Where do you begin the process? Before you choose a mentor for yourself, you need to understand your own career aspirations, developmental needs, and goals. If you don’t have a clear vision for your career, you won’t know what guidance you need or even what mentors can help you.
Questions to ask yourself- To help you think through your career path, here are some questions to ask:
1. What is my ultimate career goal? Do I desire to be an executive or perhaps an owner of my own business?
2. What is my time frame for reaching that goal? What position do I want to be in 5-10 years from now?
3. What skills do I need to develop that goal? Will I need more guidance on how to be a leader?
4. Who do I know (or am aware of) that can help me develop those skills? Who I do I admire that I could approach as being a mentor?
5. What can I do to contribute to a mentoring relationship? What useful information could I pass on to my mentor?
Mentoring can be a wonderful way to deepen your roots but before you begin, you must, as Stephen Covey once said, “keep the end in mind”. Your responsibility is to have a clear understanding of your where you would like to career to progress. French sociologist August Conte sums it up nicely when he wrote “Know yourself to improve yourself”.