When you think of the word “mentor”, what comes to mind? A psychologist, a doctor, someone telling you how to live your life? A mentor doesn’t have to be any of those things. The definition of mentor is “an experienced and trusted adviser”. In other words, it’s someone that can support you to get from where you are, to where you want to be. There are many benefits to finding the perfect mentor, and women mentoring women can be a very powerful alliance.
Business mentoring has long been a proven strategy to help women progress in their careers. What Co Gear loves about the concept, is that it can happen organically and informally, yet still produce amazing benefits for both the mentor and the mentee!
In male dominated industries such as mining, construction and transportation, women mentoring women can have significant positive side effects. Having a guiding hand from someone who has been there before, can help women avoid costly mistakes and progress into areas that fulfil and empower them.
The founder of our women’s workwear business, Co Gear, has had success with mentoring in the past.
“My mentors have helped me make workplace and job transitions, manage difficult colleagues, cope with heavy workloads and find a work / life balance when it’s most needed. Without their advice, who knows where I would be today! It’s very likely I wouldn’t have started, or even continued, my journey towards owning own workwear label, and for that I’m most thankful.” – Kym O’Leary
If you’re looking for a mentor, there are structured programs in place which you can find with a simple Google search or in your workplace. You can also ask someone you admire! Great mentors are those that you can relate to, have years of experience and understand workplace dynamics.
You can also give back to your community by offering your own mentorship to someone. If you’re a few years into work, perhaps you’d like to reach out to a local university or trade college to help mentor someone coming through the ranks or you may have a decade of experience under your belt which qualifies you to mentor graduates and junior members of the team. You may wish to establish a formal mentoring program in your workplace, or simply lead by example and it will happen naturally.
Image sourced from Pinterest
Your contribution to mentoring, either as a mentor or mentee, can be the catalyst to remarkable things to come! Do you have an inspiring story about being a mentor or being mentored? We would love to hear it, drop us an email!