Mentoring programmes are everywhere in the modern world. No matter what your business or personal goals, a coach is ready to help you. Finding the perfect one to help you personally can be difficult in a world with these programmes around every turn.
In this article, we will explore how you can choose the correct mentoring programme for you and how you can quickly detect the right and wrong programmes to look at.
Establishing your goals
While mentor programmes are everywhere you look, they only serve a purpose if they can truly help you with your goals as an individual. However, what is the point of looking for a programme that will help you achieve your goals if you don’t even know what they are yourself!
Establishing your end goals and desired outcomes of the mentoring process is crucial to the programme’s success. Without a clear end goal, you will be aimlessly moving through your mentorship, not knowing where you’re heading or what you’re achieving. Establish clear and defined goals that are measurable and achievable for both you and your mentor.
It is vital to also have a mutual understanding with your mentor that these goals are achievable. You must establish that your chosen mentor is the right person to get you there. Mentorship is all about teamwork. If your mentor’s coaching style doesn’t mix well with your goals, they aren’t the right person for you.
If you’re struggling to establish your goals, I have some advice that may help you carve out your path to success. Make sure that your goals are always:
By doing this, you will be able to establish mini goals to measure your progress along the way and truly understand the benefits of each part of the mentoring process.
Seniority isn’t everything
It can be easy to find the mentor with the most experience and think that is the perfect route for you to go down. This thought process honestly couldn’t be further from the truth. When looking for a good mentor and business coach to help you push to that next level and eventually to reach your goals, you need to let go of experience as the number one factor you look for and instead look for coaching style and previous clients of the mentor.
Choosing experience over coaching style is a mistake many people make, and understandably so! It is easy to be blinded by 20-30 years of experience and success along the way. If your mentor’s coaching style and their programme don’t fit with how you take information on board – then you’re not going to get anywhere. A coaching style is a factor that can take you from taking the odd piece of information onboard to completely transforming the way you run your business for the better.
Pick programmes based on goals
You’ve got your goals, but if you pick the first programme that comes along instead of looking for a mentor that understands and can work toward your goals, you’ve done it for nothing. To get the most from a mentoring programme, find a coach that has helped people in a similar position and with similar goals to yourself. By finding someone that is a good fit with your end goals, you will see clear development and more defined achievements in your mentorship.
It can be difficult to find someone that fits in well with your goals, but it can also be so much more rewarding than if you go with the first mentoring programme you see. A clear goal that is achievable for you and your business coach is crucial to the success of the programme you’re on. Choosing the right mentor with the right experience and success stories will put you in a much stronger position to achieve your goals.
Mentoring isn’t an instant fix
Mentoring isn’t the type of programme that you give a week, and instantly you’re where you want to be. If you’re looking for a quick and easy fix to reach your goals, you’re not going to find it (especially with mentoring programmes). For mentoring to work as it should, you need to allow time for the process to take place and engage with it. You need to actively work on achieving your goals and plan to do this over time.
Never take a mentoring course from someone promising you the world in just a couple of weeks (plenty of people will). If you do this, you will be wasting your hard-earned money. More importantly, you’ll be wasting your valuable time that you could be using to join a mentoring programme that works.
If you want to see a sustained change in both you and your business, you firstly need to accept that the process will not be completed overnight. The mentors that tell you it is a long process are the honest ones that truly know what they are doing. With me, you will work out exactly what you want from the programme and carve a path to success over time.
How can I help you?
Are you looking for a mentor to help you and your business reach the next level? Let’s talk! I have mentored hundreds of people across my programmes and have helped them achieve their goals over time. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about my coaching. Take the first step towards achieving your business and personal goals today!
Download my Free Business Coaching PDF to find out more about my coaching programmes and how I can help you.
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