To always receive valuable advice and learn from experience, they resort to looking for a mentor. But immediately after the idea arises, questions arise: do I need it? And if so, where to look? Let's look at all the issues in more detail.
What is a mentor?
The definition comes from ancient Greek mythology. The mentor was a friend of Odysseus, looked after his house and economy, and raised the son of Telemachus. Many years later, the word became a household word, the meaning of "mentor, educator, mature wisdom" began to be laid in it.
He is often confused with a “mentor”. Yes, they are similar and have the same goals - to teach and share experiences. But if we consider working methods, the difference is large.
The task of the mentor is to teach how to do something. If you get a job as a product for a large company, they give you a mentor with a more experienced specialist who shows you how, for example, to organize the work of a team, and asks you to do the same. That is, he teaches to walk on the beaten track.
The mentor has a different approach - to share his own experience. For example, he tells what methods and tools he used to competently organize the team's work, allowing for maximum efficiency. Based on this, he expects you to come up with your own way to achieve the goal. In the process of training, he shows, gives answers to questions, but never interferes with work.
Never confuse a mentor with the following specialists:
- The teacher . Teaches what and how to do using a pedagogical approach. Its task is to give the maximum possible theoretical knowledge about certain processes.
- Coach . Tells about a certain technology for performing an action and helps to consolidate its use in practice.
- . -.
- . , .
- . .
?
Mentoring began to gain popularity with the rise of startups. After all, what is a startup in essence? He is an entrepreneurial person with an idea and (in most cases) no business experience or special education. He knows what, but he has no idea how.
To fill the knowledge gap in business organization, startups hire mentors. By the way, back in 2014, The Village conducted an interesting study : they analyzed the main reasons for the closure of young companies and came to the conclusion that only one is related to product errors. Everything else is lack of certain knowledge of the founder and the team.
Mentoring applies not only to startups, but also to other specialties, including product managers. Although if we draw parallels, then both directions are very similar. After all, what does a product manager do? Organizes a team to implement a new product, just like a startup.
A product manager is chosen as a mentor, who has many successful projects and a huge number of mistakes behind his back. He will carefully monitor the ward, answer his questions and share experiences, and, if necessary, give valuable advice. This minimizes the number of errors at the stage of implementation of the first products and allows you to quickly achieve the set results.
Do I need a mentor if I have been working as a product for 3 years?
There is a stereotype that only beginners need a mentor. This is only partly a delusion. For example, your company has always been engaged in the development of marketing products, then after 5 years you are well versed in this area and a mentor is not needed.
But if the management decided to change the vector of development and work in the field of accounting, a mentor will be needed, even if you have been a product manager for 20 years. Moreover, the mentor may have less experience working as a product (for example, 7-10 years), but all this time he worked with accounting products. Therefore, believe me, he will be able to give a lot of valuable knowledge and help implement the first products in a new area.
In addition, it will speed up some procedures. For example, you need an experienced accountant to plan functionality. And the contact of a specialist can be given by a person who has been creating products in this area for 10 years. You will not spend a lot of time looking for an expert and then checking his professionalism.
Often times, products are faced with difficulties, because of which the mood spoils and the desire to work further disappears. An experienced mentor in this situation will act as a support: support in a difficult situation, help calm down and return to work.
How much does a mentor cost?
Another key difference between a mentor and a mentor is free assistance. Mentors take money for services, a mentor is a story about sharing experiences. After all, while studying the ward, he also gains new knowledge, reveals new competencies in himself.
For example, you are both experienced product developers, but have always worked in different areas. You can share knowledge of your fields with each other. An excellent option for mutually beneficial cooperation.
The student decides how to thank the teacher. Someone, after achieving success, pays with money, someone gives a share in the product, and someone in return shares their knowledge and experience.
Where to find a mentor?
Finding a mentor is not such an easy task as it might seem at first glance. If you are just starting to work as a product in order to find an experienced specialist for advice, you need to interest him. In this regard, it is difficult to give specific advice, because each person is individual. Get to know your colleague better and then you will understand how you can interest him.
And here are a few places to narrow your search to:
- Business accelerators . Good projects always attract attention. Use the accelerator as a springboard: prepare a presentation and show it immediately to hundreds of potential mentors. At least one in a hundred will be interesting for sure.
- . - . , , .. .
- . - (, www.my-mentor.ru), . , .
- . , . , ProductStar , .
- . , , -. — Facebook LinkedIn .
. , - , , . : , , . , , , , , , . , - ,
Product Manager, SplitMetrics
Sometimes there are specialists among our friends and acquaintances who are ready to share their experience and secrets. Take a short pause and carefully look around. Perhaps there is someone in the environment for whom you are looking so hard.
Before making your final choice, look at the traits of a good mentor:
- treats the ward with respect and perceives as an equal;
- always listens and tries not to impose his own opinion;
- helps organize joint activities;
- openly talks about both victories and defeats;
- aimed at development, obtaining new knowledge and experience from the mentor.
Pay special attention to the penultimate point. If a person talks only about victories, most likely he is just a braggart. An important role in learning is played by the analysis of other people's failures and mistakes. This is often even more useful than hearing about someone else's experience of victory.
A mentor is not a mentor or teacher, but a person who conveys the experience of his victories and defeats. He will not tell you how to act correctly in this or that situation, he will only share his experience and leave the decision up to you. Startups, product managers, designers, programmers and other specialists need such a person to become in the profession and achieve their goals.