Why should I be a mentor?
This is a question you could be asking yourself now.
There are many reasons why someone becomes a mentor. The reasons could be many, personal, social, religious or financial.
Financial
World Wide organisations spend a staggering $ 50 billion on leadership development, primarily on coaching and mentoring. 84% of Fortune 500 companies and 100% of Fortune 50 companies have an active mentoring program. So yes, mentoring programs, as proven by data, produce higher quality workers, managers and leaders.
One-to-one mentoring sessions can cost anything between £60 an an hour, with some top-level mentors charging up to $10,000 an hour. One-to-one sessions have also proven successful, with political and corporate leaders, athletes, mental health and academic mentors. Many mentors do chose to monitise their mentoring service, but this requires significant commitment and experience.
But mentors have much more to gain than financial and positional satisfaction.
(Muslim Mentoring Network) do not expect to receive or give financial benefits to our volunteers. Although, many organisations and individuals have monetised this service, we at MNN would like to keep this service free and accessible to all)
So what other motives other than financial, could there be for you to become a mentor?
This could be of two-fold; (a) mentoring can be carried out for personal developmental gains or (b) to fulfil your Social goals or (c) to fulfill religious/Islamic duties.
Personal Developmental Goals
Let us look at the personal developmental goals. Listed below are 10 reasons, from a personal developmental perspective, why you would want to become a mentor.
1. Become a better leader
Learning how to work with people to whom you don’t have a natural connection, demonstrating patience with those in need of guidance and support, and helping people figure out the best path forward: are all trademarks of a great leader AND skills honed through mentoring. The more you work at leadership on a one-to-one basis, the more you’ll improve in larger group settings.
2. Learn more about your or your mentee's company or profession
What do you actually know about the challenges, purpose and daily workload of other teams? Mentoring is a great way to broaden your view and gain insight into what goes on in other areas. This will equip you to make a sounder, more holistic decision maker.
3. Achieve personal career gains
Just in case you’re thinking that all this talk of leadership and learning is a soft sell, let’s dish up some hard facts. Between 2010 and 2015 Sun Microsystems studied the career progress of over 1,000 employees. People who had acted as mentors were SIX TIMES more likely to be promoted than those who didn’t, and 20% more likely to get a raise.
4. Shape the leaders of tomorrow
Most of us long for a legacy, some stake in the future that says, “I was here.” What better legacy than to be a part of shaping tomorrow’s leaders?
5. Gain new perspectives and fresh ideas
Mentoring is a unique opportunity to step outside your normal circle of friends and social media’s echo chamber to gain an intimate understanding of how the world looks through someone else’s eyes. New perspectives lead to fresh ideas, and who knows where fresh ideas could lead you?
6. Put your finger on the pulse of a younger generation
Usually (although not always) mentors end up working with younger mentees, sometimes much younger. Different generations think and act differently. To be an effective leader, you need to understand how younger generations see things and where they can make a difference to the organisation. The closeness of a mentoring relationship offers a unique insight into these generational differences.
7. Change someone’s world
Do you remember a teacher, a coach or a former boss who said or did something that changed the trajectory of your life? This is your chance to do that for someone else. Not every mentoring partnership is life-changing but we see enough of it to know that every mentor has the potential to instigate surprising change.
8. Exercise emotional intelligence
Working one-on-one with a mentee requires you to sharpen your emotional radar. You will be called upon to gauge the emotional state of the other person and respond with empathy. Not only is emotional intelligence a key differentiator for career advancement, but it can also improve your social relationships.
9. Strengthen the lessons you’ve already learned
There is no better way to embed knowledge than through teaching. You’ve learned the hard way how to hire the right person, raise prices or negotiate a tough contract. By passing this knowledge on to a novice, you clarify and embed those lessons within yourself.
10. Improve productivity
Sharing your insights, learning and networks with younger colleagues helps to grease the organisational wheel. Stepping up the pace and increasing productivity helps everyone within the organisation – including you.
11. Feel good about yourself
Tell yourself all you want that you’re doing it for your resume, but we guarantee you that once you become a mentor the “feel good” factor will take hold. There is little more rewarding than knowing you are making a difference in someone else’s life.
Impacting Social Change
Now let's look at the social drivers for becoming a mentor. Mentoring can be used to bring about positive social change directly or indirectly.
1. Driving Social Change
As a mentor, you could be driving social change, directly or indirectly. Directly through inspiring more youths to be more engaged in the society. Increasing youth enthusiasm for positive change in their daily life and in the life of others. Indirectly inspiring social change through supporting andvising your mentees who are engaged in social change projects.
