Don't wait for a mentor to find you. Use Slack coffee-pairing programs, request informational interviews, and ask HR about formal mentorship. Most people say yes when you approach them directly.
What would you offer as encouragement, especially to women who maybe don't feel like they currently have a mentor and giving them guidance as to where to find one or how to build that kind of mentor-mentee relationship?
So I think a lot of people sit back and wait for a mentor to be given to them rather than go looking and ask. So first off, for anyone who uses Slack, there's— we used to use this at League where you could sign up to to be paired for coffee with somebody outside, within or outside of your organization. Tools like that, I think companies can do a much better job of leveraging and connecting people across the organization in different ways. But I also think, don't be afraid to ask. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone and say, you know, would you mind if we put time on the calendar for a virtual coffee or a face-to-face coffee? Tea, if you're like me and you don't drink coffee. And, and I just like to, you know, sort of ask your advice, or I'd like to understand how, what, you know, how you got to where you are, or think informational interview, right? Yeah. I'd really like to just reach out and talk to you about how you've accomplished what you've accomplished. And what will likely happen is, A, Almost nobody says no to those. Second, they will respect the initiative and often will offer up to be a mentor. And so, and this is where that concept of career agency comes from. In my mind, career agency is I'm not sitting around waiting for anyone else to help me figure out where to take my career. I am going to own this. And I am going to be responsible for my success. And I'm going to pull every string and use every tool that I can in order to get there. So I really think it's important that people understand. It's great if your company has a formal mentor program. You can always ask HR, right? Do you have a formal mentor program and can I be part of it? And if the answer is no, we don't have a formal mentor program, you can always ask them, can we start one? Right? And if HR doesn't want to start a formal mentor program, You could ask them, okay, who can you suggest would be a great informal mentor for me? Who should I go talk to in our company?
