By BRENT OWENS.
The role of a mentor varies widely depending on the situation. In general they are there to provide counsel, be supportive, give constructive criticism and encouragement.
One area that doesn’t get a lot of airplay is the money-saving benefits of such an arrangement. A mentor, by default will likely put you on a path that saves you money versus going it alone.
Here’s a breakdown of how this might work in practice:
- Cost Avoidance: A good mentor will help you avoid spending money unnecessarily. It’s an organic part of the process for them to help in this regard. If they know a way to do something without wasting money, they’ll impart that knowledge on you. An example might be keeping you from making money-wasting decisions. It’s that simple.
- Cost Savings: Through implementing a mentor’s good advice you will naturally save money. Knowing how to operate an aircraft engine efficiently or knowing where to find discounts and shopping wisely are all simple examples of this concept at work.
- Time Savings (which translates to cost savings): Of course, if you have someone providing good counsel, you’ll likely be more efficient and this time savings translates directly to cost savings. They say knowledge is power, but knowledge also a time machine. A good mentor will help you avoid from being in the “two steps forward, one step back” mode.
- Higher probability of success: If you are training and have a mentor, your probability of success goes up. If you don’t succeed, that’s obviously “sunk” money that you can’t recoup. Having a mentor on your team will certainly put the odds more in your favor.
If you really sat down and thought about all the ways a mentor could save you money, you’d run out and find one immediately.
Knowing that a mentor’s primary role is to see you grow and succeed as a pilot (at any level) is primary, so you may not get money-saving morsels all the time. The fact is, just as a two pilot crew provides more than double the safety and operational enhancement of a single pilot, the same can be said for mentorships.