It takes two to mentor: the mentee and the mentor. So it’s reasonable to expect that both should benefit from the relationship.
But it seems the ultimate winner may not necessarily always be the mentee. The mentor benefits too, as do the organisations that can talk up their mentoring programs as part of their diversity initiatives.
Many of the women we’ve featured on Women’s Agenda refer to mentors they’ve had throughout their careers. They’re formal and informal relationships, pairings with friends, colleagues or individuals in completely different roles and industries. No matter how the relationship started, women describe the wisdom, support and encouragement they’ve received from those who at one time had more experience than them as priceless. “I’m now 66 and I’m still using my mentors for advice and as a sounding board,” Fiona Stanley AC told us last week.
And when mentees return the favour – becoming the mentor as Stanley has also done – these women can also cite the benefits of passing what they’ve learnt through their careers to the next generation. Marketing guru Caroline Lewis told Women’s Agenda her pairing with Najah Ayoub (the 13th person she’s mentored officially) is an experience that’s rewarding, worthwhile and makes a contribution to personal development that’ll far outlast jobs, titles and positions.
In some cases, the benefits of mentoring can be financially rewarding too.
As Cara Waters, the deputy editor of Women’s Agenda sister publication SmartCompany wrote this week, there’s an entire industry growing around the once unpaid job of mentoring. She cites examples of mentors who charge thousands of dollars for their services, some who believe that a mentee gets more from the relationship if they’re handing over their cash.
And for employers, talking up their internal mentoring programs has fast become an integral aspect of diversity initiatives, an opportunity to promote what’s on offer for women within their organisations in the hope of attracting and retaining the best female talent – and for answering to external pressures to get more women into their senior leadership ranks.
Across the ASX 200, we’ve seen an increase in the number of women on boards over the last couple of years, part of which may be attributed to mentoring programs including one involving senior and influential company chairman and directors established by the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2010.
Mentors with power are invaluable, but not all can boast the connections of an ASX chairman.
So for everyone else, who really wins more from the relationship? Have your say below.