Do you often find colleagues coming to you for advice? You might just be establishing yourself as a mentor—and it can benefit you in more ways than one. Harvard Business Review finds that people of all ages who served as mentors experienced lower levels of anxiety and described their job as more meaningful than those who did not mentor. According to veteran entrepreneur and innovator Janice Omadeke (named among Entrepreneur Magazine’s 100 Women of Influence), there are seven types of mentorship roles you can take on.
“Mentorship is a pathway to personal and professional growth, building meaningful relationships, and creating a positive impact on someone’s life,” says Omadeke. “Mentorship is not about leading your mentee; rather, it’s about offering advice and sharing relevant experiences to help them reach their goals authentically. You don’t need to have all the answers or your life completely figured out to engage with your mentees. Prioritize authenticity, transparency, and a willingness to share your learning experiences, along with recommending resources or making introductions based on your discussions. Ultimately, your mentee is responsible for deciding how to incorporate this knowledge into their journey.”
Omadeke delves into this topic in her book, Mentorship Unlocked: The Science and Art of Setting Yourself Up for Success (Wiley; April 2, 2024). The book offers an insightful discussion of mentorship, including what it is, how to find a qualified mentor, and how to make mentorship work for you. She shares the mentorship advice that helped her start a groundbreaking company after studying entrepreneurship and strategic management at MIT and Harvard. Omadeke combines compelling personal anecdotes with research and strategies for both established and early-career professionals to apply immediately to better understand one of the most powerful types of relationships crucial to success.
In her book and beyond, Omadeke provides valuable insights on:
- Why we need to ditch cookie-cutter mentorship: There’s not one way to be a mentor.
- Self-reflection questions to discover what type of mentor you are and what type of mentor you want to be.
- The seven types of mentors.
- Potential roles and responsibilities of your mentorship role and their function in the workplace.
- Factors that can contribute to your mentorship style, such as your communication style and level of expertise.