MENTORING FOR RESULTS

A highly effective conduit for improving personal

and professional effectiveness

Mentoring has been called 'the glue that makes training stick'. As a mechanism for the transfer of business skills it promotes faster and more effective learning and can help encourage an organisation-wide learning culture.

 There are many definitions of mentoring but that which is most commonly acknowledged and recognised is probably:

"A defined and agreed relationship between two equals with the aim of learning and improving personal and professional effectiveness"

The idea that mentoring is between 'two equals' may cause some surprise but it is important to recognise that effective mentoring is built on the notion of fundamental equality - it is essential that the mentor never adopts a 'superior' stance and the individual being mentored should never be made to feel 'inferior'.

Increasingly, mentoring is being used within companies to improve personal performance through helping individuals address and overcome specific problems and challenges in a way which is both meaningful and motivational for them.

Invariably those who have been mentored are passionate about the experience and often go on to become mentors themselves. 

The mentoring relationship

Mentoring is a process by which an individual advises and supervises a more junior or less experienced person, providing a role model for their behaviour.

This being the case, it is important that those individuals themselves actively support and demonstrate the qualities, characteristics and behaviours that they are looking to their mentees to emulate and replicate.  

Additionally, in a group situation, it is essential for the good of the organisation as a whole, as well as the individual mentees, that:  

•  Mentors have a shared understanding of and support for those qualities, characteristics and behaviours which they are proposing to foster in their mentees. If this is not the case, there will be a lack of cohesion in behaviour across the mentee group, and mentees may also replicate the less desirable traits of their mentors as well as their more positive qualities. 

•  Those outside the programme - particularly at senior level - must also support and understand the behaviours on which mentors and mentees are focusing. If this is not the case, then inconsistency, conflict and divergence amongst managers and leaders will ultimately result.  

Knowing what you want to achieve

For these reasons it is important that the organisation involved decides upon the key erformance indicators (sometimes known as key competencies) against which it expects all personnel - leaders, managers and staff - to perform.

Key performance indicators are based on what the organisation needs and/or wants to achieve overall. An example of key performance indicators are:  

• Commercial acumen
• Team development activity
• Customer focus
• Contribution to organisation-wide initiatives
• Individual "best practice" development

These indicators can be applied to any role within the organisation and individual objectives set and measured for contribution to them.

A will and passion for development and change

In respect of the mentoring process, it is important that mentors and mentees understand the significance of three key aspects of mentoring:

•  Personality

•  Learning styles

•  Behavioural change

The first two of these are aspects of the process which both parties will need to acknowledge and understand. However, it is the third aspect, behavioural change, where most training and support will be required. 

The business benefits

Rather than taking a very narrow focus, an effective mentoring programme should form part of a programme of helping enhance the way the organisation develops and supports individual and team potential in order to meet its business objectives.

By adopting a mentoring programme you can expect to see a number of positive benefits for individual colleagues and for the organisation as a whole.
 

Effective mentoring, when used at all levels:  

•  Provides a cost effective way to offer individual support 

•  Improves personal development, business knowledge and skill  

•  Significantly aids staff retention and reduces turnover 

•  Strengthens the core skills of your management team 

•  Improves rapport and builds trust between leaders/managers and employees

•  Builds a strong sense of self-reliance and resourcefulness  

•  Reduces the likelihood of overload and disillusionment - precursors to workplace stress

•  Demonstrates proof of your commitment to the well being of all colleagues  

•  Encourages honest communication at all levels  

•  Identifies the need for individuals to take responsibility for their own choices and behaviours - thus reducing the "blame culture"  

•  Creates a sense of involvement and ownership  

•  Develops a proactive, problem-solving approach to challenges and change  

•  Provides an opportunity to develop creative ideas and solutions  

•  Involves colleagues in setting, monitoring and achieving goals  

•  Enhances effectiveness and therefore productivity 

Personal benefits

The benefits to the individual being mentored are huge. Having a mentor can help you re-focus, look at your role objectively and remember what your original goals and plans were. Most important, it can help you to do something about them!

This said, it's important not to overlook the benefits to the mentor. Mentoring requires a number of enviable skills and talents and the process helps mentors develop them further:

•  The ability to listen and empathise with people

•  A willingness to offer encouragement, practical advice, ideas, and opinions

•  A respect for other people's views and the flexibility to take these in your stride

•  A supportive, hands-off approach, that allows others to take responsibility for their own decisions

•  A willingness to offer your time and skills voluntarily for the benefit of others.

For the mentor, mentoring is challenging and stimulating. Although it is hard work the mentor can feel considerable satisfaction when their mentee reports achievements and successes. All successful mentors report that it provides a real and unparalleled sense of 'putting something back' into the system.

© Dianne Bown-Wilson, The BIG Question