What Mentoring Means to Us
First of all – Happy Mentoring Month! I’ve always thought that January is the perfect time to celebrate mentoring, since it’s the beginning of a new year – and often a time when many resolve to try and give back to the community a little more. What better way to give back than to mentor someone?
In public relations, mentors can take on many forms. PR Daily recently posted a great article on why mentoring is important to the PR industry, where one PR professional (Linzy Cotaya, also known as @zzcrawfish on Twitter) shared her own experience and wisdom gained from filling the role of both a mentor and a mentee.
My favorite excerpt from this article?
“What a mentee can learn from a mentor is only as good as the quality of the relationship.”
In my own experience, many have served the role of mentor throughout my youth, schooling, and career. All those individuals, however, have carried the same qualities, ones that I think are imperative to be successful as a mentor: patience, a sense of humor (I think it’s important, sometimes essential, for learning J), and a genuine desire to see me do well.
I became curious about how others in the PR industry think about mentoring, and how mentors have shaped their career and life development. Naturally, I turned to the closest ones I could find – my coworkers at PMG!
Having just graduated from Champlain College, I have had my fair share of mentors who have helped prepare me for the real world and for my career. I have found that some of my best mentors are often your peers, especially ones who are focused in your career. Working together to find your way is a great start to getting to where you ultimately want to be. Take each other’s advice and provide support to the individuals who are in the same boat as you. Mentoring is just another form of friendship and it can mean great things!
If I had to sum up mentoring in one word, I’d say it means guiding. While a mentor can wear many hats, it always boils down to guiding a mentee through something – learning how to write a document (especially in our office!), learning the ins and outs of working in a professional environment, working through personal issues, etc. I also think anyone can be a mentor, even if they don’t realize it. It can be a parent, a boss, a friend, a sibling, someone you’ve never met in person before…
I’ve been blessed with having access to many great opportunities in my lifetime. Through these opportunities, I’ve met the people that became my mentors – bosses, scoutmasters, friends, friends’ parents … the list goes on. I am grateful for the lessons these people have taught me, and the contributions they have made to my life. I wouldn’t be who I am today without them.
As thankful as I am for my mentors, I am just as thankful for having access to the opportunities that introduced me to them. These opportunities are a gift, some of which I was given and some I had to pursue. The more opportunities you introduce people to as a mentor, the more mentors those people will accumulate. It’s a cumulative affect. For some, the hardest part is achieving that first opportunity that can open the door to many more. As a mentor, inspire others to see their potential and to seize opportunities. Therein their lives will become richer.
I see mentoring as an opportunity for both the mentee and the mentor to make a positive difference in each others lives. Throughout my life I have been lucky enough to have a number of wonderful mentors that have helped me grow in different aspects, and in getting older I am realizing the benefits for both people in the relationship.
Starting as an intern at PMG, I worked alongside each associate to learn about public relations and gain experience in a professional setting. I was lucky enough to have each associate act as a mentor for me, and in turn I learned and developed enough to join them when I graduated. Without their help, honesty, patience and guidance, I wouldn’t be working alongside them today; thanks team! Now that I act as a mentor for interns myself, I often look back upon my days as an intern to help give them guidance and explain the task at hand.
In terms of personal growth, over the past few months I have worked with an ESL speaker who is part of the refugee community to help him and his wife adjust to life in America and improve their English. Acting as a mentor in this relationship has impacted me in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. I know that I am learning just as much as he is throughout our tutoring sessions, helping me recognize the positive impact he is making in my life, and he doesn’t even realize it.
Mentoring has played a big role in my life, both personally and professionally. In my personal life, I found that having good parenting mentors, often also role models have helped me form views on how to be a better parent to my two sons. These mentors range from my own parents to friends who I think are “doing it right”, to business people I have met who actually run programs to teach people how to be better parents. I take bits and pieces of advice from all of these mentors to add to my parenting toolbox, and hopefully raise some great kids. From a professional point of view, I have several people who have mentored me through the years. As my job has changed and PMG has grown, I find that my mentors are changing as well. It has been an interesting process to figure this out and realize that it is not “old” (and I say that in the kindest possible way!) bosses who have been past mentors are now being replaced by industry colleagues and other professionals who are encouraging to up my game on a regular basis.
I began my career here at PMG just over a month ago, and I have been extremely fortunate to work among an entire staff of mentors – people willing to both share and show the right way to get things done. I’m constantly learning—sometimes from my own mistakes—because in addition to sharing knowledge and experiences, good mentors offer encouragement and support, developing the self-reliance of those they mentor in a unique and profound way. Mentors teach, trust, and lead by example. They are an invaluable resource and I am grateful for those who have mentored me.
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