A new business is a delicate and precious thing. When we dedicate ourselves to a project or venture, we can sometimes be too eager to look after every little detail ourselves, not seeking help or ceding any control. Some of the qualities that can help make an entrepreneur successful – self-reliance, independence, confidence – can also actually hinder us on the journey from idea to reality. Whether it’s from a determination to achieve things on your own, or a fear of being seen as weak if you reach out, many people find it hard to ask for help. That’s why it’s so important to bear in mind the very real value of creating and maintaining mentor relationships.
Mentoring is one of the most valuable practices at our disposal at every career stage, and can be particularly crucial in the early days, when pathways to our goals are unclear and we have not yet built the network we need to thrive in. Mentoring comes in all sorts of forms, from specially designed schemes with set projected outcomes to professional acquaintances that become, over time, truly meaningful and career-defining relationships.
The material benefits of mentoring for a business are well established. According to a UPS study from 2014, 70% of the small businesses surveyed that received mentoring survived more than five years – double the survival rate of the non-mentored businesses. A Sheffield Hallam University study showed that businesses with a mentoring programme reduced staff turnover by 20%.
“I sometimes talk about [mentoring] as being given a new pair of glasses to see the world through,” says Amanda Cookson, co-founder of Northern Value Creators. “A person might have the perfect idea at the perfect time, have read all the right books, have all the plans in place, but they just can’t view it with the right perspective to get it up and running. Mentors and coaches can offer you that,” she says.
She talks about a client of hers who had a great idea for a business. “She was all set, but I realised she was stuck in the mindset of ‘until’ – I can’t get started ‘until’; I shouldn’t take on a client ‘until’. When we realised that, we were able to work through those delays together, and it was like a light going on – she went from having no clients to 10.”
There are other kinds of mentoring too. Linnea Dunne, a writer and editor living in Dublin, is in a peer-mentoring group with four other women working in different fields – one project manager, one finance lawyer, one PhD student, and one web-based entrepreneur.
“I think, in many ways, what we wanted wasn’t so much guidance and for someone to point us in a direction; it was more a case of needing hand-holding, support and cheering on – and definitely accountability: telling a group of people that by our next meeting, I will have accomplished X, Y and Z, for instance,” says Dunne.
“There’s also an important element of that solidarity among women and mothers – four out of five of the group are mothers. It’s priceless to have people who know what you’re talking about when that feeling of not being enough strikes – people who will make you feel like you’re not alone, who won’t judge you for prioritising family over an important project, but who will also always be on your side when you know you need to put your project first and just be you for a bit. That sisterhood is just priceless.”
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