Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management book TimePeace: Making peace with time and The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations– and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies. Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV.
The IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.
Most successful people believe having a mentor greatly helps them stay on target and even excel quicker.
But how do you find a mentor, particularly with someone who you might not have a relationship
with yet or resides in another location.
7 Tips to finding a Mentor
1) Outline the items/areas that you are interested being mentored or coached. There may be several areas that you are interested in. So – don’t feel that one mentor has to fulfill all areas. You can have one mentor for “how to better market yourself in your organization”. You can have one for “how to increase my technical expertise and influence in the organization”. You can have one for “how to step more into the spotlight in trade-shows, user conferences, speaking engagements” You can have one on advice for starting your own business.
2) Once you have your areas outlined – talk to your manager about wanting to improve these specific areas. Ask your manager’s advice on who in the organization would be good mentors in those areas. Ask your manager if he/she would provide a warm-introduction (simply touch base with that person to see if they are open to something like that).
3) Do the same with your HR representative. Share your desire to get a mentor with your HR representative.
4) Ask co-workers and friends if they have been a mentor, have a mentor or have a recommendation on one.
5) Attend your professional association meetings, networking groups and subscribe/read your industry magazines. Be on the lookout for people giving relevant presentations/talks at your professional networking groups OR authoring articles in your industry journals. Introduce yourself by telling them how much you enjoyed their presentation or articles. Discuss various points that you really connected with. These are great ice-breakers. Tell them that you would like to interview them for your article, blog or newsletter. During your interview, share your professional goals – and ask their advice on how to find a mentor in their specific area.
6) Repeat the above for other experts in your areas of interests. Start adding these contacts to your LinkedIn or Facebook space. Reciprocate and ‘Like” and provide positive comments on their businesses. Go out of your way to give them testimonials and endorsements on their pages. This helps keep you on their radar.
7) Make use of your facebook and LinkedIn.com connections. Do a search/review of your network to see if they have the qualifications necessary to be a guide. You mentor doesn’t need to be in your current organization or company. It is actually beneficial to expand your reach beyond your current company. When you find someone that you want to reach out to – simply state your goal, and that you admire their accomplishment. Be specific on what you really like about their background and achievements, highlighting any commonalities between you and them. Admit that they seem to be in the perfect position to suggest a possible mentor. This gives the person an “out” without alienation. If they want to mentor you, they will often suggest themselves and a meeting time. Otherwise, they may offer to connect/introduce you to someone else. Either way you win.
This last point is MOST important. Reciprocate either by paying them for their time and expertise; gift their family dinner/theater/entertainment tickets; offer your services in the areas of your expertise, etc. Avoid taking without giving back. Otherwise, you run the risk of over-extending your welcome. And you really want to develop a long-term working relationship with these masters.
In my IT Professional Development Toolkit, I go into the: who, what, where, when and how to accomplish all of the above. For more information about the toolkit, please contact
vConferenceOnline.com/Bits on the Wire, Inc.
6420 E. Broadway, Suite A300
Tucson, AZ 85710
520-760-2400 or (877) 853-9158
info@vconferenceonline.com
Or sign up for my weekly Time and Career Management Newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/