Working with a mentor comes with many benefits, including encouragement, support and guidance from someone you admire who has been where you are. Whether you've worked in your position for years or you're just starting out, it's helpful to have someone more knowledgeable on your side. However, before you approach a potential mentor, consider whether you are mentee material.

Author Susan Fowler says that, like mentees, mentors are attracted to people who find meaning in what they do, have positive energy while doing it and elevate the energy of those around them. In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share Fowler's tips on how to become a magnet for mentors.

Be an eager learner. Mentors seek a mentee with intelligence. But how do you demonstrate intelligence? Fowler advises that you generously share your expertise and experience by teaching classes, helping develop others and writing articles or blogs. Demonstrate a desire to learn, be a willing pupil and ask for specifics. Read, study and take classes. She says that while natural intelligence is a wonderful quality, continued learning and a quest for knowledge are more important.

Be visible. How do you demonstrate characteristics such as political savvy and ambition without betraying important values? Join local or national associations that reflect your interests and run for office, deliver speeches and make presentations and attend conferences. Send notes and work-related articles with personal comments to people and respond to papers or reports that others have authored, suggests Fowler.

Be accessible. When you're seeking a mentor, Fowler recommends arriving at work a few minutes early or staying a little late from time to time. You can also post your office hours and set time aside daily to return telephone calls and emails. And don't skip lunch, she says. The company cafeteria or breakroom can be one of the best places to see and be seen. Make time for having lunch with colleagues or even people in the organization you don't know very well. Use your lunch break to learn about people outside your department and, in turn, allow people learn about you.

Proactively seek key assignments. Fowler suggests learning what your organization's priorities are, then taking on high-profile projects, proactively proposing a new area of responsibility that reflects leadership potential, leading an influential task force or volunteering for a major project. The idea is to demonstrate to a potential mentor that you can handle challenge and responsibility.

Demonstrate ability. Be aware of the quality of your communication in each report, email, voicemail and letter. Be consistent with the message you send through the work you do and the way you do it. Provide regular progress reports, advises Fowler.

Demonstrate trustworthiness. Purposely make promises and then keep them. For example, promise to send someone an article, then follow through. Show a willingness to help others achieve their goals and be aware of other people's needs and how you can help through your experience, expertise, energy or empathy.

Take initiative to develop the relationship. Make a concerted effort to interact with potential mentors, says Fowler. Don't wait for a potential mentor to find you. Interview potential mentors about their experiences as a way of learning about them, while giving them a chance to learn about you. Ultimately, you will most likely need to initiate the mentee-mentor relationship (as well as nurture and sustain it).

If working with a mentor is one of your goals in 2020, consider ways you can attract them.

Source: Susan Fowler is the author multiple books, including Master Your Motivation: Three Scientific Truths for Achieving Your Goals and the best-selling Self Leadership and The One Minute Manager.