes to finding a mentor: Workplace programs, LinkedIn networking, professional groups, and mentorship platforms
[12:00] – How to build a connection and approach a potential mentor with confidence
[13:00] – Setting up a successful mentorship relationship: Time commitment, expectations, and boundaries
[14:00] – The value of becoming a mentor yourself and how it benefits your career
[15:00] – Final thoughts, free career resources, and how to stay connected
Useful Links
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Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn
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You’re capable of more than you know. Shine brightly, lead boldly, and be unstoppable!
Transcript
Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,
the podcast for ambitious female
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:leaders who want to create more impact,
income, and influence in their careers.
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:feel connected to their passion
and purpose, but without
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:selling out or burning out.
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:I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach
and career strategist, helping women
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:like you thrive in leadership roles
while staying true to your values.
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:I'm the founder of CareerTree
Coaching and have over 15 years of
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:coaching experience and significant HR
leadership experience to share with you.
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:I know as a female leader it can
be hard to find time to focus
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:on your career aspirations.
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:The day job can be all consuming.
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:Plus, no matter how senior you are,
there are always going to be times
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:when you feel stuck, when you have
self doubt, or feel like an imposter.
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:And that's where unstuck
and unstoppable comes in.
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:Each week I'll be sharing practical
strategies, insightful interviews and
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:inspiring stories to help you boost
your confidence, lead with purpose
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:and achieve sustainable success.
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:If you're ready to stop playing
small and unlock the incredible
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:potential you have within you and feel
unstoppable, you're in the right place.
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:Let's get started.
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:Welcome to episode 18.
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:I'm really glad you're here today.
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:We're going to talk about how a
mentor can help you in your career.
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:What I thought we'd talk about is
some of the benefits to having a
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:mentor and then what you can do to
identify what it is you want and how
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:you can find the right mentor for you.
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:Because when I was looking at this
there's not much information that out
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:there about how you can find a mentor.
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:Often it's about how you
set up a mentoring scheme
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:or how you can be a mentor.
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:So I thought it'd be useful to
do this today around mentoring,
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:because it really is your secret
weapon in your career arsenal.
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:There was some research done, I
think in:
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:3, 000 professionals, and I think
around 76 percent said they I thought
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:having a mentor was a great idea,
but only 37 percent actually had a
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:mentor, which is surprisingly low.
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:I think, there's not that many people out
there who've organized a mentor and it
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:can really boost your career having one.
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:You don't have to wait for your
organization to find one for
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:you or to have it as part of
some career development program.
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:You can be proactive in deciding
you want to have a mentor and
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:finding the right person for you.
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:And that's what we're
going to talk about today.
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:What are the benefits to having a mentor?
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:I've come up with about 12 but
I'm sure there's probably ones
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:that I haven't thought of.
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:Certainly there's that
encouragement and support.
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:for your own growth and development.
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:We do have to be agents
in our own development.
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:So having someone there that can support
you with that and get you to think
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:about the areas that you might need
to focus on or that you have gaps in
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:terms of where you want to be taking
your career can be incredibly useful.
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:Similarly, if you're in a leadership
role or you're moving into a leadership
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:role, having a mentor to help navigate
the challenges of leadership can be
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:incredibly useful as well if they've
already done that walked that walk.
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:Mentors can give you feedback on
your behavior or your performance.
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:So you're not in a managerial sense,
but in terms of learning, learning
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:sense, particularly if they're
working in your organization.
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:They can also be a great sounding board
for ideas or for innovation in your area.
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:And they can also help
challenge your thinking.
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:So get you to look at things
from different perspectives.
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:You can learn from the experience
that they have as well.
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:, they can be advocates for you within your
organisation or within your industry.
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:And they can also connect you with
people who can be useful in your career.
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:They can open doors for you.
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:And they can also be inspiring.
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:They can be a role model that you can
feel shares the same values as you and
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:are doing the role that you want to
be doing at some point in your career.
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:Plus they can help build your confidence
and your self awareness, which is, key
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:in terms of moving your career forward.
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:Then they can also be useful
if you're moving into a new
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:role or you're moving into a new
field or having a career change.
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:I have had two mentors in my career.
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:One was when I was in my HR career and
I'd got a new role as an HR manager,
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:but it was a standalone HR role.
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:I was setting up the HR function.
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:I had a mentor who was an HR
director in a sister organization.
