September 11, 2021 | Nursing Article

THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORSHIP IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Everyone wants a successful career.They want an expansion in fact only a mad man would want to start and end his career where he wants but the crux of the issue is not just what you can do but who do you know.
Firstly, the English Dictionary defines “career ” as one’s calling in life.As a verb, it is the ability to move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way.Google defines it as an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life with opportunity for progress.From the given definitions,it could be seen that a man’s career is so delicate that he cannot just avoid to be careless.
Justimagine how bankers who have studied Accounting or Banking and Finance work SWIFTLY in their CALLING because of the it’s delicacy. One mistake and you’re gone.Hence, one hear about a lot of bankers getting “fired ” or sacked , it may be to incompetence or carelessness and don’t also forget that the 21st labour market has changed- one needs to be smart not just intelligent. One may ask What does change have to do with today labour market.?.Well, in the olden days, there was “bottom top” system, where a hard-working employee gets promoted to his boss’level when the boss leaves.For instance,the Managing Director of an organization(a bank, eatery etc) is promoted to the position of General Manager as a result of hardwork, consistency and creativity.Now, this was before our “jet age”.Now, what we have is a broad and three hundred and sixty degrees turn which can be seen or termed as an expansion in responsibility unlike the latter which is called linear career but the ones in our present time is the transitory and spiral career which a person undergoes different changes in occupation for a period of his life like from a cook to a footballer to an author.
Now, there is a big shift in career.Even in today’s offices, one can be moved from a receptionist to an account clerk.Hence,all these can be seen as career development because there is a process or direct change in career or advancement and this happened in a man’s,s life span but there is something that can grately help an employee or employer in whatever career development means an a proc he or she finds his or herself which is MENTORSHIP.
According to the English Dictionary, mentorship means a wise and trusted c ounsel. Its role in career development cannot be over emphasized. A particular successful primary school teacher once said that her successful teaching career would not have been possible without the help of the school’s supervisor who kept pushing her to grateness.She said upon her first day at the school, she had reported at his office and he had instructed her on what to do but despite his strict instructions, there were times he would come around her class to just see how she was doing in class and one significant habit of his was that his door was always open not just to her but everyone else who had challenges, she bgan to gain trust in him more than that she had in her own colleagues.
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She started experiencing growth in her teaching ability and her level of understanding increased, one thing people fail to understand is that they need to seek the help of those who have once been in their shoes to know how they succesced , the supervisor had been a teacher for twenty-five years before attaining hos current position.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

The truth of the matter is mentorship can serve as a map but just to be clear, before mentorship can happe on, one need to be humble and be willing to learn , be inquisitive it is one thing to have an idea but another thing to set it out and knowing the “how ” and sometimes “when” can save one a lot of headach. In an interview with American talk show host Charlie Rose, Zuckerberg talked about his inspiring mentor Steve Jobs. “He was amazing,” said Zuckerberg. “I had a lot of questions for him.” He described how Jobs gave him advice about how he could build a team that was as focused on building “high quality and good products”.Note the word QUESTIONS.It is usually said that a man who asks questions never loses his way and that was why many years ago, Frank Zuckerberg met Steve Jobs a renewed business investor and business creator how he be just like him and what steps to take since he was about to head that line of business little wonder on February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room although some scholars believe that an earlier inspiration may had come from Phillip Exeter Academcy, the ,prep school he graduated from in 2002, little did he know that Facebook was going to become a global phenomenon and put him in the world record as one of the top earners.
Zuckerberg’s career developed as he kept on developing his craft as he became the fifth richest man in the world using the ideas he and strategies of what he had taken from his mentors.Below are some the importance of mentorship in career development
1.Mentors support growth
Mentors support intellectual and social
growth.They do not just encourage you to grow but they are there to support it.They are open to giving you on your rudiments of handling documents and your book keeping skills, they make you as these could regards to a bank or any organizational skills.They are open to help you grow , cause a positive change thereby allowing you to set goals and ensuring you set goals in it to achieve it.
A clear example of this was when Marvel Studios brought Robert Downey Jr and Tom Holland on set, there was an instant attraction between the both of them, it was so clear that they would get along so well which they did off-set . As they worked together from Captain Man:Civil War to Avengers: Endgame , their relationship grew and Tom Holland’s career grew .Holland even admitted that Downey’s counsels and mentorship was a major factor in his role as Spider-Man.He further said that during his first time on set, he was nervous and had cold feet but Downey made sure he grew in his acting -changing dynamics of acting and b”efore he knew it, he became a guru in his role. Hear Holland’s words “I mean, it would be strange if I hadn’t been nervous. Thankfully, weirdly, something happened that loosened the pressure valve on my anxiety that day. I saw Ant and Joe and then I saw Downey standing there in the casting room. I went over. I introduced myself. But I remember thinking, ‘That’s a bit odd. He doesn’t look like I’d imagined”. Hence, mentors really support growth in his mentee.
2. Mentors help set goals.
A mentor can help a mentee have direction in his career by helping him set quality and attainable goals.They can make you have a standard even if one does not want to. The upy would make one have a target which would give a balance and tidiness in your goals
Facebook founder and CEO, Frank Zukerberg met Apple chairman , CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs in his early days when Facebook had a rough patch. He was invited to Jobs’ temple to reflect and reconnect with his vision for the company and that meeting did not just create a mentor- mentee relationship but it made Zuckerberg go back to the drawing room and restrategise with Jobs helping him in creating his company goids.Little wonder whenJob passed away in 2011, he quipped on his Facebook page “Thank you for being a mentor and a friend for showing that what you build can change the world”. Another big name in the technology industry, co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates also credits the achievement of his goals to his friend and business tycoon Warren Buffett.In 2015, Gates wrote of Buffet in his own blog , “Warren isn’t just a great mentor.I have been learning from him since the day we met in 1991” Warren was a grate influence in the setting and achievement of Gates goals.
3.Mentors represent accountability
Mentors make mentees accountable to them (not as a controller but watchdog) and yourself.When one is hard-working and consistent, he would be deliberate in his actions and would know that he would be accountable for his actions, take positive intentional steps because he has a watchdog and himself to please.
4.Mentors serve as a well of knowledge.
A mentor is a living textbook.One that one can always be ready to tap from.So, he must be able to gum and get used to that”textbook”to succeed.
A mentor always has an attentive ear.

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A mentor listens to his mentee.Be humble to a mentor who always listens.
Based on the above points, it is advisable to get a wheel for your vehicle for your career development. Be wise .