Organizations are beginning to recognize the pivotal role that business mentors can play in their overall success. By investing in business mentorship programs and offering business mentoring, organizations from across all industries can improve their employee retention rates, enhance their succession planning and increase their overall operational efficiency.

If you are planning to enroll in business school, and are considering Keiser University, you may find that now is the perfect opportunity to make that critical connection with a mentor. There are many ways that you can find a business coach or mentor while you are in graduate school, and you can continue to leverage that relationship for years after graduating.

What Does a Business Mentor Do?

A business mentor is defined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a successful and experienced professional who works to provide a developing professional with help and guidance as they grow their careers. A business mentor will not necessarily provide strategic advice about a short-term project, but rather, they will offer broad insight that will help you make decisions throughout your career.

Role of Business Mentor

According to LinkedIn, the role of a business mentor will vary based on the mentor-mentee relationship. In some cases, the industry you are in, or the stage of your career, may impact the overall role of your business mentor. However, these are some of the most common roles of business mentors across all sectors:

Sharing knowledge and experience with professionals working on growing their careers.

  • Offering guidance to professionals looking to advance.
  • Encouraging professionals as they work through challenges.
  • Helping professionals build their networks within their industry.

Typical Responsibilities and Activities

Business mentors are typically volunteers willing to guide up-and-coming professionals in a strategic and nurturing way. The responsibilities and activities of an individual business mentor may vary, but they could include:

  • Regular check-ins and conversations about growth and development.
  • Reviewing proposals or projects to offer constructive feedback.
  • Attending networking events to help a young professional become more comfortable in this type of environment.

Why Are Mentors Important in Business?

On the surface, business mentors may seem to be most beneficial to the mentee, but these powerful relationships can play a critical role in business growth and development.

Benefits of Mentorship for Business Students

These are some of the most notable benefits associated with business mentorship:

  • Mentors can provide up-and-coming professionals with personalized knowledge and insight that would be difficult to find elsewhere. They can share their own first-hand experiences with their mentees.
  • Mentors can provide valuable assistance in setting both short-term and long-term goals.
  • Mentors are available to listen when a professional is struggling with a challenge in the workplace. They can often provide an objective perspective.
  • Mentors can offer more insight into the guidelines and parameters of the business world, allowing mentees to become more familiar with the cultural norms within any workplace or industry.

Impact on Professional and Personal Growth

Young professionals who seek and build mentorship relationships in business school will find that they can grow their careers more organically, as mentors can provide them with the strategic guidance that others cannot. Most mentees will attest to the fact that they have benefited both personally and professionally from business mentorship.

How Can a Business Mentor Help You?

If you are thinking about applying to business school, now may be the best time to begin looking for a business mentor. Your business mentor can help you in a variety of ways, such as:

Career Planning and Development

Generally speaking, you are going to partner with a business mentor who specializes in the industry or sector you are most interested in. As a result, your mentor can provide you with personalized career planning advice, helping you to better understand the steps you need to take to grow your career in your industry.

Networking Opportunities

Business mentors are professionals with significant industry experience, and they can open up their own professional network to you. Your mentor will likely be able to connect you with opportunities that you would not otherwise have had access to.

Skill Enhancement and Knowledge Transfer

A business coach can help you identify the skills that you need to build upon, while simultaneously sharing their own knowledge and experiences with you. This knowledge transfer allows you to better understand your mentor’s experiences so that you can leverage their insight into your own personal and professional growth.

Emotional Support and Motivation

The fact of the matter is, working in any business field can be emotionally challenging and stressful at times. Your business mentor can provide you with the support and motivation that you need to work through the complex challenges of today’s business landscape, allowing you to emerge as a better, more seasoned professional.

How to Find a Business Mentor

If you are interested in forming a business mentorship with an established professional, you need to know where to look. You can find a business mentor through a variety of avenues, such as:

Networking Events and Professional Organizations

Networking events are live business events designed to provide professionals with a casual and relaxed opportunity to mix and mingle. Networking events and professional organization meetings are the perfect places to begin introducing yourself and meeting experienced professionals.

