Photo: Business Week
Mentoring is widely used in industry, commerce and other organisations to help people raise their personal effectiveness, or to be successful in a project. Mentoring is not widely used in the gay community and this is a shame because it is a useful and beneficial thing to invest in. Why?
Suppose you’ve been asked to organise something, and you have never done that before. You will probably be able to do it reasonably successfully. However you are bound to make some mistakes, because that’s how we learn and we all make them, and in the end the something you have organised will have been okay but had you known a few more things, it would have been a lot better. How much better it would have been if you had had someone more experienced to call upon and bounce ideas off, then maybe you would have avoided those pitfalls and the event would have been more successful.
What is a mentor?
It is anyone who has already got the experience, and who can listen to someone else, empathise with them, and give them ideas. The mentor does not actually do the work, the person being mentored does the work. The mentor is just there as a friend, ally, and as someone experienced who can help and reassure and advise.
Mentoring is widely practiced and there are plenty of organisations and websites which can teach you all about mentoring. There are other benefits. It provides the person being mentored with a chance to think about career options and progress. The mentor helps raise self-belief and confidence while asking questions and challenging, while guiding and encouraging. There is no better tool for personal growth and development, because it offers the luxury of a one-on-one relationship between the person being mentored and the mentor.
If your organisation does not offer mentoring, maybe it should.
If you would like a mentor to help you achieve something, ask at work or in the gay organisation you belong to whether there are any people available who can help you.
If you would like to mentor someone, you can find out about mentoring and attend a short training course that will help you fulfil the role. It is a very rewarding thing to do. I know; I have done it.
Further resources:
Mentoring and Befriending Foundation
Community Service Volunteers – Mentoring and befriending
The Coaching and Mentoring Network
University of East London – National Ethnic Minority Mentoring Scheme
Page updated and links checked 18 May 2012
SP
