by Jared Delin, Director, LLoydIT
Much has been written about the advantages of having a Mentor to advise and guide you on your career path. These individuals have great value, but for me, finding peers with like performance aspirations and goals, offers even stronger motivation.
The true catalyst for success is finding peers who challenge you. Recently during an annual year-end meeting this topic came up and I made the analogy between peer mentorship and the competitive nature of high school and post secondary sports. I shared that it took me six years to see success in wrestling. My first five years were just ok.
What changed?
For the longest time I always thought that the difference was a great coach and the extra training in the off-season. But looking back now, there was no doubt – the answer was my wrestling partner.
After 5 years my coach had me switch wrestling partners. The new guy was younger and less experienced, but his work ethic was unparalleled. He would call me on Sundays to go for runs and we would push each other to train harder than we thought possible. I taught him more techniques and he taught me how to work harder and smarter. This partnership turned out to be mutually beneficial and we both achieved significant accolades and accomplished our goals.
I think the same holds true for the corporate world. In order to develop your optimum performance, you should have multiple “wrestling partners” so to speak. They should push you everyday to be better and you should push them. They don’t just have to be coworkers. They can also work at different companies, but share the same goals. A peer mentor should be a high performer (like you) with similar traits and qualities that you admire. Someone you can emulate while still maintaining your own level of authenticity. A peer mentor may also be someone going through similar life events whether it be of a professional or personal nature where you can discuss how career or life changes may impact your overall personal goals and work/balance satisfaction levels.
Workplace Peer Mentoring can make any company (or team) stronger. It allows you to work cohesively, yet competitively without the angst or bitterness that sometimes arises between high performers.
Try it. Identify your “wrestling partner “ and see if it makes a difference in what you accomplish. How to start?
- Share podcasts and blogs – meaningful content
- Talk strategy and planning. Where are you struggling where you peer mentor is stronger?
- Share each other’s challenges and figure out how to overcome them with your peer’s input.
- Hold each other accountable.
- Push each other to do better – develop a friendly rivalry – where you are happy for your peer’s success.
I read where motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, said there is power in the words, “Let’s go do it, not You go do it.” That single word Let’s – can be the catalyst for positive change. Good luck!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jared Delin specializes in sourcing and placing exceptional talent within the Sales Technology space. His expertise is in Customer Success talent, with a focus on the post-sales experience and his clients are nationwide. Jared joined LLoyd in 2018 after working in Marketing/Sales and has the distinction of making the first and last candidate placements of 2019 – with many in between! He is also the recipient of LLoyd’s 2018 Core Value Employee award. Jared is a business graduate of SUNY Oneonta and he welcomes connecting on LinkedIn with both employers and candidates – specifically those in Technology Sales.
Contact Jared
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