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:And he was just great at giving me
that support, that space to be able
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:to think about the ideas that I had
for the HR function and also how
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:to navigate some of the challenges
and the loneliness of being the
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:only HR person in the organization.
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:So I found it incredibly valuable.
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:And then the second time I had a mentor
was when I changed career and became
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:a career coach working in a social
enterprise, and I had a peer mentor then.
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:So that was another career coach in the
organization who was more experienced
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:than me, who really helped me.
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:Navigate that transition from being
an HR director to being a career
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:coach and starting essentially all
over again with a new field, new
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:language, new way of being really.
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:And she helped me make that
transition faster, and feel supported
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:in a very busy organization.
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:I'm a real advocate for mentors,
both formal and informal.
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:If you're interested in having a mentor,
the first thing to do is to think about
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:what you need from that relationship.
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:Why do you want a mentor?
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:What do you want to get
from that relationship?
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:And it could be a combination of
the things I've just mentioned
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:in terms of the benefits.
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:You could be looking for
it for, a role model.
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:It could career development, filling
the gaps, getting more experience.
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:It could be the access to networks and
contacts, or it could be that sounding
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:board, challenging ideas, innovation.
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:It could be a combination, but being
clear about what you want from
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:it will help you then be clearer
about who's going to be the best
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:person to give you what you need.
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:Which is my second point , which is to
be clear about your mentor's background.
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:What do you want them to have in terms
of experience or approach for it to
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:be a good productive relationship.
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:So thinking about do they
need to be in your industry?
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:Do you want them to have
expertise and knowledge in the
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:area that you're working in?
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:Or actually do you want somebody
different who's going to be working
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:in an aligned field or a different
field who can give you a different
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:way of thinking and approaching some
of the ideas or your way of working?
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:also thinking about the seniority.
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:Do they need to be somebody
who is more senior to you?
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:And how far from you
do you want them to be?
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:Do you want them to be just that one
level up as I had with the HR director?
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:Or do you want them to be significantly
further in their career than you?
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:Or do you feel actually a peer mentor
is something that you would benefit for?
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:Thinking about the background
of your mentor, but also the
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:chemistry because chemistry is
always important in a relationship.
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:So thinking about what do you respond
best to, what kind of behaviors Do you
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:respond to or, values to do they need
to embody the same values that you have
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:in order for that relationship to work.
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:Being clear about background, but also
about chemistry that you want from the
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:mentor to and what you can start to think
about then is, the routes to finding
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:your mentor because there are different
routes and you can experiment with them.
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:So you can start off by thinking , is
there somebody in my organization?
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:Do I know somebody who I've seen and I'm
impressed with, I feel inspired by, that
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:they share my values that I would like
to be mentored as I said, maybe doing the
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:role that you want to be doing either.
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:now or in the near future.
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:And then you can think about making a
direct approach to them, or you could
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:talk about it with your line manager
as part of your career development.
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:You could broach the subject that you'd
like to have a mentor, because your line
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:manager will know you, they'll know your
style and your personality, and they'll
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:also have contacts in your industry.
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:If you are thinking of an industry.
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:So they could be the perfect person
to be that bridge to introduce you to
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:somebody who could be a mentor for you.
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:And similarly, it's worth
investigating if your organization
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:has any formal mentor schemes.
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:Chatting with your HR department about
whether there are any formal mentor
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:opportunities within the organization.
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:But then also you've got your own
networks and LinkedIn is also a
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:great resource for finding people.
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:You can start doing some research
around who your possible mentor could
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:be, in terms of either industry,
companies they're working for, jobs
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:that they're doing their visibility.
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:in your sector.
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:And there could be people known
to you or people unknown to you.
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:It's doing some research and starting
to notice people who you feel could
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:fit the criteria that you have.
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:And then there are also trained mentors.
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:There are, portals that
link people who want to be a
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:mentor with potential mentees.
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:And, the advantage to that is that
person's already thought about becoming
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:a mentor, they might already have been
a mentor previously, they understand
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:how the relationship works, and they are
trained in terms of understanding how to
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:provide the right support, ask the right
questions, and get the best out of you.
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:You could do some research
around some of those organizations
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:that, that link people.
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:I've got a couple for you here.
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:There's one called mentorsme.
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:co.
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:uk and that puts small business owners
in touch with business people as mentors.
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:And there's also one called mentalset.
