When it
comes to mentoring women encourage their protégés to become their own
person and don’t expect them to be cloned in their image. And research
shows that humble mentors get the highest quality-of-mentoring ratings
from their protégés. So there are lots of good reasons to seek a
“Womentor”. Are you ready to find the right one?
We’re
women, which means we’re relationship oriented. More so than men we
need mentors and we especially need to connect with other women who’ve
been through it before. Their vision in the rear view mirror can keep us
from looking like a deer in the headlights. So how do we find the right
“Womentor”? Here’s my suggestions:
1)
Look for inspiration- Seek a woman who is productive, someone doing
well in her field. She’ll likely have the same devotion to excellence as
a mentor as she does to her profession and you’ll be the beneficiary.
Also, her credibility will rub off on you, improving your status.
There’s nothing like star-power to inspire you to improve your skills.
2)
Look for recent experience- A mentor who has traveled a journey can
draw a better road map, especially if they have driven that road
recently. Thus, I suggest matching a mentor with 5 to 7 years more
experience than their protege. Women seek mutuality in relationships and
its best achieved in this more collegial manner.
3)
Seek good chemistry- Its important to trust your mentor and that is
more easily achieved if you share values, if she has good interpersonal
skills and is warm. You want a Womentor who listens to you, not someone
who interrupts you. It’s important that she doesn’t expect perfection
but also that she offers corrective feedback. Afterall, we have mentors
to improve and if you trust her you’ll feel confident that this feedback
comes from a good place.
After a highly successful career in business, including 26 years with
PotashCorp where she was Senior Vice-President, Betty-Ann retired in
2007, the same year that she was named to Canada‘s Most Powerful Women:
Top 100 Hall of Fame™. She now works as a speaker, author and mentor and
is committed to using her personal and professional experiences to
inspire and empower other women. A firm believer in the value women
bring to organizations, Betty-Ann explores changing perceptions of male
and female roles including candid observations about what she calls
"Good Gender Physics” on her blog at www.stillettochick.com.
She helps both men and women understand the primary energy of their
gender but also accept and appreciate the strengths of their opposite.
