What can a mentor do for you?

A mentor may help you with setting goals, developing contacts, exploring careers, and identifying resources. A mentor may share with a mentee information about her own life path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modelling.

The benefits of mentoring for both mentee and mentor.

The purpose of mentoring is to tap into the existing knowledge, skills, and experience of other women and also to adopt these skills in order to create a great life! Mentoring is non-judgemental, meaning that unlike other people, the mentor does not typically evaluate or judge the decisions made by the mentee. The goals and outcomes of mentoring will differ depending on the mentee. For example, different factors include:

• Duration:  from 1 session to about 12 months
• Audience:  Women of diverse backgrounds who have survived alcohol and other drug addiction, domestic violence and abuse, women who are socially isolated or have survived adverse life experiences, etc

The main purpose of mentoring stays essentially the same regardless of the time or type of mentoring sessions. The mentor acts as a role model and advocate for the mentee. The mentee is not the only one to benefit – the mentoring relationship is beneficial to both parties involved.

For the mentee, mentoring can help:

• develop new skills
• build a larger people  network
• reflect on and solve past scenarios
• have goals and milestones to look forward to
• have an example to look up to.

For the mentor, it serves as:

• a way to give back
• an important personal development and learning experience
• social connection and a purpose in life
• a way to gain greater understanding of life experiences (If you’ve ever had to explain something to somebody, you probably noticed that you have to think it through and clean up your explanation to make it easy for another person to understand. You become more competent as a mentor when you are forced to generalise your reasoning to somebody based on you own  life experiences).

If you would like to know more about finding a mentor, check out our article on Being a Great Mentee, or if you’re ready to get to it contact us and let us know that you’re interested in our free service. A very supportive environment as well as social connection is provided to our mentees.

More on the Benefits for the Mentee

Create a better life. One of the advantages of having a mentor is that they can help you adopt and adapt to new habits and lifestyles more quickly. Mentees who are involved in a mentoring agreement are more aware of values, beliefs, outlooks and expectations than those who do not have a mentor. This is an important factor in helping mentees to feel more a part of the community.

Enhance skill development. Most mentees are looking for someone to help them advance their life, education and/or employment prospects. Through advice and guidance, the mentor can support the mentee in developing their full potential in life.

Networking. A mentoring program is a great way for mentees to boost their networking opportunities. For many mentees, it can take months and sometimes years to get to know others and make new friends. Through the Happiness Habits Inc mentoring program and the social group of Tiger Lilies, a mentee can gain access to important social contacts sooner. This is especially true for those who need to relocate or establish new environments for themselves.

Compensation and promotion. Mostly, mentoring requires the mentee to consider their future direction and any goals they hope to accomplish through the process. By asking mentees to consider how they can grow through the experience, a mentoring program gives them more control over the direction of their life. Research has shown that women who are mentored have a better life and career experience than those who don’t. This includes receiving more positive outcomes and more social connections, as well as greater educational and career opportunities and satisfaction.

Problem-solving. A mentor can be a sounding board when the less experienced mentee comes up against a situation or problem that they are not familiar with or can’t see a solution to. By partnering a mentee with an experienced woman, the mentee gets to learn from the mentor’s experience.

Knowledge Transfer. The more experienced mentor should have a good knowledge of any services, programs or training that a mentee can access to help them reach their goals. The mentor can impart wisdom developed over time, community service information and expectations that will help the mentee succeed in the long run.