5 Reasons Why Peer Mentors May Be the Most Important Members of Your Mentorship Circle   

Mentors are critical to achieving your goals at work. Someone with experience in your industry or business function can serve as a great sounding board and advisor as you try to navigate your career path or even just deal with the day-to-day challenges of your role. But did you know that having more than one mentor, and having mentors at all levels, is just as important? While many of us spend time trying to establish relationships with higher ups in hope of receiving downward advice, or take on mentees so we can pass forward our knowledge and experiences, we spend little time establishing peer mentorship networks–and these peer mentors are arguably some of the most important mentors to have. Why?

• You’re on a more equal playing field. Have you ever spent a lot of time preparing for a meeting with your senior mentor? When you’re with him or her, do you worry about whether you’re presenting yourself professionally to the point where you can’t be 100% transparent in the problems you’re facing or the issues that you want to discuss? This challenge doesn’t completely go away with a peer mentor, but it’s certainly mitigated. While a peer may form a negative opinion of you if you complain too often or seem to be frequently affected by stress, he or she is also in a position to be more open to listening to you vent (we all need to sometimes), or talk through problems that have potential career repercussions. With senior mentors, you’re likely to be on guard or you may avoid questioning their advice because you’re trying to maintain their interest in you and the overall longevity and potential of the relationships (one of these mentors could become your sponsor at any time if you’re both in the same organization).
• Peers have real-time experience with your situation. Your peer mentors are in a similar stage in their careers or lives as you are. They can relate more closely to frustrations that are specific to your job level in an organization, or may be facing the same life challenges at home. Senior mentors may have experienced your role at an earlier time (e.g., before the introduction of the company’s instant messaging infrastructure or before working from home every evening was the norm) so their perspective, while valued, may not be relevant in your place and time. Junior mentors may not have the maturity of experience to be able to advise you appropriately or may be meeting with you for the purpose of senior mentorship for themselves.
• Peers make great accountability partners.  Are you trying to speak up more in meetings, or send fewer and shorter emails? While senior and junior mentors may be able to point out your areas of weakness and opportunity, they might not be the right individuals to help you stay true to your course on a daily basis if you are trying to change your habits. A peer mentor can not only help you identify areas of opportunity that are relevant, but also help you change by keeping an eye on your participation in meetings or letting you know if an email you want to send rambles on a bit longer than it should. What’s more, peer mentors can help hold you accountable to the changes you are making in your work life, such as not working every evening or getting more sleep each night.
• You just may make a friend. When many of us think about what makes us happy in our jobs, things like role satisfaction, compensation, and our boss are usually top of mind. Workplace friendships, while enjoyable, are not the first thing on our list. But maybe they should be. Gallup’s State of the American Workforce Report 2013 shares employee engagement insights from an ongoing study of the American workplace from 2010 to 2012, and one of the findings was that people who had close friends at work were 50% more satisfied with their employment than those who didn’t, and those who had a best friend at work were seven times more likely to be engaged fully in their work. You may start out as peer mentors, but as your relationship evolves, you may end up as friends.  And based on Gallup’s report, that means a boost to your well-being as well as your career.
• You won’t stay peers forever. While this is certainly not the reason or motivation to seek out a peer mentor, there is always the possibility that, as both of you grow in your careers, you may not stay peers. One of you may eventually become a close senior mentor, a junior mentor, a sponsor, or even an extended network member who can prove useful in the future. If this happens, be sure to seek out and find a new peer mentor (or two).

We all move through mentors as time passes. If we develop our mentor circles appropriately, we should be able to let go of the mentors we outgrow or lose connection with and replace them with new mentors. Regardless of where we are in our careers or our lives, peer mentors will continue to play a critical role in our success and well-being.