Many people often think they need to establish a ‘formal’ mentoring relationship in order to receive the benefits. But I often find mentoring … and the benefits that come with it … can be a bit more organic. A mentor is considered a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person. In the business context, we often look for mentors who are ‘ahead’ of us in their business pursuits … someone from whom we can learn valuable lessons and gain insights based on their experience. I know I’ve found it hard to find mentors in my time as a business owner … and when I have been ‘partnered’ up with someone ‘older and wiser’ I’ve found the structure of the relationship limiting. For example there was a time when I was paired up with a renown female business leader – literally a leader in her industry. We had a couple of chats over coffee, but I didn’t actually receive a lot of benefit from the ‘chats’. What I really needed was to be able to talk to her more informally – when an idea came to me, or when I hit a snag in my plan … it would have been great to just pick up the phone and have a chat about it. That experience taught me that there are many ways to be mentored. Just ‘watching’ other people and how they do things is a mentoring experience for me – I ask myself ‘what would happen in my business if I took that approach?’ The different perspective yields interesting responses.
Then there’s the people I hang out with – they wouldn’t necessarily consider themselves my mentors … but I learn an incredible amount by bouncing ideas around with them.
Or there have been times when I’ve looked at high-profile business owners, for example the late Anita Roddick, or Richard Branson and asked myself ‘what would they do in this situation? Of course, it’s largely an exercise in imagination and mind-reading … however if you’re even half the avid-reader I am, you get to learn a lot about Business Leaders just by voyeuristically watching how they run their business. Then there’s the people I hang out with – they wouldn’t necessarily consider themselves my mentors … but I learn an incredible amount by bouncing ideas around with them. Some of my most valuable insights have come from my clients – the people who are paying me for my expertise – but when I watch their approach I feel I too am being mentored. There is of course incredible value in creating formal mentoring relationships – I consistently hear amazing things about the ABN’s MentorNet Program and I by all means encourage you to get involved in such programs when you can. But if for whatever reason you can’t establish a formal mentoring relationship with someone, remember you can receive the benefits of mentoring in other ways. For more information about the MentorNet mentoring program for women business owners, visit the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.
