Mentorship is often framed as a tool for guiding young professionals, but its impact extends far beyond the early stages of a career. At every level, mentorship helps shape stronger, more effective leaders. Whether you’re a new worker, an ambitious employee, an established leader or near retirement, mentoring offers enormous benefits for developing and honing leadership skills.
Exploratory stage
This is the period of time between the teenage years into the mid-20s, when internships, college jobs and jobs fresh after graduation become crucial for the future. When we think of mentorship, we often think of this stage as being more traditionally mission critical than others, when young people ask themselves what they want to do with their lives.
Mentorship can help them find a path while learning how leadership skills can factor into their career decisions.
Many of these future leaders struggle with imposter syndrome, confidence and self-esteem when entering the workplace. Proper early mentoring addresses these issues, with one study from the University of Massachusetts at Boston suggesting that adolescents with consistent, caring mentors experience significantly higher self-esteem and life satisfaction.
Community leaders often decry the so-called educational achievement gap, in which potential future leaders, through no fault of their own, never even get the opportunity to learn and thrive due to poor social or mental support. But the National Mentoring Partnership found that young adults who were at risk for falling off track were not only 55% more likely to enroll in college, but a whopping 130% more likely to hold leadership positions.
And just as importantly, various studies conclusively suggest that positive, holistic mentorship at a young age both cultivates leadership skills and develops more socially responsible leaders.
Establishment stage
This stage, from the mid-20s to the early 40s, is where mentorship becomes a powerful tool for skill-building and further development of confidence. These workers may be established leaders or on track to become one – mentorship can help both, if they seek it.
It may be more difficult for a more established worker to seek mentorship, as they may not view it as necessary at this stage. But leadership is an ever-developing skill that requires a verve for self-improvement and learning. Not only are employees with mentors significantly more engaged, more productive, and less likely to resign, but they also unlock new networks for future leadership development.
Increasing leadership skills at the establishment stage is not reserved only for employees – it’s important for mentors as well. Being a mentor at this career stage is a fantastic way to sharpen one’s soft skills, specifically with regards to empathy, active listening and coaching ability.
Mid-career stage
Many workers in their late 40s and early 50s – mentors, mentees and everyone in between – experience a career plateau. It may feel as though career development is over, and the retirement blues may set in.
For leaders, this can be especially draining. But mentorship can help reignite someone’s purpose or allow for a strategic career shift. This is where reverse mentoring can be extremely useful.
Reverse mentoring is when a more senior employee is mentored by a more junior employee. It may require swallowing one’s pride, but reverse mentoring has numerous benefits. It can give senior employees new, more modern ideas that they may never have been exposed to. Older leaders can learn new skills with new technology, staying up to date with changes that may seem daunting at first glance.
Mid-career leaders also face new challenges such as more complex projects, larger teams, and increased stress on work-life balance. Mentoring, reverse or traditional, is a key way to gain new insights and strategies to more effectively navigate these changes. It can also unlock new goals that light a fire under the plateauing leader.
And finally, becoming a mentor in the mid-career stage is a way to foster future leadership development among the younger employees at a company. It can open up new opportunities for newer hires and allow the mid-career leader to shepherd in a new generation.
Late-career stage
The final stage of career development is the late-career stage, leading into retirement. During this period, mentorship becomes more legacy-driven, with seasoned professionals mentoring others while reflecting on their own career journey.
Mentoring in your late 50s helps derive purpose as the working years wind down. The desire to leave a positive legacy not only helps a leader, but their company and peers as well. Great leaders who become great mentors can create changes that outlast their tenure and leave a long-term impact.
This is where something like phased retirement mentoring comes in, the idea that mentoring passes crucial knowledge to the mentee while also benefiting the outgoing retiree. The younger generation can learn a lot from the older generation, and vice-versa.
Senior professionals also benefit from being mentored, especially those not ready to retire. Mentorship at any age still helps refine leadership skills, explore new career avenues and stay up to date with industry trends.
Mentorship helps us all
Mentorship isn’t just about transferring knowledge – it’s about cultivating leadership at every turn. No matter the career stage, mentorship is one of the most powerful tools for shaping the leaders of today and tomorrow, opening new doors and leaving lasting legacies.