Behind nearly every person who’s achieved success in their field, you’ll find a mentor who helped them get there.
几乎每一个成功人士的背后，都有一位为他们助力的导师。

Mentorships are invaluable. Unfortunately, many millennial workers forgo such relationships, sometimes out of pride, said Adam Smiley Poswolsky, millennial workplace expert and author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough: Invent Your Own Path, Find Meaningful Work, and Build a Life That Matters.
师徒关系的作用是无价的。然而不巧，许多千禧一代的员工，有时候出于个人的傲气抛弃了这种关系， Adam Smiley Poswolsky说道。Adam是千禧一代职场专家，同时也是《中年生活的突破：投资个人生涯，寻找有意义的工作，营造特别的生活方式》的作者。

“Young people are very self-motivated and determined. Often, they want to prove to themselves they can make anything happen. That’s understandable, but not an effective way of approaching career growth,” Poswolsky told HuffPost. “Asking for advice is not a sign of weakness; it shows you care about your job and building your career capital. The more you invest in mentorship, the more you learn.”
“年轻人都很有上进心，坚持自己的想法。很多时候，他们都想要证明自己可以做到一些事情。那是可以理解的，但这不是一个帮助职业发展的有效方法。” Poswolsky接受《赫芬顿报》采访的时候说道。“寻求他人建议并非示弱；而是展示你在乎你的事业，显示你在建立你的事业资本。当你对师徒关系的投入越大，你的收获就越多。”

Finding and maintaining a mentor relationship is especially important for women. More men than women say they interact with senior leaders at least once a week ― which all too often keeps women at lower levels in their companies, according to research by the management consulting firm McKinsey and the nonprofit Lean In.
寻找和维持一段导师与徒弟的关系，对于女性来说是尤其重要的。根据管理顾问事务所Mckinsey与非盈利机构Lean In的研究调查，男性比女性每周至少有一次与高级领导对话的情况要多——这就导致了女性常常处于公司的底层职位的现象。

Below, Poswolsky and other workplace experts share their best advice for finding a senior workplace ally.
下面的建议，是Poswolsky与其他职场专家与大家分享的，帮助你找到最佳的高级职场盟友的方法。

1. Look for someone who has five or 10 years on you in the field.
1. 寻找在本领域已有五或十年经验的前辈。

Kate Snowise, a psychologist and executive coach, encourages clients to look for people who are five to 10 years ahead of them in their careers and in a role they aspire to.
Kate Snowise是一位心理学家兼高管教练，她鼓励客户寻找那些在他们所在领域已有五到十年经验的前辈，以及那些他们希望达到的职位目标的人们。

Once you’ve spotted a few prospective mentors, ask them if they wouldn’t mind sparing an hour for coffee to discuss how they ended up where they are in their careers.
只要你找到几个潜在的导师目标，你就可以请求他们腾出一个小时与你一起喝咖啡，讨论讨论他们是如何达到如今的位置的。

“Most people are actually complimented by such an act. In the midst of a busy working world, it is nice to know that someone admires you for where you have gotten and what you have achieved,” Snowise said. “The worst that can happen is you hear nothing back, and the best is that it may be the start a highly beneficial relationship that helps you plan and navigate your own career.”
“大多数人都会因这一举动而倍感荣耀。在这个忙于工作的世界，当你知道有人在崇拜你的职位、欣赏你的成就，你会感到很开心的。” Snowise说道。“最坏的结果则是你没有收到任何回应，而最好的结果就很有可能是开展一段意义非凡的关系，帮助的计划和导航人生的职业发展方向。”

2. If your workplace has a formal mentorship program, sign up.
2. 如果你的工作场合具备正规师徒制的条件，不要犹豫，马上签约参加。

Ideally, your workplace values each person’s professional development and has created institutional programs to help connect newer staff with higher-ups.
理想情况下，你所在的公司环境重视每一个员工的职业发展，有一套制度帮助新进员工与高层之间建立联系。

Mentorship programs are especially important in the wake of recent high-profile workplace sexual harassment scandals. As The New York Times reported, many men in high-powered positions admit they’re less likely to mentor women, fearing that one-on-one interaction with female subordinates could be misinterpreted or gossiped about by others.
师徒制项目的制定对于最近备受瞩目的职场性骚扰丑闻的事件极具重要性。引用《纽约时报》的报道，许多处于高层职位的男性都承认，他们很少会担任女性员工的导师，因为他们担心这种与女性下属的单独互动会被他人误解或散播谣言。

“Mentor programs can counter any misconceptions of favoritism or inappropriate activity by being transparent, outlining policies and being structured with the help of HR,” said Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant; How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior & Thrive in Your Job.
“导师制项目计划，因其透明度，清晰明了的政策，以及有HR辅助的条理性，能够充分应对任何一种偏袒误会或不合适的活动。”

