Mentoring: Lessons to be Learned from Famous Quotes
The term “mentoring” has been around for a LONG time. As you can imagine, there are countless quotes on the subject. However, they all refer to the same concept, giving guidance and advice to another person. The term “mentoring” derives from the Greek word that means enduring. This is a committed relationship between a youth and an adult wherein the adult has the patience to teach the youth whatever he knows from life. It is the adult’s responsibility to provide support, assistance, and guidance as the younger one faces new challenges and problems every day. Mentors even take on parental roles when the parent is unavailable during critical stages of a person’s life.
Types of Mentoring
There are basically two types of mentoring; the first is natural and the second is planned. Natural mentoring can come from everyday situations wherein anyone can be your mentor. You can learn through collegiality, through friendship, through teaching, or through counseling. On the other hand, planned mentoring comes from a structured program. Normally, mentor and the mentee agree on the parameters of the relationship.
Currently, mentoring is becoming increasingly popular in the workforce as well as for personal development. This is partly due to the success of people who have tried it and have gleaned significant advantages from a mentoring program. But how does mentoring exactly work? That question does not have a simple answer. A “formal” mentorship plan will have certain guidelines for selection and implementation. If you are looking for program at work, I suggest asking your supervisor or HR director.
Positive Influence
Many times, the mentor and the mentee would need to get acquainted first before the mentoring program can start. Mentors are needed because they can be a positive influence on the mentee who is learning from them. As Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mentors can be a force of change and they can influence a lot of people, including you, by becoming a respected authority figure.
Kindness
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” Indeed, mentors are doing kindness when they take on the responsibility of helping others learn from their experiences. Through this, they can give back to society. Mentors make career growth, personal development, or intellectual achievement possible for the person they are mentoring.
Education
As you can observe, mentoring is helpful for educational purposes. The mentor can help the mentee improve their overall academic achievement. Likewise, mentoring is also very helpful in the workplace because mentors can provide the necessary insights and perspectives on what a person should do to achieve his or her goals. Meanwhile, having a mentor would also be a very helpful option in your personal development because the mentor can help you during tough personal and social stress and offer guidance just when you need it the most.
A very nice quote from an unknown author read, “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” The mentor does just that, they believe that their mentees can do it. This belief is usually encouragement enough for the mentee to do their best to succeed in life.
