MENTORS
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Mentorship is one of the tools organizations use to build company strength from within. Experienced and committed leaders use their talents to help less experienced team members develop the critical thinking and analytical skills they’ll need as they assume more responsibility. A good mentorship program has dedicated mentors and creates opportunities to instill trust and build confidence in inexperienced employees. It works because it nurtures personal development through a one-on-one relationship.
In my Management Matters podcast, I discussed the role of the workplace mentor and the benefits to the mentee, the mentor, and the organization itself. Mentoring programs give the mentee a safe space to test ideas and develop skills that can be the difference between thriving and burning out. The show piqued my interest in how, and when good mentors develop skills to guide others. Many organizations have formal mentor training programs but without the ability to empathize and recognize the vulnerability of the mentee, no amount of training in the world will succeed.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that workplace mentoring is a natural extension of the guidance and support we provide for others throughout our lives. I thought about the saying “It takes a village” and how it often describes the role people assume whenever someone needs support. Everyone pulls together regardless of the “official” relationship. Doesn’t that make the workplace another village? When everyone assumes responsibility for the organization’s success, we make it incumbent upon ourselves to ensure everyone has the skills to be successful. I think of mentorship as one generation passing knowledge and skills down to the next one.
HOW MENTORING STARTS
We start mentoring as soon as someone has a baby. Everyone gets involved in helping the child become a functioning member of society. The parents set the expectations for establishing the baby’s care, initial beliefs, and values. The villagers all help to reinforce those norms from day one. They guide the child’s perception of what is acceptable and what isn’t. Eventually, the child gets exposed to other mentors because their village has gotten bigger. They in turn start to mentor others as we continue to mentor them. For me, it means that mentoring is a continuous circle that encourages learning, thought, analysis, and action. So doesn’t it make sense to think that we have to have a company-sanctioned program to do it at work?
MENTORSHIP AT WORK
So why do we get so serious when we talk about workplace mentorship? I mean uber-serious. We create policy and slide decks showing how we can get the most bang for our buck. We interview “appropriate” candidates to mentor and find mentees who are worth the resources (read time and money) we spend to teach people how to do what they’ve been doing their entire lives. I’m not saying companies shouldn’t do this, it’s good business. But it doesn’t have to be the only way to embrace mentoring in the workplace. Unless we’ve been living in a cave, we’ve been mentors all our lives. At work, we can use those innate skills to mentor people who may not be selected for the official program. Why can’t we use the mentoring program’s vision and purpose everywhere we see the desire to learn? If we do, we foster organizational growth in the same way we nurture our children from infancy, through adolescence and on to adulthood.
THE MENTEE
What about those unofficial mentees? Do they understand the goals? Can they see they’re learning to think for themselves and make better decisions? Probably not at first, but your job is to guide them, not tell them what to do. That’s the difference between mentoring and coaching. You help them reach that “aha” moment when the light bulb comes on and they start to figure things out for themselves. You can do this for anyone you meet (as long as they’re willing to participate). Mentors guide, and coaches teach. You can,and should be both but not at the same time. You are someone your mentee trusts and respects which means that you have to plan your role every time you meet. I talked about the difference in a previous post. “Coach or Mentor”
THE CHALLENGE
As a mentor, I challenge you to redefine your role. Flex your mentorship muscles and look for others in the workplace who can benefit from your expertise. Just because they’re not part of the official program doesn’t mean you can’t use the guidelines to help them. You don’t limit your impact to one kid at a time in your village away from work, so why not find someone who could use the benefit of your wisdom and experience, and become part of the larger workplace village?