What are the direct benefits of mentorship for young leaders?

It’s hard for any employee to take their first steps into a new role, let alone without clear guidance and support. A leadership position for any burgeoning young leader arguably offers more of a challenge as there’s extra pressure to succeed early on.

This is where young leaders can take it upon themselves to seek out mentorship within the workplace. Or, if you are an experienced leader reading this, you can provide mentorship to the next generation of talent within your organisation. 

Mentorship offers learning opportunities for all staff, but it’s especially beneficial for young leaders. Without worldly experience, there’s no way to gauge when and where growth needs to occur. 

But what else can mentorship achieve? How can it benefit young leaders, the people they lead and the entire organisation? Keep on reading to find out.

A stronger understanding of the business

While it’s relatively easy to learn new skills as you rise through the ranks, it’s harder to truly understand the ins and outs of the business. Enter, the mentor.

Mentors already know what’s going on. They understand the big issues and the small ones general employees are completely unaware of. Through guidance and mentorship, young leaders can safely open new doors to learn what’s working in the organisation and what needs to be improved. Most importantly, they’re only opening relevant doors. Mentorship ensures young leaders don’t take on too much, too soon.

Enhanced self-awareness

Juggling new responsibilities as a leader while retaining a critical level of self-awareness is incredibly difficult. It takes a high level of skill to critique your own performance, acknowledge external perceptions and thrive with additional responsibilities.

Mentors are great for providing enhanced self-awareness. They have an outsider’s perspective of performance with no bias or judgement. Therefore, pairing an experienced leader with a young leader creates a perfect environment where feedback and advice can be offered and received with no judgement. This means young leaders can:

• Easily identify shortcomings and obstacles while working with a coach to plot solutions
• Seek advice without feeling like they’re imposing on more experienced staff
• Create achievable short-term and long-term targets
• Develop and build networks in a supportive environment
• Avoid relying on other staff/their team for feedback during the early stages of their leadership development

Increased engagement and retention

The last thing anyone wants when promoting someone into a new leadership role is to throw them in the deep end, provide no support and watch them quit. Instead, create and form a partnership through mentoring that engages both participants, promotes employee retention and creates greater interest in achieving workplace goals.

The mentor and mentee alike will benefit from their time together as there’s purpose; one teaches while the other learns. In fact, through teaching and mentoring, even experienced individuals will uncover new potential. 

Employers could provide ongoing opportunities for engagement by creating internal mentoring programs for staff members from across the board. International case studies have brought plenty of success, with employees participating in mentoring programs 49% less likely to leave their job. It’s a perfect way to add another level of responsibility for staff seeking to gain something more out of their career. 

Clear career progression

Don’t worry, we’re not placing the cart before the horse just yet. Mentorship is all about helping your young leaders establish themselves in a new role, not necessarily to launch them into the next one right away. 

However, there’s plenty of research to suggest employees who receive mentoring are more likely to be promoted, and so too are mentors themselves. That means you really want to invest in the staff you see a bright future for by providing ongoing mentorship. And if you’re a young professional with big goals, seek out a mentor as it could provide the launchpad you need. 

Overcoming workplace challenges

When workplace challenges arise, you need leaders at all levels to step up and overcome them. That’s easier said than done for a young leader with little experience in a new role. So when the going gets tough, provide a mentor to help them navigate new challenges.

This is the team approach every business needs. Staff should always work together as experienced leaders are the ones who should pass on their knowledge to the next generation, who will pass it on to the next. Mentors will remember past mistakes, provide new solutions, and can also refine fresh ideas from young leaders. It’s the perfect combination of experience and knowledge!