This month is National Mentoring Month. This is a fantastic opportunity to research how you can provide guidance and pay it forward to the future of the financial industry. Mentors can help a mentee understand strategy, communication, and time management, but also how to build trust, confidence, and loyalty with clients. A mentorship offers benefits for the mentee, but also the mentor; both learning from one another.
Join a Mentorship Program
There are multiple financial mentorship programs that are offered either locally, depending on your area, or nationally through various websites and organizations. Mentoring in the financial industry is not a new concept and already structurally implemented. This mentorship option can work both ways too. You can sign up to be a mentor or a mentee.
Start an Internship Program at your Office
This is a situation where you will be the mentor and offer your guidance to individuals new to the field. You can work with local high schools, colleges, or universities to provide an internship to young professionals studying the world of finance. Contact your local education systems and see what programs are available in your area or the actions needed to start one. Nurturing the local community, especially the youth, will add credibility and trust to your practice. You may gain a new teammate from the experience too.
Informal Mentorship
The informal mentorship can fall into various categories of mentorship. You could be the mentee to someone who has a history in the financial business. A prior manager of yours or a family member are examples. It could even be general business guidance from a friend that started their own business.
On the other hand, you could be a mentor that offers mentorship to teammates in your office. Another local financial professional that is just starting out could benefit too. Either way, an informal mentorship should not be tightly structured or scheduled to remove the intimidating decision of committing to a mentorship. It’s as simple as grabbing coffee, a quick phone call, or devoting a lunch break for a meet up.
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