11/ 10/ 2005
by Charles R. McConnell
Mentoring happens when a more experienced individual guides and nurtures a less experienced employee. Usually, the mentor is older and has more experience with the company as well as in the job field. Mentoring allows the older generation to guide the upcoming one through role modeling, counseling, instructing and working to advance younger employees’ skills and capabilities.
Some may equate a mentoring with departmental orientation. If the purpose of both is help a new employee get up to speed on the job and organization, what’s the difference between the two? Mentoring takes over when orientation is complete. Following orientation, the new employee knows the company, the department, the people and the basics of the job. When appropriately applied, mentoring provides continuing one-on-one education for as long as necessary.
A mentor is someone willing to help shape a new employee’s career. The mentored employee––referred to in some businesses as a mentee––is a protégé who is willing to listen, learn and commit time and effort to becoming competent. Mentoring is little more than asking an experienced, capable employee to nurture the development of a new employee from protégé to capable practitioner. Who should mentor? A mentor must be a patient and friendly person with strong interpersonal skills and effective listening ability and, of course, sufficient organizational and operational knowledge. The mentor must demonstrate concern for the development of others and be credible within the company.
The most appropriate protégé? The mentored employee most successful would be ambitious, enthusiastic, open to feedback and coaching, proactive, willing to learn and willing to assume responsibility for his or her growth. Mentoring offers advantages for the mentored employee, the mentor and the company. The mentored employee receives a more thorough grounding in the job than going through the standard orientation and learn-by-doing approach. The company and the individual both benefit by reaching higher levels of performance and productivity than would otherwise be possible. Mentoring helps the employee avoid serious mistakes that might otherwise disrupt progress. The employee may discover that some of the best possible professional development comes through mentoring.
Mentors are often the most senior employees whose jobs are well under control and who have few new challenges. Serving as mentors can make senior employees’ jobs more interesting by enabling them to apply their accumulated expertise in a constructive, fulfilling manner that recognizes their value and experience.
Your company will gain from mentoring relationships in several ways. Mentoring can thoroughly communicate a company’s culture, values and traditions much more rapidly and completely. Mentoring can serve as an economical development tool in your succession planning process. Proper mentoring can even increase your chances of retaining its more promising performers. By visibly promoting continuous learning, mentoring sends a positive message about your company’s concern for employee development.
Most of the potential pitfalls of mentoring are encountered in the selection of participants, especially the choice of mentors. The key to mentor selection, once you’ve addressed qualifications, is a willingness to serve. Not just willingness to serve period, but willingness to serve for the right reasons. A senior employee with all the right job knowledge and experience will make a poor mentor if assigned to do so when he or she clearly doesn’t want the responsibility. Also, an employee who volunteers to mentor primarily because doing so will “look good at performance evaluation time” is a weak choice. Those selected as a mentors should be doing so out of a belief in employee development and a desire to share years’ of knowledge and experience with someone interested in learning the job properly and growing with it.
A potential drawback of any mentoring relationship is the time investment required by both parties, especially the mentor. But as far as time is concerned, mentoring is similar to other desirable management practices, and time spent today is an investment in future efficiency. Mentoring becomes a hollow exercise only if the wrong participants are chosen and not fully committed to the process.
