How mentorship drives growth for the individual and business longevity

Mar 23, 2023 2:30:25 PM

"More organisations are realising how important mentoring and mentorship are to future-proof not only their organisations but long-term business networks too."

By Merissa Himraj CEO of Wavemaker South Africa

Mentoring and mentorship are some of the most valuable tools in your career growth and development. As someone who has been mentored as well as being a mentor, I am a super fan of this way of learning and growing.

For the mentee, it’s like having your personal coach or advisor with whom you can discuss any challenges you might be facing in the workplace or personally that relate to work performance. A good mentor creates a safe psychological space for you to explore different ways to problem solve. As one of my favourite mentors once said, “ you hold the key, I just help you unlock the right door.”

The mentor’s role will be to help you with tips, techniques, and training or observation that allow you to solve your problems whilst you continue to learn as you do so. A mentor is not going to have the answers to your every problem, what they will teach you is how to think critically, and problem-solve without fear. They will also guide you in terms of career growth and what your roadmap might be for future success. Mentors can also teach you critical skills like networking, closing sales or making difficult decisions in an informed manner.

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For the mentor, the benefit of sharing your experience to help someone grow their career is both rewarding and educational. Having mentored different types of people over time, I learnt that mentorship keeps you on your toes, as the problems you might assist in resolving can range from time management to more complex issues like team leadership, respectfulness, and discrimination. Watching someone grow from being uncertain about making decisions to becoming more confident in making a call, and sticking with it is an amazing privilege.

In my opinion, the big winner in any mentorship programme when done right is the business that invests in this way of growing knowledge. What you end up with are critical problem solvers who are confident with delivering on business imperatives in a way that will sustain the business. As part of the WPP and GroupM networks, Wavemaker is part of several mentorship initiatives from WPP Stella which is a programme for female business leaders, to GradX which is a GroupM talent initiative, that has mentorship baked into the programme pillars. In addition, several senior members of the Wavemaker EXCO and MANCO act as mentors in their personal capacity to grow talent in our industry.

More organisations are realising how important mentoring and mentorship are to future-proof not only their organisations but long-term business networks too. Our next focus should be to consider the role of sponsorship in business. Sponsorship is the natural evolution in the mentorship roadmap and one that when done right will enhance and complement an individual’s career growth.