Why everyone needs a mentor

“I met my mentor at a sector workshop during my final year at the university. I didn’t know he would be my mentor at the time, but after he shared his career journey, what he had achieved, how he had manoeuvered in his career journey over the years - I knew I had a lot to learn from him,” Daniel Mitiibwa, a civil engineer says.
He took initiative to personally have a one-on-one conversation with his potential mentor where they further shared what Mitiibwa wanted to do with his career.
“Our professional is very practical but then opportunities are hard to come by and that was one of my biggest concerns. But I also had a lot I didn’t know in practice,” he says, adding: “After our conversation, I realised I needed to be taken under someone’s wings so I asked this new person I had found to work closely with in my career. He then invited me to visit his company - Mubiru civil engineers shorty after I finished university and then serious mentorship started,” he shares.
Mitiibwa notes however that it takes both courage and persistence to follow one’s guidance and let them critic, correct, challenge, encourage and inspire you.
For everyone of us, there will be need for someone to hold out our hand and guide us at some point in our career journey. It might simply be a colleague giving advice on how to go about things, a career coach you pay to guide you through some decisions in your career or just that person who has offered their time and knowledge to be by our side through your career journey. We all need mentorship.
Even as students, mentorship is needed to establish a strong foundation on which careers are built.
At Kyambogo University for example, the office of the Dean of Students initiated a student mentorship initiative where continuing students mentor fresh students throughout their first year of university to help them settle in their new university environment but also to track their academic progress.
Jean Nuwagaba, a senior counsellor and chairperson of the mentorship programme committee, Kyambogo University notes that: “The purpose of mentorship is to empower students to overcome environmental and psychological challenges they may find in a new place. Again, they get encouragement to set goals and move towards them under the guidance of a more supportive mentor – a fellow student,” she says.
In his article on mentorship in The Guardian, Peter McLuskie, a project manager at the Institute of Creative Enterprise says: “As a professional development tool, mentoring is an effective means of moving people on and supporting them in their career aspirations. Mentoring, however, is not a magic wand; it is not a simple steps-to-success programme. The process needs careful management to ensure everyone involved gets the most out of the opportunity.”
In whatever form it might take, mentorship is an important part as we climb through the ladders.
On highlighting the importance of mentorship, Janet Mulindwa, a career guidance counselor explains that at every level in our careers, one needs a mentor.

Encouragement
“A young professional for example, needs a mentor in their day to day work, to guide them and encourage them. To show them their mistakes, identify their strengths and passions. This therefore means a mentor is someone they work closely with and are able to open up to. They need to see them as someone who is not here to frustrate their endeavours but work closely with them and help them grow,” she says.
Unfortunately, not a lot of people are interested or even aware of the importance of mentorship, Mulindwa says. “For a long time, I have worked with young professionals, but even when you try to give them a little guidance, they either fear you or they are not willing to take more than a little correction I can give as a supervisor. But I also understand their position, because many have been threatened that the world of work is competitive and that no one wishes you to succeed, so ‘don’t be too trusting’,” she notes.

Guidance
Further still, Mulindwa says mentorship is still needed even as we move on to greater heights in our careers. “When you are making that life changing career decision, one needs a mentor, especially with particular experience in that field, one you can trust to guide you in your next career move,” she says.
Mulindwa adds that the bottom line of mentorship is, ‘don’t do it alone’. This helps one avoid the mistakes they would have made if they did it alone. It helps give perspective onto things.

What mentors bring
Franklin Mugisha, a mentor at Inspire Uganda, shares that true mentors come with richness and skills that can help their mentees better people than they are themselves.
“A true mentor is not scared of making you a better person than they are themselves. They are willing to share their experiences of their career journey, share things they would have done better and encourage you to do them, they are willing to share mistakes and pit holes in the way that they wouldn’t want you to fall into, but again, a mentor will share their strengths, contacts, wisdom and expertise with you and not get intimidated by your success but rather, that is their joy,” he says.

Sticking to the plan
Furthermore, a mentor helps their mentee to stick to the plan and aim for the goal.
“What I have found to be true is that we all despair on this long career journey. Sometimes we even consider giving up on those dream for one reason or another and at times, we are just demotivated. In such times, a mentor is the person who will challenge you to stop the laziness and move on. They will challenge you to aim for the goal and remind you that this is not the road we decided to take and thus prompt you to progress,” Mugisha says.
It is for such reasons that he insists that everyone needs a mentor in their career journey. He, however, notes that not a lot of people want to mentor others.