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:org.
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:Uk, which puts independent mentors
with women working in STEM.
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:That's a couple of examples, but
there will be others out there as well.
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:So that can definitely be
another route to explore.
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:But as I said, there's there
are different routes, there's
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:formal and informal routes.
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:And it's worth just experimenting
and seeing which route, generates
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:the best result for you.
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:Once you've you've identified your
potential mentor, then you've got to think
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:about getting them to say yes to you if
they're not in some sort of formal scheme,
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:starting to build your relationship
with them and getting onto their radar
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:is the first point of call, . And
again, LinkedIn can be useful at this.
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:If they're active on LinkedIn, you can
start by connecting with them,, and
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:then, liking and commenting on their
posts so that they start to see you.
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:I think there's some stats, which
is something like only 1 percent
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:of LinkedIn users are active.
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:So if someone comments on your
post, you certainly know about
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:it and you're grateful for it.
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:So you can start to build that
relationship, or if they're active
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:on Twitter, retweeting their tweets
or commenting on the tweet, can
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:be another way of making that
connection using social media.
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:But you can also look for how active
they are in other ways as well.
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:So if they're an active network
and they're attending networking
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:events or conferences where you
know that they're going to be there.
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:And if you can attend the same
event and find a way to, introduce
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:yourself and have an initial chat
with them, you might not choose to
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:mention that mentor idea yet to them.
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:You want to warm them up and start
to build that relationship with them.
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:But certainly getting to know
them and you can also start to
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:review, am I an attractive mentee?
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:Would I want to mentor me?
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:Do I show through my activity in my sector
or my organization or on LinkedIn that
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:I'm committed to my own development,
that I'm committed to my learning, that
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:I'm committed to my career progression?
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:As a mentor you probably always
want to work with somebody who is a
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:motivated individual who wants to use
the time and get the most from it.
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:So thinking about how you can show that
you are that person is also valuable.
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:And then when you've started to build
that relationship with them, you can
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:then make an initial approach to
have a conversation with them, or take
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:them out for coffee, to meet them to
chat about whether they would do it,
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:be amenable to becoming your mentor.
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:And let's face it.
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:Most people are going to be incredibly
flattered if you approach them
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:and ask them so don't shy away
from making that initial approach.
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:Often people can't become mentors
because of the time commitment.
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:If you can be clear about the time
commitment that you're looking for
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:from them, if it's maybe one hour
a month with you coming to them or
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:doing it on Zoom, so it's easy for
them that it's, you're going to make
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:it easier for them to say yes to you.
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:Thinking about what that time
commitment might look like can be can
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:be helpful at getting them to say yes.
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:And then once, once they've agreed,
which hopefully they will Most
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:mental relationships work effectively
if you've got clear boundaries.
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:So you can think about setting
up an informal contract with each
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:other about how it's going to work.
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:And that can include things like
regularity of meetings for how long.
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:It can also include Things like
confidentiality, which is really
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:important, and the goals that you
have for the mentor relationship.
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:And you could even build in
a sort of break clause to it.
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:So to review the relationship,
maybe after three months.
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:And then if it's not working,
you can both agree to go your
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:separate ways, or you can, extend
it and continue the relationship.
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:But being upfront and honest about
it is setting up for success.
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:If you don't have clear boundaries,
then things can get muddy and people
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:can not know what their role is
or how much is expected of them.
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:I hope that's been useful to you about
thinking about what you want from a
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:mentor and how then you can find a mentor.
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:And once you've got them, how you can
make sure that mentor relationship works.
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:And of course, you can think
about becoming a mentor yourself
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:as well, because that's also
good for your career development.
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:There could be more junior employees
or people in your community or, through
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:a voluntary capacity, who you could
mentor and also get the benefit of
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:being a mentor, as well as looking
for someone who will mentor you.
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:Thank you so much for listening
to this episode of the Unstuck
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:and Unstoppable podcast.
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:I have lots of free resources you
can access on my website, ww.career
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:tree coaching.co
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:uk, and I'll also put
links in the show notes.
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:If you found this episode
helpful, then please subscribe
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:so you don't miss the next one.
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:And please do share it with a
friend and leave me a review
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:and I will personally thank you.
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:Remember, you're capable of more
than you know, shine brightly.
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:Lead boldly and unlock the
extraordinary potential within you.
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:Be unstoppable.