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Mentorship should be considered by all professionals. It’s a great way for the mentee to gather critical skills and advice to advance their career, but it also provides the mentor with the chance to hone their leadership skills.
Aimee Baker, chief executive of Ari Recruitment, has used mentorship to her advantage. She always knew she wanted to be a boss, even as a kid. Entering the workforce as a young woman and climbing the corporate ranks was made easier through mentorship opportunities.
Ms Baker noted that there are much more women in leadership positions these days, making mentorship an easier possibility for young women who are looking for role models.
“There’s a lot more of us now, which is good because I love to lean on other women. Being in leadership, I still feel so young in my journey. I am always trying to make sure I surround myself with people who are far further along. So hopefully, I can just learn their mistakes and not have to make them myself,” Ms Baker said.
“I also try to take from my own experience, so whether it’s everything I don’t want in a boss, and I can remember the worst boss I ever had and realised I don’t want to do that. But then also, from leaders I’ve had in the past that I really loved, I try to also draw from that experience.”
Reaching out to older, more experienced professionals can be a great way to learn the industry. Those who have spent decades in their role could have some great knowledge and life experience to pass on to a younger worker.
“I’ve found some of my best mentors have been some of my really big clients. And when I first started the recruitment agency in 2018, the first six months did nothing. Then six months after that, we did a million dollars in a very short amount of time. So, I had to grow myself very quickly to keep up with demand, start hiring staff, and manage people, and I was in my late 20s. So, I definitely have learned through mistakes,” she said.
“When one of your clients is a guy in his 50s who’s running a multimillion-dollar construction business and has been doing that for 20-plus years, there’s a lot of wisdom you can get from when you’ve got them for an hour or two every week to talk through their recruitment needs and what’s working and what’s not working with their staffing. There’s so much slight wisdom you can absorb from that.”
Ms Baker discussed how some industries could be hostile and restrict mentorship as job insecurity takes control of people.
“Sometimes, it’s a bit cutthroat, and everyone’s competing with each other. And it’s like, ‘I don’t want to mentor you too much, you might take my job.’ I found a lot of people can be quite territorial at times,” Ms Baker explained.
“It can become difficult in some environments because there is a competitive nature to a lot of workplaces if you’re wanting to be the person to be promoted. So, it’s a mixture of we’re on a team, but then also, only one of us can win that role.”
Employers can improve morale and productivity by identifying these issues and minimising them. Encouraging mentorship within a workplace can promote a healthy team culture that can provide better results for the company.
“I definitely think mentorship [is] something people should take a look at a little bit more and see how it impacts our ability to be more efficient, and how it impacts our ability to train and develop people and really get the best out of them, and have them feel like they are growing to the capacity that they’re wanting to,” Ms Baker said.
Jack Campbell
Jack is the editor at HR Leader.
