Steven Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Listener Mick writes in.

I'm about to reach out to some senior people in my organization to get mentorship.

How can I be sure that I'm using the right people?

And more broadly, how can I set up the mentoring relationship to succeed?

Mentors. I just love mentors. They're so chewy and taste great, and they explode if you put them in diet

Coke. Oh, I'm thinking of Mentos. Yes, I love those too. But I also love mentors, nonetheless.

Mentors can really help accelerate your career tremendously.

A mentor is someone with experience in the realm that you're dealing with,

be it a company, an industry, or a difficult situation.

A mentor typically gives you guidance.

They act as a sounding board, and they sometimes actively help promote you inside or

outside of an organization.

When looking for a mentor,

you want someone who can be unbiased and has no conflict of interest with you and your agenda.

For example, if you work in a very political environment and you choose your boss as your

mentor, your desire to have her fired and take over her job could be at odds with her

desire to turn you into a mindless

wage slave who exists only to fetch her coffee. If your mentor's project competes with yours

for budget, headcount, status recognition, or customers, it could also cause problems.

So select a mentor with appropriate experience. Let's be honest for a moment, just the two of us.

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