It could be that you have had an excellent career & achieved many milestones. You may now use your knowledge & expertise acquired to help other professionals in your domain. You can become a business mentor. A good number of people out there do require your professional assistance & are ready to pay for it.
What exactly is a business mentor?
Once you are comfortable & well-established in your career, you can impart your expertise to others. You can inspire others with your journey stories & providing them tips & strategies to achieve success. You can transfer knowledge within the organization to allow the next generation to avoid wasting time trying to acquire it. This way, with your guidance & mentorship, they can help make wise decisions in different scenarios.
How to become a successful business mentor?
To achieve success in your newfound role as a business mentor, you need to have patience & listening skills. A good mentor is one who considers the present situation, evaluates the path taken by the mentee & offers proper guidance. Mentoring is similar to that of counseling since it involves transferring leadership skills & knowledge. You also need to allow your mentee to make mistakes, but time-wasting & costly ones. You can become a successful mentor by following the given below ways.
1. Offer constructive criticism:
It is quite natural that you may not want to offend or judge your mentee. You might plan to filter your feedback & opinions as you do not want to hurt them. You can find a technique to deliver criticism, but without making your mentee lose their confidence. You can convey the message through stories of your experience. This way, you can be tactful & diplomatic while addressing your mentee’s concerns. You can point something positive rather than noting the mentee’s shortcomings or mistakes. You need to give the mentee some time to adjust to the new settings & learn what you have on offer. Constructive feedback can help your mentee to improve & progress.
2. Listen & communicate:
You need to give a patient hearing to what your mentee has to say & get to know their ideas. You can help them to achieve their set objectives. Avoid incorporating your own opinions & desires within their plans. Rather, get to know their expectations & aspirations. Are they seeking insight, guidance, or support from you? Target your approach. Set the right expectations both-wise from the mentorship program. Mentoring is a two-way conversation, an open discussion to encourage concerns, questions & new thoughts. It is important to earn your mentee’s trust & develop confidence. Otherwise, this relationship is not likely to succeed.
3. Allow Mentee to make crucial decisions:
Being a business mentor, your job is not to make all decisions on behalf of your mentee. Rather, you need to allow your mentee to learn his/her role. This is possible only if he/she is allowed to make his/her own decisions. The mentee needs to think very fast & experience the pressure & demands. He/she also requires solving different types of problems instantly. You can guide your mentee to develop such crucial skills.
4. Practice empathy:
Get to understand your mentee’s feelings & perfective and relate to him/her. Motivate them constantly to be positive & move through bad times. A good mentor should show empathy and guide the mentee as the situation demands with a friendly approach. In case, the process that you set up is not working effectively, then come up with viable changes. Try to adapt as you progress and also include your mentee to provide valuable input while making decisions.
Following the above steps will allow you to become a good business mentor.
