I truly believe that all
successful people have had mentors and coaches in their life. Mentors act as
navigators throughout your career to help you make sound decisions and stay grounded
as a professional. Coaches help you develop technical skills and abilities to
be able to excel in the workplace and further your career. In my experience,
the good coaches and mentors, no matter what capacity they lead you in, are irreplaceable.
I will use my own experiences with coaching and mentoring to shed light on the
advantages of having one, or being one.
When I first started in my
current role with Target I was new to the company, to the retail and
distribution worlds, and operations management. I was given a mentor in the
first couple of weeks who had been with the organization for 6 years in an
operations management role with experience in every department within the
distribution center. My mentor essentially helped me become accustomed to the
rules, regulations, and atmosphere of the distribution center and the
organization. He was very experienced, so he helped me gain a good perspective
on the retail industry and also helped me answer tough questions regarding the
leadership style used at Target. He helped me set short term goals in my
training period and helped me meet these goals. I currently have a new mentor
who is in a more senior position, helping me mainly with development and career
progression. He helps me work on my leadership weaknesses and helps me
accomplish goals associated with my team and the department, along with
personal goals. If it wasn’t for these mentors I would be much worse off in my
current role. They did and still do an excellent job helping me develop as a
leader, as a person, and helping me become acclimated to my new role.
In the same role I was assigned
to be the coach/mentor of a new manager in a different department. My main
objective was to help him become acclimated to the organization and help
develop his technical and leadership skills. We often met with one another to
talk about his new role and to assist him with his technical training. I
organized developmental and leadership activities to help him with his team. I
also served as a guide in which to help steer him to make good decisions. It
was very gratifying to see him develop as a person and a leader while gaining
the training and skills necessary to be effective and efficient.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of
having a mentor or coach is knowing that they are there to help you, develop
you, and train you. They are there for you, not someone else or to fulfill
their own agenda. It is essentially free knowledge and advice that is there for
the taking, as long as you are receptive to what they have to give.
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