Online Platforms and Social Media

In addition to in-person networking events, you also may be able to utilize online platforms and social media to make connections with potential mentors from outside your local area. LinkedIn and Facebook, as well as other similar social networking sites geared specifically toward professionals, are some of the best places to start.

Tips for Identifying Potential Mentors

As you begin expanding your professional network, you can identify potential mentors by:

  • Evaluating their relevant industry experience.
  • Charting their career path and determining if they pursued a similar course.
  • Understanding their specialization or expertise within your chosen industry.
  • Discussing their availability and aligning your expectations with theirs.

How to Ask Someone to Be Your Business Mentor

Identifying a potential mentor is only the first step. Next, you have to work up the courage to ask them if they would be willing to be your business mentor for the foreseeable future.

You can ask someone to be your business mentor by:

Crafting a Compelling Ask

Be thoughtful about your approach and consider what you would want to hear if someone was asking you to provide them with guidance and support. You should identify your goals for mentorship and your expectations for the relationship, as well as the reason you feel they are the best person to serve as your mentor.

Approaching Potential Mentors Professionally

Keep professionalism at the forefront of your relationship. You may want to set up an introductory interview, allowing both you and the prospective mentor to get to know each other better. To have an effective interview, you will want to:

  • Prepare thoughtful and detailed questions in advance.
  • Craft an interview that respects the mentor’s time and commitments.
  • Ask the mentor how you could help them and discover ways for this relationship to be mutually beneficial.

Setting Clear Expectations and Goals

When forming a new mentor-mentee relationship, it is vital to establish clear expectations and outline realistic goals. Both parties need to be aware of what this commitment will look like, and what is expected on both sides. Being open and honest about this from the start will help the mentorship move forward as smoothly as possible.

Tips for Building a Strong Mentor-Mentee Relationship

Once you have found the right mentor and asked them to help you on your career journey, you can build a strong relationship by:

  • Communicating regularly.
  • Scheduling check-ins at specific intervals.
  • Evaluating the relationship and its progress over time.

Nurturing the Mentor-Mentee Relationship

Establishing your mentor-mentee relationship is exciting, particularly because you know that this type of business relationship can be incredibly beneficial over the course of your career. That said, to genuinely enjoy the full range of benefits, you will need to nurture the relationship. You can do this by:

Regular Communication and Feedback

Communication is the key to success in any mentor-mentee relationship, and it is a two-way street. Most up-and-coming professionals expect their mentors to check in on them regularly, but as the mentee, you also should be willing to reach out to your mentor and update them without being asked. Coming to your mentor about any challenges or experiences that you are having in the workplace will provide you with more opportunities for feedback and growth.

Setting and Achieving Goals Together

You should collaborate with your mentor when evaluating your goals. When you set goals together, you and your mentor can discuss your current career trajectory and the type of skills that you need to develop to reach the next level in your career. By relying on their vast professional experience, your mentor can help you identify the next best steps to take in your career so that you can ultimately reach your long-term goals.

Maintaining Professionalism and Respect

You and your mentor may not always agree on everything, and that is okay. However, you both need to maintain a sense of professionalism and mutual respect throughout the relationship in order for it to be truly impactful.

Long-Term Benefits of a Strong Mentorship Relationship

By nurturing a business mentorship for many years, you will enjoy the following long-term benefits:

  • Sustained career growth and development.
  • Ability to achieve both short-term and long-term goals.
  • Ability to grow and develop on a personal level.

Explore the Role of Business Mentoring at Keiser University Graduate School

At Keiser University Graduate School, we provide business professionals from across all industries and sectors with the opportunity to invest in professional growth and career development programs. Our graduate school offers more than 15 business programs, ranging from graduate degrees to certificate programs, all of which will help you better understand the critical role of business mentorship in today’s dynamic world. From our DBA degree to our MBA in technology management, we offer a wide range of specialized programs designed to enhance your career. Our DBA and MBA graduate degrees offer concentrations in Marketing, Management and Business Administration. We even have programs available in Spanish and Mandarin.

Request more information about our business graduate degree programs and apply today.