The Power of Mentoring

In simplest terms, a Mentor is someone who helps us progress - a non-judgmental person who listens with an open mind to help us achieve our own personal goals. A mentor accelerates our progress by helping us to find a clearer path with fewer distractions and obstacles.

As coaches, one of the most common things we experience is that people don’t always ask for help. As humans, we often believe that we should be able to do everything on our own, that asking for help is a sign of weakness. In fact, for us, the opposite is true.

As the psychologist Anne Wilson Schaef explained, “Asking for help does not mean that we are weak or incompetent. It usually indicates an advanced level of honesty and intelligence.”

How many times have you found yourself thinking out loud about a problem, only to discover that by the end of your monologue, you’ve already started to see a solution? That’s what talking with a mentor is like. With their neutral mindset, they give us new lenses and new perspectives. They help keep us on the right path at the right speed — not so hyper that we are mindlessly travelling at a thousand miles an hour, nor so slow that we sit and do nothing. A balanced, holistic approach is proven to increase progress.

Find out more about mentoring here.