Mentorship: Ways to Grow Your Career

Susan Kirby-Smith

10 months ago

As we know, professional development is tremendously important. It strengthens individuals, and it strengthens agencies.

Trainings, workshops, certifications and conferences are all valuable, but there’s another part of professional development that is less discussed yet may be one of the most important for employee growth: mentorship.

It’s unlikely that years down the road, an employee will remember the one technical training that really pointed the way for their career path. What we do remember over time is the people we interacted with and the way they taught us. And we’re especially going to remember the one great mentor who changed our way of thinking and career trajectory.

Mentoring takes time and careful intention; it’s not available just anywhere. It’s the right person, in the right way at the right time. But when the mentor/mentee relationship does line up, it’s magical. The results are more prepared employees who are both growing and motivated, better leaders, a better learning culture and greater retention.

For Mentees: Types of Mentorship

There’s not one specific way to be mentored. When you are seeking that mentor/mentee relationship, consider what’s possible in your circumstances and what will be helpful.

Formal or Informal

Perhaps your department or agency has a formalized program, in which case you can take advantage of it. But, if not, you can seek out a mentor among your colleagues — someone you trust who you’d like to learn from. There’s your supervisor, but you should have at least one other mentor who is not your supervisor and may have different perspectives to offer.

Whether it’s through a formal program or informally arranged, find out if someone whose work you admire has the bandwidth and interest in meeting with you once a month or so. And simply be open to person-to-person learning opportunities. Harvard Business Review speaks about ”mentors-of-the-moment,” which are informal interactions between leaders and junior employees that help grow a culture of mentorship in the organization as they strengthen individuals.

Long- or Short-Term

If there’s someone who has the time to mentor you over a long period, six months or more at frequent intervals, take that opportunity. But if you don’t have that person in your midst, remember that you can ask someone to mentor you for a specific project or over a period of a few weeks. As the Office of Personal Management mentions in its mentoring material, there’s even the option of “flash mentoring” or “speed mentoring” in a time-controlled environment.

Small Scale or Large Scale

Maybe you want to develop many skills through your relationship with your mentor, or maybe there are just one or two specific skills you’re trying to gain. You don’t have to set yourself to the task of learning everything your mentor could possibly teach. Instead, you may want to identify the specific things you want to learn from them. They might find that clarification helpful as well.

Familiar or Unfamiliar Faces

Your mentor could be someone you see every day, such as your supervisor. Or it could be someone from a different area of the organization, or even from a different agency. You benefit from both insider and outsider perspectives on your work. Don’t forget to be open to being mentored by a peer as well as by someone with significantly more experience. As long as you value their approach and experience, you can learn something.

For the Mentors: What’s in It for You

While it may seem that the mentor/mentee relationship is mainly for the mentee, there are great benefits for the mentor as well. If the mentoring is happening within an organization, it strengthens that organization through what the mentee learns and, as mentioned by Forbes and many other sources, it increases retention.

But it’s also good for the mentor. Mentoring makes you a better leader. It increases your understanding of employees at an earlier stage of career and offers insight into how they are serving the organization, as well as how it might grow as they grow. Mentorship can also bring a fresh perspective on potential responses to agency challenges.

Are You Ready for a Productive Mentorship?

Below are factors to consider before entering a mentorship.

The mentee should be prepared to learn.
The mentee should understand the context of the mentor’s job.
The mentor should believe in their ability to help the mentee.
The mentor should remember key details about the mentee and understand the context of their job.
The mentor should be capable of giving actionable advice.
The relationship should be open and honest.
The relationship should be invigorating, not draining, for both mentor and mentee.