A couple of great tools for serving others in business is through mentoring and mastermind groups. While there is no right or wrong answer to which is best, you may want to decide which avenue would be best for you personally to start. We will break down and give some examples of each of these underutilized resources for personal success and how you can serve others through these tools.
When you think of mentoring, you tend to think or organizations like Big Brothers, Big Sisters or some other charitable group. In business and in life in general we seem to not want to take advantage of people as resources. Sometimes it’s because of pride. Other times it’s just because we aren’t aware of it as a resource. If you read about individuals that have had a high level of success or watch interviews with them on TV they always talk about a mentor or someone who was influential in their lives. Some are blessed with being at the right place at the right time and discovering a mentor takes very little effort. Others need to work a little harder to do that.
As a mentor, what do you need to do to make the relationship successful? A good mentor does the following:
- Treats the relationship with respect. Treat the relationship as you would any important relationship.
- Builds Trust- Make sure the relationship stays confidential. Items that are shared between you and a mentee should be kept private.
- Coaches- Push them to the level that they desire to get to. Help identify obstacles.
- Teaches- Don’t hold back on information. Give them the goods.
- Has been on the other end of the mentoring spectrum.
A friend of mine sent me a video of a great mentor relationship where entrepreneurs work with high school kids and teach them how to be entrepreneurs. The video is a powerful example of how a mentor can change lives.
In the area of Masterminds, the key is setting it up so that it is effective and not just a group of people getting together with no real intention. Here’s a step-by-step on mastermind groups.
Ideally you may not participate in both arenas. Being a mentor or in a mastermind group is a great way to not only teach someone and help them grow but to learn new things about yourself and your business as well. I talked about our transformation into a civic society yesterday and mentorship and mastermind groups fit well in that model. How have you been a mentored or been mentored? What experience do you have with mastermind groups? What’s stopped you from participating in the past?
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