The importance of mentoring
Mentoring is a great way to develop yourself or help others to develop. Sharing some personal experiences
In one of the articles I wrote a few weeks ago, I talked about the importance of having a mentor when starting out in the world of entrepreneurship. A mentor is a person who will accompany you in your beginnings, who will help you to improve and grow as a company but also as a person.
#1 A tool to help a startup grow
All of us who come from the world of entrepreneurship know that it is a world of great uncertainty. This is because we are always trying to develop new ideas and alternative processes, different from what we know so far. That is why having someone who has already experienced this uncertainty and who has faced the challenges of creating a startup is, without a doubt, one of the best resources a company of this type can have.
#2 Benefits of having a mentor
Having the help of a mentor is one of the most valuable and effective development opportunities a startup can have. Having the guidance, support and trust of an experienced person in this world can be decisive for the success of the company.
It also has many benefits, such as exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking, greater visibility and recognition within the company or learning and developing new skills and knowledge, among many others.
#3 What should a mentor be like?
Many people think that to be a mentor it is enough to have experience in the world of entrepreneurship. But this is not the case. Being a good mentor requires a series of qualities.
To achieve the proposed objective, you must be interested in and knowledgeable about the sector in which the startup is located; it is useless to have a lot of experience in startups in the textile sector if the company is being created in the real estate sector, for example.
Another of the qualities that a good mentor should have is empathy. It is very important that they are able to understand the startup's situation, know how to listen to it, put themselves in its situation and transmit all their knowledge in order to lead it to success.
#4 I have been very lucky
My first mentor in my life was my tennis teacher and of course back then we didn’t name anybody as a mentor. But I still practise what I have learned from him. My first boss in the first job became a mentor for the beginning. Years later I was his mentor. And when I started with entrepreneurship, I always had some people around me who mentored me. First I didn’t know that they were mentors but after a time I realised that. In my early days in the world of entrepreneurship, I have been mentored by incredible people who have not only helped to develop the startups I was building at the time, but have also helped my personal development and, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, this is one of the most important things about mentoring. Ihave been in entrepreneurship for many years now and I have also had the opportunity to be a mentor. And it has always been a very rewarding experience. It is very comforting that my knowledge and experiences help other young people to develop a culture of personal and professional growth in them.
If you have reached the end of this article, it is because you are really interested in mentoring. If you are creating your own startup and you need help, I recommend that you get informed because each country has several programmes that will help you get in touch with people who can help you develop your company. And if, on the other hand, you are a person with some experience in entrepreneurship, my humble advice is to be part of this and be the impulse and motivation that someone needs for their startup.
More to watch and read:
3 Key Elements to Thriving Mentorship | Janet Phan | TEDxZurich