Few new employees, or employees new to a position, are able to "hit the ground running" without guidance. This guidance may be in the form of staff training, or in coaching or mentoring situations.
Mentoring is a developmental technique that can offer significant benefits to the "learner" employee (the mentee), to the mentor and to your business in terms of organisational effectiveness and growth.
What is the difference between mentoring and coaching?
Mentoring and coaching share the key similarities of being task-oriented, people-oriented, process-oriented and goal-oriented. Here the similarities end.
Coaching
Coaching works best when the need is the acquisition of skills. It is often carried out by an employee's line manager or a colleague in the same department or function who can give guidance and immediate feedback.
Mentoring
Mentoring works best when the need is the acquisition of wisdom. It is built on a relationship, not just a procedure or process like coaching and training. It is best undertaken by an off-line manager, usually more senior, who is able to objectively share his or her professional and personal skills, insights and experiences with a less experienced employee, to assist in their personal growth and development.
Who would you choose to be a mentor in your business?
You need to consider carefully who you choose as a mentor. You are sanctioning an employee as a role model. You are entrusting him or her with considerable responsibility for developing the career and potential of a less experienced staff member. You must feel confident in the abilities of the person to be able to transfer his or her skills and experience in a professional manner.
Qualities of a a good mentor include a trusted employee who:
- is loyal and committed to your business's goals
- is knowledgeable about the business's culture and systems, both informal and formal
- demonstrates leadership
- is willing and able to spend time
- is a good listener
- is supportive and encouraging
- is a good communicator, able to share history and anecdotes to make values and practices come alive
- is able to provide a trusting relationship and safe environment for asking difficult questions
- has a desire to share experiences and knowledge with the aim of having the less experienced person grow and develop specific competencies
- is able to evaluate the mentee's plans and decisions
- is able to give honest and constructive feedback
- is able to maintain confidentiality
The success of an effective mentor/ mentee relationship is based on:
- a willingness to share
- a willingness to learn
- encouragement
- constructive comments
- openess
- mutual trust
- respect
What are some of the benefits of mentoring?
For the mentee:
- increased skills, knowledge and confidence
- increased potential for career mobility and promotion
- improved understanding of his or her role in the business
- insights into the culture and unwritten rules of the business
- a supportive environment in which successes and failures can be evaluated
- a smoother transition through management levels
- development of professional and self-confidence
- recognition, satisfaction and empowerment
For the mentor:
- satisfaction from contributing to the mentee's development
- improved ability to share experience and knowledge
- heightened sense of value and contribution to the business
- renewed enthusiasm for his/her role as an experienced employee
- enhanced knowledge of other parts of the business
- challenging discussions with people with fresh perspectives
For the business:
- ability to pass on best practice
- ability to reinforce a business's development culture
- improved delivery of services through more informed and skilled staff
- reduced recruitment and selection costs as a result of higher employee retention
- managers or senior staff with enhanced people management skills
- improved communication between separate areas of the business
- a more informed, cohesive team
- the development of a mutual support working environment
Steps for a successful mentoring program
Your business will need to take ownership for developing the culture, processes and procedures to support the program. To do this effectively you will need to:
- Obtain the support, commitment and endorsement of the business from top down (CEO, MD) and ensure this support is visible
- Determine guidelines, aims and desired outcomes of the program with clear performance indicators
- Appoint key staff to facilitate and co-ordinate
- Determine who will be included in the program
- Determine the level of training and support to be given to mentees and mentors
- Develop a timeline for a program - usually nine to twelve months
- Determine any costs involved - training, paperwork, additional resources, downtime, etc
- Determine how mentoring will be monitored, its effectiveness measured and how this will be recorded
- Implement comprehensive feedback and review procedures
Other considerations
To ensure that there is both individual and company support for a mentoring program you may wish to consider:
- redesigning a mentor's job specifications so that the mentoring function is integrated into the role with key performance indicators
- undertaking skills assessment of those you have chosen as mentors in order to provide them with appropriate ongoing training and development