Why Mentoring Can Be Good for You
Since my new role in my current organization, I have volunteered to mentor when I was given the opportunity. I have mentored university students, working professionals and even housewives looking for a career comeback opportunity.
I asked myself in recent months the following questions frequently:
Why would I take up my own personal me time and even family time to meet and talk with strangers in the middle of the night or even during weekends?
Are there really any benefit to me besides the recognition for a photo-op or appreciation letters?
Perhaps these questions popped up when there were so much going on at work, home as well as my side volunteering gigs that I wondered why am I asking for such trouble. Along the way, I came across this quote from Albert Einstein too and so I guess I continued to cycle on.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
– Albert Einstein
When I had the opportunity to clear off the leaves and prepare for the festive year end ho-ho-holiday, I guess the light bulb moment came to me and it or the reasons became clearer. Such activities could be good for me (and you as well if you are up for it!) for the following reasons.
Contribution Back to Society
When you have gained much experience and knowledge over the years, you would (and in my opinion, should as well) contribute back to society. The younger generation need not repeat the same mistakes that I have gone through during my younger working years.
This is how society is able to modernize more rapidly. By becoming a mentor, you would be able to guide and inform the leaders of the future what was wrong and forewarn them should they insist on taking the same path. My generation has been through a fair share of mistakes which are becoming more apparent especially with the climate changes, natural disasters that have devastating impact over a huge population.
Hence, consider being a mentor if you would like to impart some important lessons learnt that you wish you could influence the next generation to not repeat. That to me, is doing something great.
Opportunity to Self-Reflect
The other reason I realized I could actually benefit from mentoring is that I am able to reflect back on myself when I have my chats and discussions with my mentees. Mentoring is not a one-way street but it goes both ways. While the mentee is able to learn something new from us, we are able to use that opportunity to self-reflect back whether what we could do better in the future.
I think it is a good mental health exercise too for me. To take a step back and be present while reflecting back with a child-like mindset on what has happened in the past and what can be done differently. Sometimes life can be so chaotic, that being leaders, the decisions need to be made on the spot and move on without looking back. Mentoring moments might be opportunities then to steal a short glimpse if there could be better alternatives to those decisions.
Stay to the Ground
To keep it short, the other reason I would think one can benefit from mentoring is being able to keep it real and stay grounded. Leaders might be high on top but if they could not feel the ground, they would not be able to empathize with his / her pack fully.
One of the key leadership attribute is to be able to lead with empathy. If they are not in touch with the people on the ground, just like how Anthony Tan from Grab used to occasionally do food delivery himself and talk to the ground staff, he would not be able to know some of the pain points of his delivery riders and improve on the product.
Summary
Mentoring can actually be beneficial to both sides. We humans need them whether we are on the top, just kick-starting a career or planning to start a side hustle but not sure who to talk to.
Well, I hope with this first article in 2022, I am able to pen more of my thoughts from my daily ruse and happenings to share with you.
