The Truth About Getting An HR Mentor

It’s clear that HR professionals that have mentors have an edge over those that don’t. They perform better on the job. They get promoted more quickly. They earn higher salaries. And they report more job and career satisfaction. It’s an undisputable fact. So acquiring a mentor should be one of your highest career development priorities.

However, let me tell you something you might find strange. Personally, in my 20-year HR career, beginning as industrial relations trainee and advancing to Vice President –HR for a Fortune 50 company….I’ve never, ever asked anyone to be my mentor. Now don’t get me wrong. I’ve been honored to have had a number of great HR mentors in my career. And I wouldn’t have been able to move my career forward without their valuable career advice, counsel and friendship. However, I’ve never asked anyone to be my mentor.

Asking someone to mentor me always felt awkward and uncomfortable, so early in my career a retiring senior executive gave me some advice about mentors that I’ve always tried to follow (though not always perfectly) but have never forgotten. Here it is..

1) Know where you want to go. Before you can be mentored, you must know what success for you looks like, so you’ll recognize it when you get there. For example: Do you want to ultimately head up HR for your company? Your division? Or your department? Do you want to be a HR generalist or specialist? What sacrifices are you willing to make for your career? Be specific. Nail this down. Realize that few busy people want to waste time or put in the effort to help you figure out what you want to do or be when you grow up. Most don’t mind sharing with you advice on how to get there. But determining where you want to go is your responsibility.

2) Identify the people who can help you get there. When identifying people who can help you get where you want to go, select people who by nature are either givers or at the least reciprocators. You can recognize them by how they behave – do they give others credit, are they glass half full people, do they energize those around them (or do they sap energy). If so, these are the people you want to target as mentors.

3) Get with those people and help them succeed. The most important part of this is…”help them succeed.” This is where most people mess up. Instead of looking for what you can get, think about what you can give. Figure out what you can do for them that will help them be much more successful in their own career, personal lives, or in the legacy they want to leave with the organization. Make that your initial and sole focus. What does that means? It means, for example: Volunteering to join task forces that they lead. Offering to take on assignments or projects they don’t have time to do. Passing on articles that they might be interested in based on conversations you may have had. Sharing perspectives with them that they may not get from other places. Anything that you can do to proctively put their needs before your own.

4) Then, let them reciprocate by helping you do the same - when you do get to them and help them to succeed, and if you have selected properly, they will then reciprocate. And when they do, be specific about the help you need (again, don’t frustrate them by being unclear).

5) Finally, stay in regular contact with these people – develop a plan that keeps you in regular contact with these people and regularly help them to be successful. If you do this, you will enjoy mutual success AND a great relationship…and this is on top of any career benefits you will personally recieve.

Zig Ziglar is right when he says, “You can get just about anything you want, if you first help enough other people get what they want.” With that in mind: what potential mentor can you begin helping today?