In my blog post on mentorship as a key factor for the advancement of women, I talk about some of the key benefits and challenges of mentorship and link to a few stories of how mentorship has played out in my own life and career.

Below, I share my 5 tips for making mentorship meaningful:

You don’t have to know why you want one, but it sure helps: Having multiple mentors is beneficial because they can have different expertise. When you need help, finding the right person to help you is better than finding a nice person who wants to help but doesn’t have the competencies you’re looking for
Put yourself in positions where you can meet new people: If you spend most of your time at your desk, at home, or traveling in between, it’s tough to find new people that could be a good fit. Sure, formal mentorship programs exist, but you’ve got to spend the time to cultivate the relationship. And, it’s often informal meetups and networking events that can connect a mentor and mentee.
Create genuine connections: It’s a little cringe-worthy when you can tell someone is being fake or trying too hard to make a connection. You can see it in movies (I’m looking at you, Patty Simcox from Grease or Prince Hans from Frozen) and in real life. Don’t be that person. Be yourself and look for commonalities between you and your potential mentor. Look for ways you can return the favor. Take a genuine interest in who they are, but don’t feel like you need to talk about the Cubbies if baseball’s not your thing. If you don’t end up connecting with a potential mentor, that’s ok. Nobody said you have to make a match every time. Perhaps this person can connect you with the mentor of your dreams!
Ask: Often times when people say this with respect to mentorship, they mean to ask someone to be your mentor, and while I would agree, I would also broaden this to mean ask for connections — ask your colleagues or friends who might be a good mentor for you. Also, that doesn’t have to look like a take on Oliver Twist, i.e. “Please, ma’am, will you be my mentor?” It can be more casual or true to your personal style. For example, “I’ve been thinking about making a career switch from marketing to accounting, and I’d love to learn more about what accountants do here. Could I take you out for coffee to pick your brain on the role?”
Listen: I may have mentioned that I recently saw Oprah speak. She said that there are little whispers giving us hints in our lives, and that we need to train ourselves to listen for them. This is true with mentorship as well. Listen for the little whispers telling you when you need help, listen for the genuine comment shared by someone who offers to connect with you. Mentors don’t always hit you over the head with their generosity, but it’s often there if you truly listen.