Mentoring and leadership are two disciplines which, arguably, overlap in places. It could be argued that mentoring can enable someone to improve their leadership skills. By receiving mentoring, an individual can improve their confidence and hence become a better leader. They may become more confident in their ability, thus leading to them having more confidence in themselves when it comes to leading a group of people. Moreover, a mentor can provide an individual with tips and advice which ought to improve their general leadership skills. The mentor may, for example, teach the mentee about the importance of public speaking. By improving his or her public speaking skills, the mentee may feel better equipped to become a leader. Can it be argued, however, that leadership skills can be used in order to mentor someone? I believe that leadership skills can be used in mentoring and thus I would like to further explain the different relationships between mentoring and leadership.
I would argue that leadership skills can be used in mentoring, since a mentor must lead his client in the right direction. A mentor is responsible for advising his client in order to help them improve themselves. By improving themselves, a client hopes to move one step closer to becoming successful. In a sense, therefore, a mentor is leading his client towards success. When mentoring, his or her leadership skills must be on point, because this will enable him or her to advise their client in the best manner possible. What is more, by having proper leadership skills when mentoring, your client is more likely to trust in your ability, hence meaning that your relationship with your client will be stronger.
The relationship between mentoring and leadership is also quite strong because both tasks require similar traits. Both mentoring and leadership require problem solving skills as you must help your client – or team – when they are facing adversity. In addition, both mentoring and leadership require organisational skills which will help the client, or team, when trying to figure out a future plan for success. In essence, the skills required for both mentoring and leadership are very similar, hence meaning that they two disciplines are very closely linked.
In conclusion, I hope to have shown the various relationships between mentoring and leadership. I think it is most important to notice that there are lots of similarities between mentoring and leadership, hence meaning that a mentor has the capacity to be a leader (and vice versa). For more information on the relationship between mentoring and leadership, or on mentoring in general, visit https://www.selfmadebook.uk/mastermindgroup/