How Finding A Good Mentor Helps Women Leaders Thrive

Women leaders need to have role models so that they can see the possibilities in their own careers. The support and guidance you receive from a mentor can open up unrivalled opportunities for your personal development. Tapping into their knowledge and expertise can help you develop both yourself and your business or department’s performance and productivity.

Women learning from each other in a structured mentor relationship can benefit both the mentor and mentee in many ways.

Let’s look at how finding a good mentor can help women leaders thrive:

Growing Your Network

When you find a good mentor, you don’t just benefit from their wisdom and experience. You’ll also gain access to their network. If your mentor has a large network, you may eventually meet some of them yourself, making them part of your own network.

Networking has many advantages. It can open doors to promotion opportunities, business referrals, friendships, and access to projects. A strong business network can give you a much needed edge when recruiting.

You’ll also gain access to contacts with differing expertise that you can call on if you need that skill in the future.

Providing Advice and Guidance

A good mentor will guide you through some of your biggest challenges. They’ve probably experienced similar challenges themselves and can provide examples of what has and hasn’t worked for them in the past.

The chances are that despite your mentor’s successes, they’ll have experienced lots of failures too. Having someone you respect and admire tell you about their own early career experiences can help you see that your challenges are normal.

A good mentor is also an empathetic ear. They can listen to your frustrations and then guide your focus towards implementing solutions.

Building Confidence

It’s common for leaders to question themselves. Are you making the right decisions? Is there something you could do better? This constant self-criticism can make you feel overwhelmed and unable to identify your true strengths.

A good mentor can provide you with balanced feedback that allows you to address areas of weakness, but also celebrate your strengths. Having someone experienced point out all the things you excel at can be just the boost you need to feel more confident in your leadership role.

Perhaps most importantly, a good mentor will help and advise you with your career ambitions and act as your advocate. A good mentor can help push women leaders to achieve more than they might have believed possible.

Getting The Most Out Of A Mentorship

To get the most out of having a mentor, you’ll need to be prepared to put in some hard work. As an experienced mentor with Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub, here are my top tips for mentees to get the most out of the experience:

1. Choose a mentor you’re comfortable opening up to. You’ll need to be able to be open and honest so that your mentor can give you the best advice and guidance. A mentoring relationship should be a safe space. The more comfortable you feel around them, the better.
2. Clarify beforehand what you need from your mentor. Going into a mentoring relationship with a clear idea of where you need advice and guidance will help you benefit more quickly. As the relationship develops, there may be additional areas where your mentor can help you. Plus as the old adage goes – you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s natural for your needs to evolve, but having a clear starting point will bring quicker progress.
3. Ask a lot of questions. The more you question your mentor, the more you’re likely to get out of the relationship. Don’t be afraid to ask challenging or difficult questions.

Mentoring has many benefits, but it’s especially helpful for women leaders and entrepreneurs who can feel lonely and isolated in their positions. A great mentor can lead the way to success by showing you what’s possible and becoming your biggest advocate.

There are various organisations across the country that connect women with suitable mentors. If you’ve not already got a mentor, what’s stopping you?

Bio

Andrea Goodridge is the founder of Ad Florem, a leadership development consultancy that challenges leaders to challenge themselves. She has nearly 20 years’ experience of supporting senior leaders in Europe, USA and Latin America, be their ‘true self.’

She spends her days encouraging senior leaders to take time out to focus on themselves, and move away from the ‘just do it’ solution mentality, so they can be more effective leaders and flourish in their personal and professional life.

‘How To Be A Great Leader’ Checklist

Leaders who feel overwhelmed by the never-ending challenges of working in organisations and a diary full of meetings, benefit from Andrea’s ‘How to be a Great Leader’ checklist which outlines the 10 leadership activities you should be doing to develop the focus, confidence and resilience to grow as a leader and achieve the results that matter to you. You can check it out here.

You can connect with her on LinkedIn or Twitter.