It was just another crazy Wednesday at work when she was called into her manager’s office. In typical corporate fashion, there was a huge confidential project that needed to be done ASAP. She was being asked to own the project (corporate jargon may need to be an entire post) and continue her current and already overwhelming workload. Sometimes you can’t say no or ask for work to be reassigned. It just has to be done, she knew that. That, however, did not stop her from freaking out. Pretty sure her heart was beating so fast that her fitbit thought she was working out. In the middle of her panic, she texted one of her mentors asking if he had time to chat that day. He was back-to-back all day, but asked her to join him on his walk in between buildings. She would take that 7 minutes of time, she needed some guidance ASAP, or at least some reassurance that it would work out.

In our last post, we talked about mentoring relationships. Today, we want to continue that conversation…

Work can be crazy. There’s no way around that. You can go into work expecting an ordinary day and get bombarded with completely unexpected things, like massive projects, leadership changes, strategy changes, etc. If you’re anything like us, you won’t know how to handle all of these situations. And even when you think you know, you may want some reassurance or additional guidance. That’s when a really good mentor comes in handy.

Your mentors shouldn’t just be names on paper. A lot of companies really push you to have a mentor. Do not take this as another check the box (you know, like all those computer based trainings you click through). Your mentor(s) need to be people you trust, like older sisters and brothers that you can call for help. They have more or different experiences and can provide key insight.

You should have a mentor you don’t think twice about calling. Just like dating, you will meet lots of potential mentors, but you’ll need to find at least one (with mentors, unlike dating, you can have more than one) that you can text or call without any hesitation. So, how do you do that? How do you build that type of relationship?

Choose wisely. You may want to have that type of relationship with a mentor, but they may not want it with you. There are many reasons why this could be the case, and many may not be about you. It could be that they prefer a formal mentoring relationship with dedicated mentoring sessions, or that they are already have too many mentees, or frankly…they may not feel that connection with you. Be attentive to their responses to you.

Be transparent. Be upfront with this person about the role that you want them to play.

Trust. Just like you do with friends and coworkers, build a relationship of trust.

Listen to them. If your mentor gives you any guidance on an issue, report back to them. Let them know how it went. After the scenario above, one of us sent a short text message thanking him for his time and also updating him on the status. If your mentor recommends a book, read it and report back. What are things you learned from it?

Keep it casual. Reach out to this person outside of your dedicated mentoring sessions. Swing by their office. Send a note. Walk by and ask if they want to grab coffee.

Be gracious. Cuz duh.

From our experience, sometimes you need a mentor on speed dial. You never know when you’re going to need that quick advice. Build the relationship now, before you need it.
You’ve heard our experience, now let’s hear yours…