Bata: A few things you need to know about mentoring

Did you know that having a mentor can boost your career*? This goes for employees joining a company as much as for established executives, looking to grow professionally. Having a helpful confidant at defining moments can make a big difference**. But how do you get a mentor? How do you know if that person is right for your development?

Skills, experiences and chemistry are all important

Having a good fit – in terms of personality and development goals – between mentor and mentee is key. It’s important that the mentor has the right set of skills to help with their development challenges, but most importantly, there must be a good personal chemistry between the two.

We help mentees find the right match through a centralized pool of mentor profiles which we can match with each mentee’s development needs. We do an initial pre-selection and present the mentee with several options he/she can choose from. By tapping into a global pool of mentors, we can find the best match from any location in our geography.

If it’s not working, look again

All mentors complete a detailed profile, listing the topics they can best help people with. We then match that with the actual needs of the employee, supporting them both through the process. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee good ‘chemistry’. That is why we leave the final choice up to the mentee. And we always say that if a relationship doesn’t work out, we can do a rematch.

Go for it – own your own professional development

Mentoring schemes work best when mentees are clear on their learning objectives and fully invest themselves in the process. I always encourage mentor and mentee to be clear on what they expect from the experience. What are your goals, how committed are you? For this partnership to work, you have to be self-motivated to work on your development – you need to devote time and effort to it.

Mentoring is a journey – use it throughout your career

At Coca‑Cola HBC, we see mentoring as a journey. From the moment you join a new company, to when you take a new role, work on a new project, or begin to build your leadership and management skills, we see mentoring as an in important way to address different occasions and needs as your career develops. Wherever the road takes you, we hope that mentoring will help you enjoy your experience to the full and be the best you can possibly be.

*https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2011/10/31/how-becoming-a-mentor-can-boost-your-career/#2e95c3d35f57

**https://www.oxfordleadership.com/mentoring/