Learn From Your Mentors

‘Every great achiever is inspired by a great mentor.’

Lailah Akita couldn’t have framed the need for mentorship more accurately. But before we proceed any further on the importance of learning from a mentor in order to enhance productivity at work, let’s clear out the confusion regarding terms such as trainers, coaches, consultants, and mentors.

Coaches are professionally trained and qualified people who help others explore and excel in their careers normally in return for a certain amount of payment. Trainers are those who help you develop certain skills and gain knowledge about a particular topic of interest. On the other hand, career counselors or consultants are those who help you find a job or career that’s right for you and do not contribute to your personal or professional development.

The Importance of Mentorship in the Workplace

Contrary to the ‘surface-level’ help provided by coaches, trainers, and career counselors, mentors are the good-willed souls who enrich your life on a personal as well as professional level. There are many reasons that highlight the significance of seeking out a mentor (or becoming one, if you feel confident enough) and learning from their experiences (or educating others with your experiences). Some of these are discussed below.

Strengthens the Bonds between Colleagues

Do you feel like a fish out of water in your workplace? Besides the occasional meet and greet, how familiar are you with your colleagues? Are you hesitant towards making new friends or perceive your seniors in the same view as the strict teacher you had back in elementary school? Unless you socialize with others and make new friends in the workplace, you cannot perform your optimum performance as the environment has a significant impact on how efficiently a person can learn and complete the given task. Mentorship strengthens the bonds between colleagues and creates a healthy work environment that is conducive to learning as well as performing to one’s level best.

Helps You Adjust to the New Environment

If you have freshly entered the corporate world or recently joined a different organization, then engaging with a mentor can help you adjust to the new environment. This is because while you are new to the ‘practical’ life or the different organization, your mentor is likely to have spent quite a considerable amount of time in the same place already. Not only would he or she be well aware of the numerous challenges that beginners face, but they would also know by now how best to overcome those challenges and adjust to the daily grind.

Helps You Envision the Career Path

Mentees who have just begun their career and are still in the initial stages of pursuing a particular career path can gain a lot by learning the ropes from a mentor because they are the ones who have ‘been there, done that.’ They can teach you the basic skills that you will require to progress further as well as familiarize you with the policies, rules, and regulations of the industry. Of course, you must have researched about it before pursuing a degree in the said field, but there is a world of differences between theoretical and practical knowledge. By giving you the basic know-how of things, a mentor enables you to envision the path ahead and prepare accordingly.

Reduces Stress and Anxiety

Once the office mates get to know each other better and become more friendly with one another, they begin to appreciate the relationships and become more helpful and empathetic towards one another. Casual acquaintances transform into more meaningful ties, and the employees feel more willing to lend a hand to those in need, share the workload and become more tolerant when someone makes a mistake. Altogether, this significantly reduces the stress levels and anxiety amongst the workers as they grow more comfortable with the work and realize that even if they falter, someone will have their back. They don’t have to constantly worry or feel like their neck is on the line. When such worries are put to bed, mental strain reduces, and you can work more efficiently and effectively.

No matter what angle you approach it from, mentorship greatly improves the workplace environment because it is a two-way street that benefits both, the mentor and the mentee alike. Mentorship programs have long been used by several companies to increase the productivity in the organization by creating a more positive workplace as the employees and employers both get to know and learn about each other on a closer, friendlier level.

So, if your office offers the same, don’t hesitate to join one immediately (and if they don’t, then perhaps you shall take the initiative to start mentoring on your own).