Although you are the one who is mentoring a young person, you will be surprised at what you can also learn about yourself from the process, whether this is through looking inwardly, or learning something completely new. Mentorship is a two-way road for learning, and here’s some of the ways that you can expect to gain from the experience.
Building relationships outside of your normal circle
Mentoring gives you the opportunity to expand your social circle and environment and meet someone completely new with a different perspective. You might learn about a new culture, your perspective on young people will likely change, learn about a hobby that you may never have heard of before, or click on a mutual interest in a way that you never thought you would. You will learn someone’s unique stories and experiences in a way that is far beyond small talk: one thing we know about journalism is that everyone has a story worth telling that everyone can learn from.
Learning something new from your mentee
Whilst you will learn all about your mentee’s unique takes, experiences and stories, part of getting uncomfortable is understanding what your mentee can teach you. Maybe you’ve been meaning to set up a TikTok account but never had enough courage to do it, maybe you want to learn about how to make news more accessible to Gen Z, maybe you want a definition of a word that’s more accurate than Urban Dictionary? The learning possibilities are endless and bridging the inter-generational gap will be very helpful for you to know in the ever-changing landscape of journalism.
Looking inwardly and reflecting on your experience honestly
The best mentorship requires genuine honesty from both parties. Especially in the world of picture-perfect social media, it will be so reassuring for your mentee to hear about your struggles as well as your successes; when people open up, it makes others feel less alone. Upon reflecting on your experiences, you might realise that you felt a certain way that you didn’t realise at the time, have an epiphany moment on why you acted or reacted in a certain way, or even gain perspective on what that situation would look like now and how it would be handled now.
Becoming aware of your unconscious biases
All of us have a tendency to place people into – often already pre-existing – categories and stereotypes because of unconscious bias. We have discussed what unconscious biases are, as well as ways of recognising and tackling them in more detail here [[EVERGREEN: Recognising your unconscious bias]Meeting a young person, particularly if you are hosting a mentee that does not live in London, and hearing their experiences in an in-depth way may help you recognise biases that you may hold, such as ageism, regionalism, classism or racial bias. The best way to combat unconscious bias is to acknowledge it and get uncomfortable so that you can actively unlearn it. You will then take this forward into the workplace, through both your work and your own actions, making a positive impact and difference.
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