In the 90s, in New Jersey, I was confident that my résumé effectively reflected my meagre experience and skills in technology. Until it landed on the desk of a senior Chinese-American manager, my colleague in a large staffing company. She called me to her desk and without wasting any time, told me, “Ravi, no one who reads your CV will understand what you are good at and the value you bring to their organization.” She then proceeded to edit a copy of my résumé with a red-ink fountain pen. To my growing mortification, she found something to improve in almost every line. She showed me that my résumé should present what I learned from my projects and what my contributions were to them. She told me to always check to see if I was answering the question, ‘So what?’ As I walked back to my desk with my résumé covered with red, I was overcome with a deep sense of gratitude. She had just mentored me on how to write a great résumé.

Mentoring is essentially guiding a less experienced person on a task from a more experienced vantage. Mentors help protégés by first understanding where they need help and by offering useful tips, different perspectives, and relevant information from their own experience. They may suggest books to read, websites to look up and other knowledgeable people to consult where appropriate. Mentors play the roles of sounding board, cheerleader and critical friend.

As a manager with experience, you should strongly consider mentoring others in your company. There are several benefits:

• First, you will learn. You will learn from your protégés more about what is going on within your organization as well as gain knowledge you don’t have.
• Mentoring will make you a more valuable asset to your company. Your peers and leaders will recognize your ability to groom young people for greater responsibilities.
• Your network will grow. Your protégés will want to pay you back for your support and counsel and you will soon have more people to count on when in need of help.
• With time, there will be such mutual trust and respect between you and your protégé that their feedback on your management and communication styles will be honest and thus useful.
• You will make a difference in your protégé’s life and career. You will be able to pass on not just knowledge but your values too and this is rewarding in itself.

To be an effective mentor, you should first want to help others. You should know how to build trust with your protégé – you can do this by listening without judgement, accepting that you may not have all the answers, offering pertinent advice and respecting their need for privacy and confidentiality. Helping your team members grow by mentoring them may not have been a part of your job’s description but it is sorely needed in every organization and at the same time it builds your reputation as a leader people want to work with.