The Zen of Mentor Development

Zen of Mentoring

Zen of Mentoring

In the book, Enabling Knowledge Creation, Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka (2000) write that professionals need to grow proportionally in two areas,

the knowledge they acquire,
and how accessible they are to those who need help.

The authors go beyond what Drefus and Drefus (1986) call competent behavior, for rather than just assuming responsibility for the outcome of their actions, a professional's expertise now has to also be equated with social responsibility by demonstrating to others the link between action and outcome and help them learn the necessary methods for caring out the same actions.

While some professionals will naturally take on the both roles, others will require help with the additional responsibility. This is where the organization has to provide support as people cannot be thrust into a mentorship role, especially when they do not have the skills because bad mentoring may be worse than none at all (Ragins, Cotton, Miller, 2000). Thus, the need for identify and transferring skills that will enable the mentor to perform.

Mentoring Traits, Styles, and Focus

Some of the basic qualifications for mentoring are (DeSimone, Werner, 2012; Krogh, et al. 2000):

Be a good role model
Gives honest advice when needed via:
- constructive feedback,
- explaining an inside view of what really is going on,
- thinking out loud,
- being open-minded and able to value different perspectives.
Be a good and patient listener
Committed to others' growth and development in order to take on new responsibilities
Showing empathy by being able to walk in another's shoes
Able to offer useful criticism and redirect their actions towards a successful path
Approachable and transparent
Is ready for a long-term mentor/protégé relationship
Able to admit mistakes and learn from them
Know one's strengths and weaknesses
A life-long continuous learner

In addition, a mentor:

looks for signs of specialness that she can work with and develop
gives honest career advice when needed (equally important, people being mentored must have enough faith in their mentor to take their advice seriously)
does not let employees get beat up or spit out by corporate bureaucracy or office politics
lets it be known that the protégé is an excellent potential and is not to be trifled with
sees the future and grooms the protégé to be ready for major responsibilities
lets her protégé shine—she knows the credit will reflect back on her as much as it does on the protégé

Whew! That's quite a bit of involvement for a mentor. This involvement is why it is hard to train someone to be a mentor and to find good mentors. How do you train someone to care about another person? How do you make it a corporate policy that every supervisor, manager, and executive will be assigned an employee to mentor when he or she might not recognize that specialness that they can work with and develop?

On the other side of the coin—how do you advise someone to search around and find someone who will take them under their wing as if they were auditioning to be adopted?

Guidelines for a Mentoring Program

teaching others to mentor (istock photo)

During a retreat, special function, workshops, or similar meeting where you have the majority of supervisors, managers, and executives gathered, have an informal session on mentorship. It should not be too hard to find someone in the upper echelons of your company that has been a mentor or has had someone mentor them. Most people who have reached the top have had a mentor . . . and they in turn will want to pay back their dues. After a small briefing on what a mentor is, have one or more persons tell a story of how being a mentor has helped:

their department to grow
they got credit for producing a star performer
they got a reputation for caring about people
how it has enriched their own work experience, career, or life

Also, have someone tell a story of how a mentor has helped their own career to succeed. And let it be known that being a mentor is endorsed by the organization's top leaders and how they see it as being a great benefit to the company.

Give pointers (if possible a workshop, learning session, etc.) on being a mentor:

Don't confuse mentoring with free-association babbling or spreading company gossip
Do NOT give huge or complicated assignments to people who do not have the time or experience to handle them
Do give small special assignments that will provide a series of small successes (build from there)
Take the lead, ask an employee if she wants an explanation, inside view, a bit of tutoring, or if she is frustrated with anything
Ensure a person's hard work and skill are translated into actual opportunities for promotion and advancement
Be willing to give and receive feedback
Be generous with praise, but make it specific
Be gentle with corrections, do not point out every little mistake—focus on those that are real roadblocks.
Be clear about your expectations of the mentoring relationship
Be honest and open
Be willing to discuss what is going well and what isn't, but should be in the relationship
Be able to commit the time and the energy to the relationship
Honor your commitments

Next Steps

Mentoring Resources

Return to the Leadership Training and Development Outline

References

Drefus, H.L., Drefus, S.E. (1986). Mind over Machine. New York: Macmillan.

DeSimone, R.L., Werner, J.M., Harris, D.M. (2012). Human Resource Development. Mason, OH: South-Western College Pub.

Krogh, G.V., Ichijo, K., Nonaka, I. (2000). Enabling Knowledge Creation: How to Unlock the Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation. New York: Oxford Press.