Perhaps one of your direct reports or a young colleague has approached you about becoming his or her mentor. Of course, you're flattered that the person thinks highly enough of you to ask for your guidance. And you believe that your years of experience would enable you to make a positive contribution to the person's career. But before you make the commitment to become a mentor, it's well worth the time to conduct a bit of soul searching.
Should you become a mentor? In her new book, The Mentoring Advantage—Creating the Next Generation of Leaders (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004), management expert Florence Stone recommends that any would-be mentor ask him or herself the following 15 questions
Answer “Yes” or “No” to each question.
While Stone believes that there is no “ideal profile” of a mentor, if you can't answer “yes” to most of the above questions, you may want to politely decline the invitation to become a mentor. In fact, you may benefit instead from finding someone to mentor you .
One thing is certain--mentoring is a trend that is sweeping through corporate America. In her book, Stone writes: “In interviews, almost all leaders today have pointed to one or more individuals who had a major influence on their professional lives, if not both their professional and personal lives. Being mentored has come to be considered one of the great things we can all do to advance our careers.”
You can learn more about mentoring in these AMA seminars:
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