Mentoring
Mentoring and sponsorship are both critical to advancing to one’s career. It serves as a vital component to develop confidence in your career success.
The executive women in my study spoke about having had several mentors and of serving as mentors themselves. They had the opportunity to speak three or four times a year to discuss work-related issues. For them seeking support outside the workplace was also common while some personally pay for support and guidance. Those with mentor found that trust had became an essential part of their professional relationship as well as the importance of respect to the quality of the relationship.
Avenues of gaining mentoring relationships:
Partners - gaining both support and guidance
Workplace superiors
Specialised expert
Mentoring was also found to be bidirectional, not only did both the mentor and mentee derive benefits from the relationship, but they tend to both receive mentoring and mentor others.