Learning
One of the best things about working with others is the ability to learn from others. While we can learn things from each person we come in contact with, when finding a mentor, it is important to find someone who is maybe a few steps ahead of you in your career.
If you desire to be a supervisor one day, spend time with a supervisor and learn how they handle being a supervisor. Learn about the challenges they face and how they have learned to respond to those challenges.
If you want to learn how to be more decisive in decision making, then find a mentor who has decision making as a strength. If you are looking to be better at juggling multiple tasks, find a mentor who has learned how to manage multiple tasks and still deliver.
In order to grow in an area we have to learn either from experience directly, or from someone showing us how it is done. Chances are the person you seek mentorship from had a mentor at some point in life who also showed them how to do it to.
Respecting leadership
We live in a day and age where everything is challenged, fact checked, or debunked. While this is appropriate at times, it is also important that that practice does not creep in all the time within an organization. Leadership must be respected within an organization in order for it to be successful and to have all employees thrive.
When talking about running an organization, have you heard the saying “It is lonely at the top”? The reason is because a leader’s decisions will most likely always be criticized. With that in mind, as you seek mentorship keep this in mind when you have aspirations: work for the person everyone criticizes, or be the person everyone criticizes.
If you want to learn from the best, or learn from someone who is in a leadership position, you are hopefully putting yourself in a position to one day gain a leadership role. If you criticize your leader, just know one day if you are a leader you will also be criticized. Learn how a mentor handles this. Any organization or team must come together and buy into a culture created by leadership in order to be successful.
By finding mentorship you are respecting leadership because you are supporting organizational culture, improving your skills, and striving to be better within your job. Not to mention if the specific mentor you choose is a leader within your organization, you are showing respect to them by wanting to learn from them.