{"id":14669,"date":"2019-11-26T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14669"},"modified":"2019-11-25T08:12:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T13:12:52","slug":"finding-a-professional-mentor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14669","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Professional Mentor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This is a guest post written by Sr. Human\nResources Professional, Kathie Elliott.<\/em><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you looking for a mentor to help you develop your professional skills? Last month, <a href=\"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (mentoring in the workplace blog)\">we discussed types of mentoring relationships<\/a>. Finding the right mentor can make a big difference in your career. Once you find a potential mentor, how should you approach them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nature of mentorships presumes\nthere is already some sort of professional relationship between the parties. If\nthat is true for your chosen mentor, you could begin by asking them if they are\nopen to serving as a sounding board for you as needed when specific issues\narise. Or you could arrange a time to talk with them about your specific learning\nobjectives and goals. In either case, be sure to explain the skills and\nabilities they have that you admire, why you think they would be a great mentor\nfor you AND what you think the benefits of mentoring you might be.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you opt for a formal mentor\narrangement, be sure to agree on what is expected of both participants, such as\nfrequency and length of meetings, types of issues or skills to work on, and how\nlong you commit to work together. You can always agree to continue, but many\nmentors would like to have a planned end date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turning a current professional\nrelationship into a mentorship could begin with short situation-specific\nconversations. Great ice breakers might include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>\u201cHow have you handled a situation like _________ in the past?\u201d <\/li><li>\u201cWhat would you say to someone who wanted to __________?\u201d <\/li><li>\u201cWould you be willing to offer me feedback on <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">_\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 __<\/span>?\u201d <\/li><li>\u201cWould you tell me about a time you were faced with _________?\u201d\u00a0 <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have identified a mentor, but\nyou don\u2019t already know one another, you can\u2019t be sure whether they would be a\ngood fit or interested in mentoring you. In this case, you could start first by\ninviting them to meet with you to discuss a specific issue or question. They\u2019re\nmore likely to want to meet with you if you have shared contacts or interests. Contacts\ncan help make introductions, whereas interests give you a chance to meet this\nperson under different circumstances. If you keep the parameters and commitment\nwell-defined, neither of you will feel pressured to commit to anything beyond\nan initial meeting. If that meeting goes well, you can decide whether to\nrequest another meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Occasionally, mentees reach out to\nsomeone in their reporting line for mentorship, but this can create multiple\nhighly-sensitive issues. It may give the appearance of a conflict of interest,\nor it may not be a feasible time commitment for them to make to just one member\nof their staff. In either case, it puts them in the uncomfortable position of\nhaving to decline your request. &nbsp;Instead,\nconsider looking for a mentor in another unit of the organization who can offer\nyou a unique point-of-view. And don\u2019t underestimate the value of a mentor\noutside your organization; they may open a new world of insights and\nopportunities! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of who you choose to\napproach to mentor you, be sure to thank them for their time and advice. And remember,\nthe point of mentorship is to continue to learn and grow as a professional while\nat the same time become someone with knowledge and skills that others (even\nthose more experienced than you) can learn from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a guest post written by Sr. Human Resources Professional, Kathie Elliott. Are you looking for a mentor to help you develop your professional skills? Last month, we discussed types of mentoring relationships. Finding&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14669\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span> Finding a Professional Mentor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[217,218,255,249,250],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb1fcA-3OB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14679,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14669\/revisions\/14679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}