Why be a mentor? Here’s 10 good reasons…

I've been a mentor in various guises for almost a decade now, and trained to be a fundraising mentor with the Institute of Fundraising London Region’s mentoring programme last year. Here are 10 reasons why it’s a brilliant thing to do: 1. It teaches you to take a step back from your own workload Gone are the days when it’s easy to ‘clock off’ from your workload when you leave the office. We can all get emails or take calls on our phone. And while that can be very useful, it can have an effect mentally too. Take a step back and mentor! You’ll have to turn your phone off and devote yourself to something and someone else. It makes a refreshing change. 2. You will learn how to listen actively I’ve found that I’ve had to learn to listen differently as a mentor, and it’s a very important skill to develop. In most conversations, we often devote at least part of our brains to thinking about what we’ll say next. We often reply along the lines of “That reminds me of the time when this happened to me…” don’t we? Well, mentoring has taught me to focus 100% on listening. It’s taught me the value of not mirroring conversationally in that way, but instead to think solely about the key issues that the mentee is bringing up and the best ways to respond to them. 3. You will keep your networks live It’s always good to meet people in the sector. Through both my mentoring training and mentoring itself, I’ve met a wide range of people to whom I