Do you sometimes feel that you are building your business all by yourself? Perhaps you feel that it would be great to have someone to talk to about your business without them necessarily being part of the business. Considering a business mentor or coach may just be for you.
My personal preference is for business mentoring. Research shows that having a ‘mentor' for your business can increase your chances of business success significantly - whatever stage you are at.
Firstly let's clarify the difference between a business mentor and a business coach.
A business coach will guide you through a process that enables YOU to formulate the answers for your business, yourself. Business coaches are commonly trained organisational psychologists. Whereas a business mentor is usually someone who has themselves been successful in business and will provide you with actual advice in relation to how you should deal with some of the business issues you are facing.
For example, if you asked your mentor, "how would you deal with Mary, the most talented but most difficult employee I've ever had?". A business mentor is likely to provide you with a shopping list of potential solutions to your issue, whilst probing you to find out more information which will help add to the shopping list.
So essentially mentoring is a relationship which gives people the opportunity to share their professional and personal skills and experiences, and to grow and develop in the process. Typically, it is a one-on-one relationship between a more experienced and a less experienced person. It is based upon encouragement, constructive comments, openness, mutual trust, respect and a willingness to learn and share.
Mentors can do many things for you and your business including:
- Helping you build your business in directions that you had never considered.
- Assisting you raise your profile within the right business circles.
- Helping you identify the right path for business growth and overall strategy.
- Providing introductions to the right people.
- Advising you on what skills and additional education you and your current staff may need.
- Helping you with valuable business connections, for example, new customers.
- Giving you guidance on putting some rigour around your business processes.
- Helping you pick the battles to fight and those to let go.
- Encouraging you in times when you need a friend who understands your business - particularly when you must remain ‘all smiles' to your staff and customers.
My advice is to be proactive about seeking a business mentor. Why go it alone when there are so many wonderful, successful people who have already climbed that mountain and who are more than happy to guide you in the right direction? There are many organisations that effectively provide this facility through group meetings for a fairly sizeable fee. My advice would be to look to someone that you admire in terms of their business strategy and success and ask them if you may catch up with them occasionally for a coffee. A mentor does not necessarily have to be from the same industry as you.
A mentoring relationship can be informal and indeed, often the informal relationships are the best. Look to those around you, you will be amazed what you can learn that is just not in a textbook. You can learn something from everyone you meet. You will undoubtedly come across people whose behaviour you do not wish to emulate. This is just as important as actually establishing a formal mentoring arrangement.
Here are some suggested steps to finding a business mentor:
- Shortlist people who could act as a mentor for you.
- Think about why the person you are thinking of is right for you.
- What can you learn from that person?
- You need to have a plan around what you want to achieve when you approach a potential mentor.
- Don't be afraid, remember, the worst-case scenario is that they will say no. Generally people will admire you for having asked.
Finally you need to seek out a mentor that reflects where you are in your business life cycle, for example, are you a start up, do you need venture capital, are you going to sell your business? Indeed, in order to move to the next stage in your business - you may need to seek out someone that has very different qualities and experience to your earlier guides.
So go and find yourself a business mentor! Whether formal or informal - this is the key to your success strategy.