How many times have you heard “Go find a mentor”? There are so many ways we can reach out to an expert in the field we are entering, or a senior level person who has the ability to open doors for us. But have you ever thought of all of the mentors you’ve had and will have that are right next to you? I’m talking about lateral mentors. Let me explain.
No one needs to tell us the value of finding a mentor who can help us climb the career ladder to success. Someone in our field, who has already gone down the path we are looking to go down ourselves. Although these mentors are key for us for climbing a corporate ladder, there are so many mentors who help us succeed, and they are usually sitting right next to us. Here’s what I mean. Bill Cheswick, the father of the firewall and author of the book Firewalls and Internet Security (remember the days when we didn’t have any security on the internet? Well, next time you send an email or do online banking, thank Bill), wanted to solve the problem of an insecure internet. He had expertise in all sorts of engineering but he lacked expertise in just the kind of engineering needed to crack the code. So, he wheeled his Bell Labs office chair from his desk over to an expert a few desks down and asked for help. His colleague obliged. Bill got guidance and added expertise needed to understand the problem (and this wasn’t just an ordinary office problem—but a world-changing problem) and after he wheeled himself back to his desk and realized he needed additional guidance, he wheeled himself back over to his lateral mentor and asked for more help. His mentor felt compelled to help, because Bill also gave him guidance when he needed it. Neither one was the boss, and the project was always Bill’s project, but it never would have happened if Bill tried to solve it on his own.
How often have you done this at work? You’ve gone to a different department, or formed a team of Experts from a variety of backgrounds so you could get expert advice and guidance as needed. We all do this, but we don’t value it as we should. These mentor Relationships are the backbone of our tech and science revolutions. No one person changed our tech world. Even Steve Jobs had mentors (one was Steve Wozniak). Speaking of Steve Jobs, so often he is thought of as the person who changed the computer world. He did, but it wasn’t alone. It was with lateral mentors. Here’s what I mean. I was speaking with Al Alcorn, the inventor of Pong (for anyone with kids who played endless hours of video games while quarantined, thank Al, because he is the grandfather of video games). Al talked about how Steve Jobs worked for him at Atari as an engineer and he just wasn’t able to get the work done to create a new video game they were working on. Then, one night, in a Rumplestiltskin manner, a lot of the work was magically done. Al couldn’t figure out how. Night after night, this kept happening. The work was getting done in record time. It turns out, Steve Jobs was calling Steve Wozniak to help him solve the problem. Steve Wozniak would come in the evenings and work on the new game. And, the project was completed in record time. Lateral mentorship struck a home run. It wasn’t Steve’s boss who helped and guided him, it was his friend, and expert in an area he wasn’t.
Is this the only field lateral mentorship works? No. This happens in writing. So often, writers have others who help them out with ideas, editing, etc. I have mentors for writing. My editor helps me find my voice or moves me away from a topic and guides me to something that is better suited to my expertise. I have a very creative colleague, who guides me when I need creativity in my pieces, and I in turn help him find an active voice in his writing. This can mean the difference between having writing published or having it end up in the trash.
Lateral mentors are everywhere. And, I guarantee you, you’ve mentored someone laterally as well. Just think of all the times you sat with someone to help them out with something they were working on. You didn’t do it for them, you weren’t hired to work on it, but you simply guided and supported and added your skills and knowledge.
Lateral mentorship is often more powerful in the workplace than mentors who are higher level. Having support from a variety of skills at the same level creates an emotional support network that involves trust and a level of Intimacy. This is because we need to be able to show our vulnerabilities, to show that we don’t know all the answers when we seek guidance from a peer. We also have to be willing to accept help from others.
Have you ever had a co-worker who didn’t help others? How far did that person get? What about a person who won’t accept help from others and always works alone on projects—how far do they get? We get places by developing relationships with others and helping them and accepting
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help from others. These relationships often lead to long term friendships (look at Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak). Mentorship is based on trust and meaningful connections. It isn’t a one-way street and it isn’t always about taking an elevator or escalator up to the next level. It is sometimes a winding path, and in some cases, a big leap forward.
Discover how lateral mentoring can transform your life—and explore powerful real-world stories—in The Mentorship Edge.
You can find this and other articles on The Right Side of 40 on Psychology Today
Originally Published on https://deborahheiserphd.substack.com/
