Evaluate your mentor relationship.
Yes, I’m assuming that you have a mentor or coach to provide you an objective view on career, skills, challenges, performance and / or other issues important to you or your business.
If you don’t have a relationship with a mentor … set yourself a goal to begin a formal relationship with a mentor within the next 60 days. If you have a mentor relationship that’s working well, drop me a note and tell me why the relationship is a success. If you think the relationship could be better, then it’s time to fix it or abandon it – you want to receive value from the relationship with your mentor.
There are many things to consider when establishing a relationship with a mentor … here are my top three:
- You must absolutely trust the mentor / coach you select … you want honest feedback instead of them telling you what you want to hear.
- The mentor / coach must have the time and interest in helping you … they have to be there when you need them.
- You must agree on working guidelines for the relationship that work for both of you … it’s important that these be established at the beginning, so each of you know what to expect from each other.
If you have an existing relationship with a mentor … just make sure you are fully satisfied that you are getting everything you want / need from them. If you don’t have a mentor / coach and don’t feel you need one because you believe you’re doing fine without one … you’re kidding yourself.
Everyone needs a mentor … even the leader.
