MENTORING

What is mentoring? Mentoring is most often defined as a professional relationship in which an experienced person (the mentor) assists another (the mentoree) in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced persons professional and personal growth. What does a mentor do? The following are among the mentors functions:

Teaches the mentoree about a specific issue Coaches the mentoree on a particular skill Facilitates the mentorees growth by sharing resources and networks Challenges the mentoree to move beyond his or her comfort zone Creates a safe learning environment for taking risks Focuses on the mentorees total development

Mentoring characteristics:

Takes place outside of a line manager-employee relationship, at the mutual consent of a mentor and the person being mentored Is career-focused or focuses on professional development that may be outside a mentorees area of work Relationship is personal - a mentor provides both professional and personal support Relationship may be initiated by a mentor or created through a match initiated by the organization Relationship crosses job boundaries Relationship may last for a specific period of time (nine months to a year) in a formal program, at which point the pair may continue in an informal mentoring relationship How are informal and formal mentoring different? Informal and formal mentoring are often confused, but they are very different in their approaches and outcomes.

Informal mentoring:
Goals

of the relationship are not specified are not measured Access is limited and may be exclusive Mentors and mentorees self-select on the basis of personal chemistry Mentoring lasts a long time; sometimes a lifetime
Outcomes

 The organization

benefits indirectly, as the focus is exclusively on the mentoree

Formal mentoring:

Goals are established from the beginning by the organization and the employee mentoree Outcomes are measured Access is open to all who meet program criteria Mentors and mentorees are paired based on compatibility Training and support in mentoring is provided Organization and employee both benefit directly. Why do organizations need a structured mentoring program? Arent managers already performing this role? While many managers demonstrate mentoring behavior on an informal basis, it is very different from having a structured mentoring program. There is a qualitative difference between a manager-employee relationship and a mentor-mentoree relationship.

Managerial Role The manager-employee relationship focuses on achieving the objectives of the department and the company. The manager assigns tasks, evaluates the outcome,conducts performance reviews, and recommends possible salary increases and promotions. Because managers hold significant power over employees work lives, most employees demonstrate only their strengths and hide their weaknesses in the work environment.

Mentoring Role A mentor-mentoree relationship focuses on developing the mentoree professionally and personally. As such, the mentor does not evaluate the mentoree with respect to his or her current job, does not conduct performance reviews of the mentoree, and does not provide input about salary increases and promotions. This creates a safe learning environment, where the mentoree feels free to discuss issues openly and honestly, without worrying about negative consequences on the job. The roles of manager and mentor are fundamentally different. Thats why structured mentoring programs never pair mentors with their direct reports.

What are the benefits of mentoring? Mentoring benefits the organization, mentors and mentorees. A successful mentoring program benefits your organization by:

Enhancing strategic business initiatives Encouraging retention Reducing turnover costs Improving productivity Breaking down the "silo" mentality that hinders cooperation among company departments or divisions. Elevating knowledge transfer from just getting information and to retaining the practical experience and wisdom gained from long-term employees. Enhancing professional development. Linking employees with valuable knowledge and information to other employees in need of such information Using your own employees, instead of outside consultants, as internal experts for professional development Supporting the creation of a multicultural workforce by creating relationships among diverse employees and allowing equal access to mentoring. Creating a mentoring culture, which continuously promotes individual employee growth and development. How can we create a pilot mentoring program? The Mentoring Program Manager forms a task force of 6-8 people. Members of the task force should represent a cross-section of the organization, including potential mentors and mentorees, supervisory personnel and any stakeholders who can bring value to the process. For example, a representative from Human Resources might help tie department goals with the goals of the mentoring program. The task force:
Determines

the goals of the program Chooses the proper mentoring model Selects criteria for mentors and mentorees Defines other critical components of the program Interviews potential candidates Matches participants Evaluates results at the end of the pilot program Are there different types of mentoring models in a structured program? What are they? One of the advantages of mentoring is that it can be adapted to any organizations culture and resources. There are several mentoring models to choose from when developing a mentoring program, including:

 One-On-One

Mentoring The most common mentoring model, one-on-one mentoring matches one mentor with one mentoree. Most people prefer this model because it allows both mentor and mentoree to develop a personal relationship and provides individual support for the mentoree. Availability of mentors is the only limitation. Resource-Based Mentoring Resource-based mentoring offers some of the same features as one-on-one mentoring. The main difference is that mentors and mentorees are not interviewed and matched by a Mentoring Program Manager. Instead, mentors agree to add their names to a list of available mentors from which a mentoree can choose. It is up to the mentoree to initiate the process by asking one of the volunteer mentors for assistance. This model typically has limited support within the organization and may result in mismatched mentor-mentoree pairing. Group Mentoring Group mentoring requires a mentor to work with 4-6 mentorees at one time. The group meets once or twice a month to discuss various topics. Combining senior and peer mentoring, the mentor and the peers help one another learn and develop appropriate skills and knowledge. Group mentoring is limited by the difficulty of regularly scheduling meetings for the entire group. It also lacks the personal relationship that most people prefer in mentoring. For this reason, it is often combined with the one-on-one model. For example, some organizations provide each mentoree with a specific mentor. In addition, the organization offers periodic meetings in which a senior executive meets with all of the mentors and mentorees, who then share their knowledge and expertise. Training-Based Mentoring This model is tied directly to a training program. A mentor is assigned to a mentoree to help that person develop the specific skills being taught in the program. Training-based mentoring is limited, because it focuses on the subject at hand and doesnt help the mentoree develop a broader skill set. Executive Mentoring This top-down model may be the most effective way to create a mentoring culture and cultivate skills and knowledge throughout an organization. It is also an effective succession-planning tool, because it prevents the knowledge "brain drain" that would otherwise take place when senior management retires.