{"id":244,"date":"2019-08-10T15:26:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T07:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shahalghazali.com\/blog\/?p=244"},"modified":"2020-03-26T20:20:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T12:20:47","slug":"8-tips-for-an-amazing-mentor-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shahalghazali.com\/blog\/8-tips-for-an-amazing-mentor-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips For An Amazing Mentor Relationship."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Many successful people\nattribute at least part of their success to having a mentor. The\nright mentor can provide advice and connections that help their\nmentee reach heights that would be impossible alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some pieces of\nadvice on mentorship, with perspectives from successful tech\nprofessionals who have seen its benefits firsthand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Mentorship requires\nintentional investments of time and energy; you get what you put in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a mentee is not a\npassive role. When you have a mentor, it’s your job to define your\nown goals, cultivate the relationship, seek out advice, attend\nmeetings or events you’re invited to, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Building a\nstrong network of mentors requires commitment of time and energy, but\nwith these types of relationships, you absolutely get out of them\nwhat you put in,”<\/em> says Shah Al-Ghazali, Founder of SAZ\nDiversify Legacy. “The more you know yourself, what you are\ngood at, what you are not, the more value you and your mentors will\nget out of the relationship. Then make time to invest in those\nrelationships.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Says Noraniza Mohtar,\nExecutive Senior Sales Director of Mary Kay (Malaysia), “Mentor\nrelationships must be tended to and are constantly evolving. Those\nexperiences and discussions culminate in a stronger bond to navigate\nmore complex life or business discussions in the future.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Experienced\nperspectives are invaluable for young careers and companies.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While mentorship can be\nvaluable at any stage of a career, it’s especially important when the\nmentee doesn’t have as much personal experience in the industry. With\na mentor, they can benefit from the insights gained through years of\nexperience without having to spend years of trial and error\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I first\nstarted my career, I discounted the importance of experience,”<\/em>\nsays Fatim Aiman, Business Development Executive at SAZ Diversify\nLegacy. “A strong mentor has the experience to help a startup\navoid the pitfalls and identify possibly paths to success. Often\nentrepreneurs feel like there isn’t time, but the time and trouble\nyou can save by working with a good mentor is invaluable.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syazwan Shukri, Founder\nof Al-SyuQ Palace Spa Cafe, still experiences this firsthand in his\ncareer. “As a first-time founder, I look to people who have\nlived through the experiences and challenges that I face every day in\nbuilding and scaling my company. I\u2019ve found it invaluable to have a\nboard of advisors who have experience scaling companies and can\nprovide valuable, actionable advice.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The best mentors\nare the ones who can fill gaps in your skillset. Don’t seek a mentor\nwho’s your clone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every entrepreneur has\ntheir own strengths and weaknesses. And while mentors can certainly\nhelp make the strengths even stronger, it’s usually even more\nvaluable to have someone who can give advice in areas where you’re\nstruggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Entrepreneurship\nis essentially about constantly learning, and having great mentors is\ncrucial to learning fast,”<\/em> says Muhammad Shahffiq, Business\nAdministration Executive at SAZ Diversify Legacy & Subject Matter\nExpert at ByteDance (Malaysia). “In particular, it’s\nimportant for for a mentor to supplement the strengths that the\nentrepreneur brings to the table. For example, I came to the game as\na strong technologist, but had to learn about the science of\nenterprise sales, finance\/operations, etc. An entrepreneur should\nalways select a mentor that fills the gaps in his\/her experience and\nskill set.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. You don’t always\nhave to follow a mentor’s advice but listen to it and evaluate it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One important thing to\nunderstand about mentorship is that the mentor can’t live your life\nfor you. They’re there to provide advice and perspective and make you\nthink differently not make unilateral decisions for you. “Counsel\nneed not always be followed, but should always be carefully\nconsidered,”<\/em> advises Noraniza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe role of the\nmentor is to make you reflect, not to give you advice or answers.\nHelping you ask the right questions that\u2019s real mentorship,”<\/em>\nexplains Louis Hong, Business Analyst at SAZ Diversify Legacy &\nFounder of Life Mastermind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Anyone can be a\nmentor even without knowing it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you go through life\nwith the perspective that you have something to learn from everyone\nyou meet, you’ll collect a lot of informal mentors along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In my own life\nand career, I have had numerous mentors, most of them accidental, and\nmany of them unaware that I saw them as mentors,”<\/em> says\nLouis. “At one point I decided that any person I meet will be\ntreated by me as a mentor for the time the interaction lasts. In an\nUber or Grab, the driver can be my mentor for a few minutes. Among\nfriends, I seek out mentorship moments. I even have fantasy mentors,\ni.e. I envision myself being mentored by someone I admire (for\ninstance, Tun Dr. Mahathir) and I try to figure out what questions\nthat mentor would ask me. It works!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Diversity of\nmentorship is important.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s common to have one\nperson you regard as a primary mentor, but that doesn’t mean you\ncan’t seek out a variety of perspectives on a more informal basis as\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noraniza further her\nsaying, \u201cAt Mary Kay, majority of our investing partners are\nwomen. Having such a diverse set of mentors has helped me realize\nthat there isn\u2019t a cookie-cutter for success in Mary Kay, or any\nindustry for that matter. This gives me confidence in my own career\npath, and has helped shape the way I think about investing and\nentrepreneurship.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shah Al-Ghazali also\nencourages seeking out mentors who bring other perspectives to light:\n“I always encourage people to find mentors who you not only\ntrust to be sources of counsel throughout your career, but also who\nbring a different point of view to your own.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. There are specific\nthings you can do to being a good mentee.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, people consider\nthe “burden” of mentorship to be on the mentor. But mentees\ncan take responsibility for cultivating the experience of mentorship\ntoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The biggest\ndifference between people having a successful mentor relationship\nboils down to initiative,”<\/em> says Mohammad Muzammil, Operation\nExecutive at SAZ Diversify Legacy: \u201cMany thoughtful pieces have\nbeen written about how to be a good mentor, but there is less\nattention on how to be a good mentee. When I look at those that I\nhave mentored and those that are getting a lot out of the program\nhave some clear similarities:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n