Women...You Need a Mentor!

Women...You Need a Mentor!
One obstacle that women create for themselves in Corporate
America is not asking for what they need. At a conference
I attended, a female CEO told the story of how when she
became CEO, the men lined up outside her office to ask her
to be their mentor. She said not one woman did; she had to
go out and initiate the mentoring relationships with women
(which most CEOs will not take the time to do!).

At one of my recent leadership development classes for
women, one of the participants said she liked the
assignment of getting a mentor. "Being encouraged (or
forced)" was beneficial, she said. Well, consider yourself
forced!

Increasingly, management experts view mentoring not just as
a one-on-one relationship but also as a component of
networking. You gain valuable knowledge by interacting with
many experienced people. You can (and should) have multiple
mentors and mentor many others. Mentoring is mutually
beneficial.

Benefits of being mentored include:
* Competency development
* Management visibility and exposure
* Deeper and wider network
* Enhanced career/life planning skills
* Opportunity to gain feedback

Benefits to the mentors include:
* Greater job satisfaction
* Management visibility
* Enhanced learning and development in own career
* Deeper and wider network
* Enhanced career/life planning skills
* A better understanding of the more junior people they
oversee
* Building a legacy

How to find a mentor:
1. Decide what qualities and competencies you want in a
mentor. Think about the qualities that you want to develop
in yourself.
2. Try and pick people who are not just like you. It is
more helpful to have diversity in your mentor relationships.
3. After meeting and establishing that there is a good
chemistry, ask the person to be your mentor. Let them know
what you respect about them and how you feel the
relationship can be beneficial for both of you.
4. Be specific about your needs. Don't be broad. Let your
mentor know if you want to meet once a week, once a month
or twice a year. Maybe you just want to be able to call
this person when you have a question or a crisis.
5. Be respectful of their limited time, but realize that
there are also benefits to them of being a mentor.
6. Take direction. Show sincerity in the relationship. When
you ask something, make sure you are listening to the
response. Make it clear that you value your mentor's input.
Valuing someone's input means you actually act on some of
it.
7. Follow-up (just like networking). Send thank-you notes.
Let them know what advice you took and what happened.

Now ... in the words of Nike, just do it!

----------------------------------------------------
Kerrie Halmi of Halmi Performance Consulting specializes in
increasing women's success in business through speaking,
coaching and facilitation. Kerrie has over fifteen years
of experience in the Human Resources field with such
clients as eBay, Wells Fargo and Kaiser. She received her
MBA from the University of Michigan and is certified in
coaching with Corporate Coach University International.
See
http://www.halmiperformance.com