How to Become a Mentor to an Underclass Mate - Returning from your Thanksgiving is a good time to reflect on
what you can do to help others. For students who have received the benefits of advice
and consol from recent graduates, it is important to return the favor. You
should seek ways to become a mentor to underclass mates.
The following material comes from a recent CFA Institute publication provided to University Program Partners (note: the Applied Investment Management Program at Marquette University has been a partner since 2006). The author of the article is Julia VanDeren.
Finding a mentor is an obvious
career development strategy for the protégé, but it is also a valuable one for the mentor.
In addition to being personally rewarding by helping you to give back and
continue to build and sustain your passion for your career, mentoring another
professional requires you to exercise and develop leadership skills that can
help you stand out.
This positive differentiation, in turn, can make it easier to be
considered for the kinds of stretch assignments, special projects, or new
positions in your firm that will propel you along your desired career path.
Here are some of the skills mentoring others allows you to
develop and exercise:
·
Active listening
·
Giving feedback
·
Setting goals
·
Performance coaching
·
Encouraging and motivating others
·
Persuading others
·
Problem solving
Not everyone who wants to mentor others
has the immediate opportunity or the requisite skills and perspective to do so
successfully, so CFA Institute invited Jim Keene, CFA, founder of Atherton Consulting Group LLC, to
present “Mentoring and
Coaching Others,” a webinar that shares some of his insights
into how you can become an impactful mentor.
In the webinar, Keene explains that
respect and trust are the fundamental building blocks of a viable and
successful mentoring relationship. He addresses how active listening,
taking time to really get to know your protégé, helping to set meaningful SMART goals, celebrating
achievements, and knowing when and how to close a mentoring relationship all
relate to and encourage achieving that respect and trust. Keene also provides
insight into the role generational differences can play in the mentor-protégé
dynamic.
If mentoring is something you are
interested in doing, you don’t necessarily need to find a formal program,
though it can be helpful to check in with your employer or your local CFA Institute member society to
see if they administer one. Keene explains that while it may be more typical
for a protégé to initiate the relationship, there are strategies that
can help aspiring mentors find their protégé.
If you have insights on how mentoring others can impact career
development or how to successfully manage a relationship with a protégé, share
them in the space below for other readers to learn from.