How Mentorship Accelerates Professional Growth

Research & Sources / Mentorship & Sounding Boards

Two climbers set out for the same summit. One goes alone with a map. The other goes with someone who has climbed this mountain ten times and knows where the path crumbles, where the shortcut is and where to rest before the steep part. Both may reach the top. The second one gets there faster, safer and with more energy left. That is what a mentor does.

Learning from someone else’s mistakes

Everyone learns from experience. But learning only from your own experience is slow and expensive. Every mistake has to be made personally. A mentor lets you learn from their experience too: the wrong turns they took, the people who helped, the decisions they would make differently.

What the research says

Tammy Allen and colleagues combined the results of many studies on mentoring. People who had a mentor reported more career satisfaction, more commitment and stronger belief in their career progress than those without. They also did somewhat better on objective outcomes like pay and promotions, though these effects were smaller.¹

Anders Ericsson’s research on expertise points in the same direction from another angle. Expert performance grows fastest through focused practice with feedback from an experienced teacher.² Mentors are one of the best sources of that kind of feedback at work.

What a good mentor gives you

• Perspective: they have seen your situation before, in other forms.
• Shortcuts: what to focus on, what to ignore.
• Connections: introductions to people you could not reach alone.
• Honest feedback: what others see but do not say.
• Encouragement: belief from someone who knows how hard it is.

How to find a mentor

Don’t start with “will you be my mentor?”. That is a big, vague request. Start small: ask an experienced person for 30 minutes on one specific question. If the conversation is useful for both of you, ask whether you could meet again. Good mentoring relationships often grow out of a few good conversations.

Look for someone a few steps ahead of you, not ten. They remember what your stage feels like.

How to be a good mentee

Come prepared. Bring a real question, not just a catch-up.

Act on what you hear, and tell them what happened. Mentors love to see their advice make a difference.

Respect their time. Keep meetings short and focused.

Remember that their path was theirs. Take what fits, leave what doesn’t.

What this means for you this week

• Name three people a few steps ahead of you whom you respect.
• Write one specific question you would ask each of them.
• Send one short request for a 30-minute conversation.
• After the conversation, act on one piece of advice within a week.

You will climb the mountain either way. A guide just knows where the path crumbles.

Sources

1. Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., Poteet, M. L., Lentz, E. & Lima, L. (2004). Career benefits associated with mentoring for protégés: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 127-136. doi.orgMentored people report more career satisfaction and commitment; effects on pay and promotion are positive but small.
2. Ericsson, K. A., Prietula, M. J. & Cokely, E. T. (2007). The Making of an Expert. Harvard Business Review. hbr.orgExpertise comes mainly from years of deliberate practice with honest feedback from a coach, also in management.