One tip repeatedly given to younger managers is to find a mentor and attach yourself to his or her side. What we have not discussed, however, is how managers working their way up through the ranks can also become mentors to their own staff members. This will play a key role in not only making your staff more promotable but also in making you more promotable.
Here are some key characteristics mentors need to possess:
1. Willing to Share Knowledge and Experience
A mentor cannot and will not be afraid to share knowledge. The goal is to make your staff promotable, thereby making the overall operation more successful.
2. Personal Interest
A mentoring relationship often goes far deeper than just work. A good manager must be happy in his or her personal life to be happy in his or her professional life because both will impact each other. A good mentor is investing in his or her manager not only as a manager but also as a person.
3. Positive Attitude
There will obviously be times when everything is not great, but a good mentor will generally have a very positive approach to things. Even when things are going bad, it is treated as a learning experience. As a mentor, regardless of the situation, you must keep the manager or staff member you are mentoring excited and positive about the industry.
4. Respect
This goes both ways. A mentor is generally respected in his or her field and will also treat his or her staff with respect. No staff member is too small or inconsequential to warrant time or attention.
5. Guidance and Feedback
As would be expected, a major part of the mentoring role requires the mentor to break down events and provide feedback about the positives and recommendations on how things could be better (or help you work their way through a better solution). This is all about making the operation more successful.
6. Promotes Growth
Mentors do not hold employees back, period. There will come a time in every mentoring relationship when the manager you are mentoring has gone as far as he or she can go in their current role. When that time comes, a mentor will help that manager find another opportunity within the existing organization or not try to talk that manager out of taking another opportunity with another company if he or she is truly ready to take their career to the next level.
As you go deeper into your career, you will no doubt have managers relying upon you to be their mentors. Keep these character traits in mind as you take them under your wing. That is truly the only way we can ensure the next generation of managers are as good or, hopefully, better than the managers in the industry today.