What Kind of People Should Not be Your Mentor at Work?

23rd September, 2024

What Should a Mentor Not be in the Workplace?

At the time of achieving professional growth, mentors play a significant role. It is the right mentorship program that can help to learn the appropriate skills. Only an ideal mentor can assist in providing the required knowledge, relationship building, and skill development. A prolific mentor can help to learn the skills that would make overcoming any challenges much easier in every aspect. Therefore, without such guidance flourishing in a career would be a huge challenge. With the help of a mentor, you will get the opportunity to enhance your expertise in a hassle-free way and grow more. However, when it comes to mentors, here are 4 types of people who should not be your mentor at the workplace-

1. A Micromanager:

In your workplace, you will never desire to have a mentor who is a micromanager. It is a certain type of people you will not give the required space that you might need before taking any decision. Everyone requires a little room that will help them to understand their work, figure out the progress, and learn the minor details of work that will help them to flourish even more. As an employee, if you do not get such facilities, then you will not be able to build the right concept of your work. This will affect your efficiency as well. A micromanager tends to not give you enough time to understand your work and improve the work on your own. They tend to point out the faults even before you identify them. So, you will not get the chance to mindfully do the work. It is a particular type of person who should not be anyone’s mentor.

2. A Self-centered One:

It is not fruitful when you have a self-centred mentor. This type of person always talks about their achievement, which leads to comparing themselves with others. It is a toxic trait that can make you doubt your skills. Therefore, you will find a lack of confidence making it even more difficult to fulfil your goal. If your mentor doesn’t convey your progress on a certain job and only talks about their part of growth, then it can cause a huge problem. This kind of person never creates a healthy work environment for others.

3. A Snitcher:

It is quite natural to share some personal information with the person with who you spending most of the time. When you are working with your mentor, then a lot of time it is seen that you might have shared some vulnerable information. If you have a good mentor, with who everything is a secret, then nothing is wrong. However, if you have a snitcher as your mentor, then things can be a little problematic. They can spread the information and create gossip for the whole company. And you definitely do not want something like that. Thus, when you are working with such a mentor, then think before you share any sensitive information about your life.

4. A Critical Mentor:

At the time of learning something, having a critical mentor can create many problems. If you work with such a mentor, then you will not get the freedom to work. They tend to point out every little mistake and discourage you from improving your work. This kind of mentor always creates a scenario that is not quite as pleasing as a work environment. Thus, if you can avoid working with such a mentor then try to do so.

A mentor can make a deep impact on your work environment. So, when you are working with someone, then put in your efforts to understand the type of person and work accordingly.

Tags: What Should a Mentor Not be in the Workplace, How to be a Good Mentor in the Workplace