Why You Need A Mentor At Work

Do you have a mentor at work?

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the teacher next door when I taught 8th grade.  Man, she was loud!  She could holler from her desk next door and all of my students (who were her students 2 years prior) would cower under their desks.  But she had a sixth sense about when I was feeling overwhelmed and could keep everyone in check.  I could go running into her room freaking out about something and she would let me know when I was being ridiculous.  But when something was really wrong, she would march down to the office and yell at the principal for me.  I would never have made it through my first year of teaching middle school without her.

Looking back at all of the jobs where I felt successful and happy, what all of them had in common was that I worked with some kind of mentor.  In some cases, the person was meant as a quasi-supervisor because the boss was just too busy to tell me everything I needed to know.  In others, it was a coworker who had been doing the job much longer than I had.

I think it’s especially important for an aspie to have a good grasp on what his or her assigned tasks are and to know how to access the things/information they need to get the job done.  Too often communication from a supervisor or boss doesn’t come until you’ve done something wrong, so you don’t get a chance to find out ahead of time what you’re actually supposed to do and how to do it!  But a good mentor enjoys showing you exactly what you’re supposed to do, how to get ahold of everything you need, and gives you useful feedback – so you don’t have to wait for a higher-up or risk being disciplined for doing something wrong.

Someone who might be a good mentor:

• Is in a higher position than you or has been in the same position as you for much longer – someone who sees you as competition will not help you, and someone who is inexperienced may not know enough or have enough time to help you.
• Should be someone you can trust not to talk about you behind your back
• Has a good relationship with your boss and some influence in the workplace

In all of the situations where I had a mentor with a strong standing in the hierarchy, working with them made up for the fact that I wasn’t able to socialize much with my other coworkers.  They knew not to mess with me or risk having my mentor come after them and rat them out to the boss.  But when I didn’t have one I was completely on my own and felt very lost.  Knowing how important this is now, I’d be more proactive about finding a mentor in the future.