A mentor’s objective is to identify your needs and expectations and offer creative solutions that move your business forward. In today’s distribution business there are a growing number of experienced seniors. If you believe your team would benefit from a seasoned coach, consider enlisting a mentor.
5 Steps to Take
Executive mentors can help guide your business to growth. Here are some steps you can take with a coach.
Step 1: Understand the issues
A mind map should be created to summarize all the current growth issues. The goal of a mind map is to record key ideas and look for connections between them as projects. In many cases, unrecorded projects go unnoticed because they are never brought into focus. A mentor can guide you through the mapping process so that you do not waste precious time and energy.
In “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey suggests you can start the mapping process by putting first things first — his Habit #3. He recommends listing projects under two categories — Important and Urgent, and, Important but not Urgent.
Step 2: Prioritize the Projects
An experienced mentor can be invaluable for prioritizing and evaluating projects. Each week, they can ask your team to list, in order of urgency, the top five projects that need to be moved forward.
Step 3: Create Next Steps
Each Top 5 Project will likely require many actions. Use a mentor to help you plan each incremental step. Having seen/solved many issues before, your mentor can help you with the chronology of actionable steps.
Step 4: Implement Solutions
A mentor comes with a network of suppliers, equipment, and software providers he has engaged with in the past. Tapping into that network can help a distributor move more efficiently through project steps. For example, a distributor in the gas and welding industry may already have bulk CO2, and now wants to produce dry ice. If your mentor was once a manufacturer of dry ice, he will know several suppliers who can provide the best equipment, installation, and cost. This expedites your start-up.
Step 5: Track Completed Projects
There is no better motivation than visualization of past accomplishments. When a project is completed it should be dated and listed on a mind map. Moreover, I suggest recording them under the corporate divisions: Executive, Operations, Sales, and Administration.
Objectives achieved
Lastly, if you are a successful distributor on the move, but need help, consider enlisting a mentor. Tapping into a trusted source with years of experience, is one of the most effective ways to move a business forward. Mentors help you achieve your objectives efficiently.
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