I've been mentoring and coaching off-and-on for about 10 years and really enjoy it - both from supporting others along their journey at whatever career stage they're at or problem they want to solve, and also personally it gives me a lot of joy, as well as exposure to a wider range of challenges than I'd otherwise see, which is great in helping me keep sharp. I've mentored and coached a wide range of people across different career stages, specialisms and geographies and I really enjoy meeting people with different stories, backgrounds and specialisms. As I've become increasingly cross-functional over my career, it's always great to meet and learn from others perspectives while I'm mentoring/coaching them. Mentoring is a journey we both go on together.
Wow, hmmmm, that was a while back. I started my worklife at large multinationals. When I finished uni they seemed like the only game in town, and there wasn't much of a startup / scale-up scene back then. I did really well in those companies, getting promoted regularly but my learning plateaued, so I decided to found a startup. Compared to now doing founding a company was a lot harder (though it's definitely far from easy still now). After that one didn't work out (first time around they often don't), I'd gotten the bug for the pace and learning you get in that sort of environment so went on to work in a load more startups and scale-ups, and I have continued to double down on that ever since. It's a fun and inspiring journey that benefits from having a hopeful outlook and growth mindset, and you eventually learn there is no such thing as failure - you can always dust off and go again, stronger than before.
It's been a real mix so far and depends whether they're early in career or more established, including: - Professional development and coaching - Exploring new ideas or career pivots - Specific challenges they're facing at work, either strategically or tactically - Wondering how to enhance or develop specific skillsets - Feeling in a rut and want to figure out why and how to solve - Want someone in their corner to bounce ideas and thoughts off
It's been very inspiring to see them all, so I don't have a favourite. With many of my mentees we look both at short term and longer term challenges they're facing. There's a lot of positive feedback shortly after each session when they let me know how some of the short term challenges played out, and often they feel good about taking the steps towards addressing their longer term goals (these are always more iterative, less instant feedback, need breaking down, and require patience and persistence to achieve).
It's a great experience for me and enables me to lean fully into being the servant leader I aim to be in my own career. I love learning about others, enabling and scaffolding them and seeing them do great work, step up and realise their goals. I think it's integral to building healthy, sustainable, long-term companies that the systems we create are built on trust and consider the human component alongside the business case - it's the only way that the team becomes a multiplier of founders and leaders energy and vision through the ups and downs. The human component in any system is crucial, and the only way to deliver that is to have opinions about how to lead, manage and support them. Mentoring and coaching more people means I get to practice that more as well as continue to develop my approach to it. It's win-win.
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