What are the benefits of being a mentor?

One of the benefits of being a mentor is enhancing your professional network. In almost every industry and profession, it is not what you know; it is who you know. To that end, mentoring can help you to build a network of trusted peers and create relationships that can lead to new opportunities and insights.

If your mentee asks a question about an area that you are not familiar with, you can have a network of leaders and colleagues to who you can reach out for assistance. This gives you an opportunity to learn from a peer and strengthen your own professional network.

Similarly, mentoring can help you to develop and demonstrate your leadership skills. Just participating in a mentoring program can demonstrate your commitment to leadership, but more than that, mentoring allows leaders to show their mentees what leadership and decision-making look like in action.

Mentees often come to their mentors for advice, particularly when taking on new challenges. An effective and successful mentor will be able to share the experiences that they have had (both successful and unsuccessful) in an effort to guide their mentee.

If the mentee is approaching an issue in a way that may not be effective, the mentor can use their leadership skills and experiences to ask them to rethink their answer or approach. Another benefit of being a mentor is exposure to different thoughts and opinions.

Hearing ideas that may be fundamentally different from yours can certainly be challenging for some mentors, but hearing differing or opposing thoughts is an opportunity for you to engage in a spirited debate. After reflection, you may hold onto your beliefs, or you may change your stance.

In both circumstances, you have an opportunity to grow as you consider alternative ideas. Lively discussions allow you to glean new information and opinions from others, which will make you better at your job.