We recently celebrated International Coaching Week so it seemed appropriate to focus the first blog of Maverick Leadership on coaching. I wasn’t even aware this week existed. Perhaps we celebrate too much.
Before we explore the merits of having a mentor in your life, I'd like to share a few statistics with you from various survey's regarding mentors in the workplace.
For those of you who love statistics, here's a couple for you:
76% of 3,000 respondents said having a mentor is important. Yet, only 37% cited having one. https://online.olivet.edu/research-statistics-on-professional-mentors
9 in 10 workers who have a career mentor say they are happy in their jobs. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/16/nine-in-10-workers-who-have-a-mentor-say-they-are-happy-in-their-jobs.html
Interesting survey data. Especially when you factor in the benefits employees cite in other survey's to the advantages of having a mentor in their life. Before we discuss, let's look at the current workplace situation.
WORK & CAREERS ARE CHANGING
The world is changing. Fast. We’re in the midst, as many are calling, the 4th Industrial Revolution or 4IR - if you are into acronyms. A quick internet search and you’ll find a plethora of articles penned by academicians and think tank prognosticators on what the future will bring. You’ll find companies already trying to align themselves as 4IR to build competitive advantage.
While there are varying predictions, almost all suggest a massive shift in work and careers. Millions of jobs eliminated. Millions more created. 4IR has multiple descriptions but most agree it will build or expand on the 3rd industrial revolution and be an extension or blurring of the physical, biological and digital worlds. All agree it will fundamentally change how we work, live and interact globally.
As a refresher, here’s a brief look at the history of our world’s modernization beginning with the 1st Industrial Revolution.
This alone should be pause enough to consider, if you haven't already, finding a mentor to help guide your career path.
In parallel to the 4IR, there are additional underlying factors which will affect how we live, work and interact. Factors like population growth, scarcity of resources, climate change (regardless of cause) and shifting societal values will continue to contribute and accelerate change. These are already affecting the workforce both domestically and globally.
And the global pandemic has only served to accelerate this change. Growth and learning are best bred in times of stress. Because they’ve had to pivot or adjust, companies large and small have discovered new ways to do business, created new business models and developed new products to not only survive the pandemic but thrive due to it.
This is indeed a time of both exciting change and tremendous uncertainty. More reasons to not solo your career road trip.
Finally, my argument for employing a mentor or coach in your life wouldn’t be complete without some commentary on our current cultural and political landscape. I touched on it with a mention to societal changes but it is here and now so definitely worth unpacking a bit.
Navigating a career was hard prior to the pandemic. Add in the additional stress of our current state of divide between political ideologies and the cultural war being waged with race, class and gender and I’ll bet there is more than one reader here with more than a bit of uncertainty in the workplace.
How do you fit within your organization? How do you discuss race, class and gender issues at work? Do you discuss? And politics? We've all either experienced or know someone that has lost friends or even their jobs due to politics.
Wherever you stand on any of these hot topics is irrelevant. The point is this country is about as divided as I’ve ever seen it and the lack of critical thinking and an abject failure to engage in civil discourse is at an all time low as well.
Extremism rules the day. Cancel culture is real. And cancel career resides next door. I was taught if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything. Yet, workplace silence could get you cancelled if you are not careful. Managing your career has never been more challenging.
It can feel as if you are alone in a crowd. Or as the great singer Bob Seger sang “Surrounded by strangers I thought were my friends” seems fitting.
Can you afford to manage your career alone?
BENEFITS OF A MENTOR:
The aforementioned question of affording a mentor or coach can be interpreted two ways. First, how much does a mentor / coach cost? We’ll get to that in a bit. The real question is how can you afford not to have an experienced and objective professional with the wisdom and perspective to help guide your career road trip?
A trusted mentor can be priceless.
Any great leader, performer or athlete will tell you that had a special mentor in their life. Or mentors.
These weren’t family members (typically), current managers or friends (see Bob Seger). They were experienced professionals who had committed to their personal success. Many are actually ex-managers or ex-coaches. And the relationship either grew organically over time or the relationship was formalized through a business agreement. And while many mentors/coaches are paid that isn’t the sole type of relationship. Many are unpaid; especially those where the relationship developed over time as with prior managers and coaches.
What do great mentors do?
They will challenge you. Appropriately. And will get you out of your comfort zone. Growth occurs when you are out of your comfort zone. They help become comfortable being uncomfortable.
Help you see around corners. Uncover hidden potholes which can derail or even accelerate a career. No one can foresee the future; especially in today's environment. Mentors have at least traveled, if not the same road something very similar.
Provide depth & breadth. They will have a vast amount of ‘experiences’ to draw upon. Their experiences will be applied; not conceptual or theoretical. They won’t come from the classroom. And the really good ones will be able to relate their experiences in a context you’ll understand.
Listen. And speak in questions. Easier said than done which is why having a skilled mentor is better than relying on friends, colleagues or family. Life and careers are about choice. Your choice.
Build trust. They are just short of a lawyer in terms of confidentiality. Great mentors are highly ethical and keep their relationships confidential.
Mentors do not necessarily need to be experts in a given field. Of course, highly technical fields may require you to find an expert but those tend to be situational or unique to the moment. Great mentors and coaches should be able to provide insight and help you achieve clarity on a broad array of topics, business functions and needs. And they are effective with both short and long term strategies.
Their advantage over family, friends and current colleagues is distance. Outside of providing you with outstanding service, they have no other skin in the game. Only your best interest.
So, what are the benefits? Here are the benefits I've gained from having mentors in my career. Many of these are cited repeatedly in employee job satisfaction surveys.
Purpose. For some people, their job - and even their career - is simply a means to an end. For others, the job or career itself is the purpose. The passion. Understanding and embracing your choice - even short term - is energizing and uplifting.
Satisfaction. Mentored employees cite better job, career and organization satisfaction. They are generally more optimistic and positive about themselves, their future and their current employer.
Lifelong learning. Your formal education was structured. It isn't once you begin a career and many fall victim to becoming stagnant and do not know how to learn. Mentors are a great way to learn how to learn. And to see the joy in learning.
Career Growth. Survey respondents cite accelerated career growth with mentors.
Income Growth. Let's be practical. Mentors have been cited as a 1:1 correlation with better income potential. Whether it be that first job out of college, the first promotion or over the long term - mentors make a difference.
Are there any downsides to a mentor or coach?
The obvious is potential cost. While many relationships develop organically and there is no cost, the typical model requires an agreement with remuneration. Quantifying the value of a mentor or coach can be challenging since there isn't typically an immediate benefit. However, they can be worth their weight in gold during a job search, career change or any other decisive moment in time. And over the course of a career, their ROI (return on investment) can be worth millions in realized wealth.
The good news about cost is that in many cases your employer will either fully or partially subsidize the cost of a mentor.
The only other potential downside is time. Do you make the time to actually meet with your mentor? And, how accessible are they for you? With formal relationships, meeting times and accessibility should be explicitly defined. The challenge with informal relationships is they tend to be ad hoc with tremendous gaps between meetings.
INVESTING IN YOURSELF
No one cares more about your career than you. And no one is accountable for the care and well being of that career than you. Investing in yourself is just as important, if not more so, than investing in retirement.
Every day you delay making that investment the costs rise exponentially.
There are plenty of ways to invest in yourself and your career. Choosing a mentor is but one.
But a very wise one.
When you consider the ramifications of the 4th Industrial revolution, our current societal discord and the fact a career is typically 40+ years and growing, making the choice to invest in a mentoring relationship should be easy. There are plenty of mentors and coaches out there wanting to help. It is their passion and they love teaching.
Find one. Today.
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