There are a number of reasons why people offer their time and expertise in mentoring.  Some of the most common include:

• A desire to help others
• Wanting to give back
• Doing one’s part to better the organization

If none of the above do it for you, try this: get involved in mentoring because it’s the selfish thing to do.

Wait…what? 

Perhaps I should choose a different way to frame what I am trying to say.  Mentoring is seen by many as a process geared toward the learners, because they benefit from the knowledge received from their advisors.  Those who are offering their expertise are often seen as doing so for the sake of some of the altruistic reasons mentioned above.   Ahhhh, but is there not a more sinister motive at play? 

In what is probably still the most in-depth study on business mentoring ever conducted, Gartner studied Sun Microsystems to evaluate the business impact of their mentoring program. Results showed that those who were providing the expertise benefitted as much, if not more, from the experience than those doing the learning.  For example, mentors at Sun were six times (not %, but TIMES) more likely to be promoted than their peers who did not engage in mentoring[1].  So, lesson learned: get involved in mentoring out of self-interest.

All joking aside, there is an important takeaway in all of this: mentoring can provide HUGE benefits not only to the learners, but also to those doing the advising.  One such benefit is that by taking what you know and giving it away to others, one often becomes “re-introduced” to ideas, concepts, and practices that had been set aside and “forgotten.”  If one has some sense of self-awareness and a willingness to be reflective, being reminded of one’s expertise in the process of explaining it to others can often be viewed as serendipitous enlightenment, resulting in the advisor being reminded to apply these forgotten ideas and thus becoming a better leader in the process. 

[1]

James Holincheck, “Case Study: Workforce Analytics at Sun.”  Gartner, Inc., 27 October 2006 (ID Number: G00142776). The referenced research paper is a summary of the findings at Sun of original research conducted by Capital Analytics. All rights are reserved by Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.