2. Improve your social position as a Social Change Leader
Being involved in supporting youth and inspiring positive change can make you stand out in your community or in the society. This is likely to improve your networking capacity and influencing power in your community.
3. Support for you social project
Having improved your social stance, your ideas and vision for social change are likely to get more social acceptance and ground. You are more likely to attract more youth and energetic volunteers, who like yourself would want to drive change.
4. Promotion of your project
You are more likely to attract support and funding for your own projects. With better and wider exposure, you are likely to attract the interest of those who are in the wider mentoring network, and thus making it easier to give your project greater exposure and attract private and public fundings.
Islamic/Religious Reasons
Above all, as Muslims, regardless of financial, personal or social goals, we do everything for no other reasons, than to please our master, our creator Allah (SWT).
1. Be a Guardian to your fellow Muslim
Allah SWT says in the Quran:
The believers, both men and women, are guardians of one another. They encourage good and forbid evil, establish prayer and pay alms-tax, and obey Allah and His Messenger. It is they who will be shown Allah’s mercy. Surely Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. Quran 9:71
Here, Allah SWT emphasises the importance of being guardians for one another. He also indicates that a guardian is the one who doesn't only establishes prayer or pays zakat but also encourages good and forbids evil. Allah attaches his mercy, power and wisdom to this ayat to highlight not only his magnificence but also refers to the quality of a guardian as being merciful and wise. We understand from mentoring that these qualities are important in becoming a good mentor.
2. Encouraging good and discouraging wrong
In other verses of the Quran, Allah SWT says,
“Help one another in acts of piety and righteousness. And do not assist each other in acts of sinfulness and transgression. And be aware of Allah. Verily, Allah is severe in punishment” (Quran 5:2).
Here Allah SWT tells us to support one another in good acts, also warns us not to assist one another in doing wrong.
On the authority of Abu Sa`eed al-Khudree (may Allah be pleased with him) who said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say, “Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith.” [Muslim]
One can argue that not assisting in good and letting wrong happen could also means تعاون , this is to aid or co-operate indirectly (may Allah forgive us). The hadith above sets out minimum requirements from a Muslim when he or she sees a wrong-doing is being committed. Within Sahih Hadiths there are other numerous transmission on the duty of a Muslim to aid his fellow Muslim in good and discouraging him from wrong and the rewards for those who act on it.
3. Relieving Distress in the Muslim Ummah
Mentoring is not just about inspiring but its also about supporting your mentor during distress. Your mentee could be going to stressful time related to work, education on financial issues. As a mentor you will be helping them navigate through these difficulties and help them plan ahead. The other element of mentoring will be to conceal, conceal what is revealed during these mentoring sessions. If you conseal other faults, Allah SWT promises to conceal your faults not only on the Earth but also on the Day of Judgement.
Muhammad (PBUH) said:
“Whoever relieves a believer’s distress of the distressful aspects of this world, Allah will rescue him from a difficulty of the difficulties of the Hereafter. Whoever alleviates [the situation of] one in dire straits who cannot repay his debt, Allah will alleviate his lot in both this world and in the Hereafter. Whoever conceals [the faults of] a Muslim, Allah will conceal [his faults] in this life and the Hereafter. (Muslim)
In another hadith Allah SWT promises to ‘relieves him from one of the plights of distress of The Day of Resurrection’ (Bukhari 631) if he removes distress from his fellow Muslim.
4. A reward like none other
Allah SWT promises a reward, nothing like it, for those who deals with others in kind and gentleness.
Above all, mentoring is about dealing with your mentee with gentleness; gentleness in conversation, in responding to their query and when when advising them to act. There is a great reward for you in dealing with someone gently or with kindness. Aisha (RA), the best mentee of Prophet PBUH, mentions that Prophet PBUH said to her:
“O Aisha, Allah is gentle and He loves gentleness. He rewards for gentleness what is not granted for harshness and He does not reward anything else like it.” (Muslim).
As highlighted above as a muslim you will be able to influence positive change both directly and indirectly and fulfill our duty as a Muslim.
The islamic reasons are not limited to the above four cited reasons, there are many other hadith that supports actions that will better the life of you fellow Muslim.
Sahih Bukhari: 151, 899, 631, 740
Imam Nawawi's 40 hadith.: 31,
Sunan Ibn Majah: 243, 2246
So, becoming a mentor have many benefits that may not be so visible on the surface, but the rewards can be personal, social or religious. Whatever is your reason for becoming a mentor, there is no doubt mentoring can bring you many benefits and rewards.
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