Who benefits from mentors?

Most people think of the mentee (or protoge)—the person taken under the guidance of a trusted friend, counselor or teacher—as the winner in a mentor-mentee relationship. It is true the mentee often receives valuable personal, professional or spiritual advice, and many of the world’s most successful people have benefited from having a mentor including:


business people - Freddie Laker mentored Richard Branson
politicians - Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great
actors - Mel Gibson mentored Heath Ledger
athletes - Eddy Merckx (five-time Tour de France winner) mentored Lance Armstrong (seven-time Tour de France winner).


But a recent study by Sun Microsystems suggests that the mentor may benefit at least as much as the mentee from this type of relationship. Sun compared the career progress of over 1000 employees over a five-year period examining the impact on mentors and mentees and came up with some surprising findings:
Mentees were nearly 5 times as likely (25% vs. 5.3%) to receive a salary grade increase as their peers who did not have mentors, but Mentors fared even better: 28% of Mentors received salary grade increases versus just 5% of similar grade employees who were not part of the program.


Sun Microsystems itself has been a beneficiary of the mentoring program. According to internal calculations, Sun’s minimum Return on Investment (ROI) was 600%, based on the program cost vs. employee knowledge and productivity as measured by salary, merit increases & promotions. Source: Sun Microsystems, ROI study on the SunU Mentoring Program


So what does this mean for those of us who aren’t mentoring (mentor or mentee)? Its critical to start! When someone asks you to be a mentor, take the time to find out how you can help. Ask what the person’s plans are. Ask what steps he/she is taking to reach the stated objectives and ask what reaching the objectives will accomplish?

If you’re in search of a mentor, don’t overload your prospective mentor with information. Take your time, evaluate how you think a mentor can help, and explain what you hope to accomplish by building the relationship.

If this doesn’t sound like an easy task, don’t worry you’re not alone! PeopleAhead has been working hard, making it easier for mentors to help mentees, and helping mentees get the most from their mentors. Career advancement can be productive and continuous, so get your two way mentor-mentee relationship rolling!