From my Daily Reading List ~ Finding and Nurturing Mentors

I have a number of web sites marked to be read in a week. Besides the blogs they include my Twitter and Facebook streams, and my work news stream. Keeping up with them is near impossible and there are many days when I don’t get through the material presented. I really try to cherry-pick the good stuff, but even then I sometimes feel like I’m trying to take a drink from a fire hose.

The best things I read I will often Tweet or post to Facebook. One such article is from Tony DiBenedetto’s Blog post “Finding and Nurturing Mentors”. One thing that Tony doesn’t mention that working with a mentor is a lot of work. It’s not like you can just go and listen. As I selected and participated with my mentors in the past, I always tried to bring as much to the table as I could. I have been told by a number of mentors that they learned as much from me as they felt I learned from them. Dunno about that, but by corralling my issues and prioritizing them, I do feel I got the most from my mentors that I could.

Career mentoring can help you tap into the knowledge, experience, and expertise of others to help you grow your professional development and career. The partnership that you have with your mentor or mentee provides career development opportunities for both of you.

Some mentors that I have selected from the available pool of candidates didn’t work out. It wasn’t always easy to figure out why. But I was always brutal about cutting off possible mentor relationships if they didn’t work for me. I did the same when I was the mentor. Often in the case of me being the mentor, I would make recommendations who they should be seeing.

I am constantly surprised by the many peers and friends who, upon hearing my recommendation to look into the mentor program here at work, are instantly intrigued and yet have never considered it. I will say that the right mentor relationship can kick in the after burners on your professional aspirations and career opportunities.