3. Imagine you’re assembling your personal board of directors.
3. 想象你在为个人专属的导师团做准备。

If no mentorship program exists at your job, give your mentor search some direction by pretending you’re searching for investors in you and your future career, Poswolsky said.
如果你所在的职场环境不具备导师制项目的条件，那么就给自己某个寻找导师的方向，想象你在为自己个人和未来职业生涯寻找投资者，Poswolsky表示。

“I encourage millennials to build their own board of directors made up of four or five mentors they can turn to for professional and personal advice,” he said. “Find people who have experience in the area you want to work ... whose character and leadership qualities you admire.”
“我很鼓励千禧一代的员工建立自己的导师团，这个导师团由四或五个可以向其寻求职业和个人建议的导师组成，”他说道。“寻找那些你在所在领域里有经验的人们，你很欣赏他们的性格的领导特质的人们。”

Your mentors should be people you actually want to have a conversation with, Poswolsky explained.
你的导师团必须是你真正想要与他们交谈的人们，Poswolsky解释道。

“This isn’t supposed to feel like homework; it’s supposed to be fun,” he said. “The best mentor is someone who will tell like it is, even if that means admitting what they don’t like about their job, or what’s not working at their company. Instead of picking the most senior person at your company, look for someone who will give you honest and thoughtful feedback.”
“你不一定要把这件事当作家庭作业；而是一件有趣的事情。”他表示。“最好的导师就是能够这样说话的，即使他们承认他们不喜欢自己的工作，或者公司里不合理的事情。与其在公司里找最资深的上司当你的导师，还不如找一位能给你最真诚最体贴的反馈的人。”

4. Look for mentors outside your office, too.
4. 别忘了也可以在公司以外寻找导师。

Cast an even wider net by going to local networking events and perusing online resources, said Hannah Becker, a millennial career blogger at The Motivated Millennial.
把这张网撒得再大些，把当地社交活动也包含在内，浏览在线的资源，Hannah Becker表示，她是 The Motivated Millennial公司的职业博客作家。

“Online resources are helpful because finding a knowledgeable and supportive mentor in one’s field or organization can be really challenging,” she said. “A few mentor-matching resources I recommend are eMentor for military veterans and MicroMentor for entrepreneurs.”
“在线资源非常有效，因为在某一个领域或机构寻找一位知识渊博和乐于助人的导师真的很困难，”她表示。“我可以推荐一些导师配对的资源，比如为退伍军人推荐的eMentor，还有为企业家推荐的MicroMentor。”

And don’t forget about LinkedIn’s resources. Late last year, the online resume juggernaut rolled out its Career Advice mentoring program, which aims to  connect users with mentors and coaches in their fields, free of charge.
对了，别忘了领英网上的资源。就在去年，这家在线简历巨头发布了它的职业建议辅导计划，意在建立用户与行业内的导师的联系，而且是免费的。

5. Remember, your mentor also benefits from the relationship.
5. 请谨记，你的导师也会从师徒制关系当中得益。

You may feel like your mentor-mentee relationship is one-sided, with you reaping the career benefits and your mentor losing out on valuable time, but that’s not entirely the case. Giving back and helping others actually has amazing benefits for the person doing the giving, Snowise said.
你可能会觉得这种导师-徒弟的关系是单方面的，只有你收获了职业的好处，而你的导师损失了宝贵的时间，然而实际上不是这么一回事。为他人提出反馈建议，帮助他人，实际上也会对给予帮助的那个人带来极大的好处，Snowise表示。

“Research has demonstrated that mentors have higher levels of reported job satisfaction than their colleagues who don’t mentor,” she said. “And if they’re mentoring within your organization, it can lead to better feelings of greater connection and understanding what is happening throughout organization levels.”
“有研究调查证明，导师们获得的职业满意度比那些没充当导师的同事的职业满意度更高。”她表示。“并且，如果他们为机构内的同事培训，他们也能更好地参与和感受公司的发展。”

What’s more, you may even be able to offer some reverse mentorship to your more senior workplace allies.
再者，你甚至还能为你的上级同事提供一些反向的指导。

“With increasing numbers of millennials now in the workforce, a younger mentee can be a benefit to an older mentor by keeping them up-to-date with millennial trends, technology, and fresh and new perspectives,” Snowise said. “It pays off for everyone.”
“随着千禧一代占据生产力的比例越来越大，年轻的徒弟也能帮助年长的导师保持与千禧一代潮流、技术以及新鲜观点的一致，”Snowise表示。“这对于每一个人来说都是益处甚大的。”

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