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Dr. N.

Bhaskaran

MENTORING EMPLOYEES FOR BUSINESS RESULTS

Be a mentor

As a manager, one of the greatest gifts you can give your employees is
sharing your knowledge and experience. Showing your employees
firsthand how you have managed a certain situation, increased the
business etc., is far more effective than just talking them through it. It
also paves the way for Talent Management.

A matter of mentoring

THE ancients believed it and it is relevant today more than ever


before-mentoring, as a practice has come to stay in the today's
corporate scenario. The shifting paradigms of work culture have
replaced `hierarchy' with `relationships' and managers need more
than eagerness to show employees around and help them learn the
ropes. This is a challenge to many, especially since the new generation
is quick on their feet and tangible results can be seen in a short time.

Mentoring Employees for Business Results

Mentoring is crucial to developing and retaining employees. Mentors


give advice on a spectrum of topics, ranging from specific skills to
broader issues of career direction. Employees gain sound guidance,
access to established networks, and enhanced personal and
professional perspectives.

Though mentoring happens naturally to some degree, it can be


promoted by matching seasoned employees with employees who are
new to the business or their job. Mentoring suits small and medium
set up especially well, even if the organization is unable to afford more
sophisticated employee development systems.

What You Need to Know is “What is mentoring, exactly?”

Mentoring is the process by which wisdom and experience are shared


between two people, one of whom (the mentor) is typically senior – not
necessarily head of that unit - to the other (the employee). The advice
that the mentor conveys to the employee supports development of the
employee’s skills, career, and networks. Most of us have probably
acquired our mentors more by luck than through planning, but with
the erosion of traditional career ladders and the increasingly
unstructured composition of business individuals and companies
alike are seeing great merits in this informal relationship.
Dr. N. Bhaskaran

Are there limits to a mentoring relationship?

Mentoring relationships do have limits. Mentors should beware of any


sense that they want to” rescue” an employee versus providing advice.
Mentors should never try to exert undue influence in favor of an
employee. And mentors should be aware of situations in which the
employee needs professional counseling and make appropriate
referrals.

Be Aware of the Potential Scope of the Relationship

At the start of their relationship, neither the mentor nor the employee
can anticipate all the issues that they’ll end up discussing. Generally,
however, they discuss topics that fall into two broad categories:

1. Career issues and


2. Confidence and self-awareness issues.

Let’s start with career issues:

whether the employee’s career vision and goals seem


relevant and viable
How to “decode” the business’s feedback to the employee,
for example, from an annual performance review or from a
promotion received or missed
What experience and expertise the employee should
acquire, immediately and long term
Where to find role models with whom the employee can
identify
How the employee should best interact with his or her
manager
Whether and when the employee should accept an
internal or external job rotation
How best to promote the employee’s ideas within the
department, branch and the Institution
How the employee should react to unacceptable behavior,
for example, apparent bias, favoritism, or harassment
How to deal with the effects of a personal or family
problem.

Issues of confidence and self-awareness may include:

How the employee can make a frank review of his or her own
strengths and weaknesses
Whether feedback received by the employee about his or her
personal style is accurate
How to overcome apparent career setbacks, or feelings of
isolation or depression.
Dr. N. Bhaskaran

Understand Different Types of Mentoring

The four main types of mentoring are not mutually exclusive. Most
people have more than one mentor, with the mentors playing
complementary roles.

Mentoring can be:


• Informal—when a more experienced person decides to take a less
experienced person under wing. Such relationships form
spontaneously and are usually based on a similarity of interests,
expertise, or personal history. These relationships tend to grow and
flourish. They often continue after one or both the people leave the
place of business either due to transfer or relinquishment of the job.

• Situational—takes place in a specific circumstance, such as when


the employee has to promote a new product or work in a new
department. Although these relationships are often short-term, they
can develop into a longer term mentoring connection.

• Positional—when the mentor is the manager of the employee. While


all good managers mentor their team members to some extent, this
approach has natural constraints to effectiveness. The employee may
find it difficult to raise issues of switching jobs or roles. The mentor
will not provide an impartial view of their relationship as superior and
subordinate. And the manager may be accused of favoritism if an
employee advances more rapidly than others.

• Formal programs to gain the advantages of natural mentoring while


recognizing the limitations of positional mentoring.

Understand the Benefits for All Parties

Employees are the most obvious beneficiaries of mentoring. They


receive advice, guidance, access to contacts and networks,
reassurance, and a broader perspective on their careers. Mentors
typically strengthen their interpersonal skills, find new insights into
their own work, and have the satisfaction of seeing others grow.
Finally, businesses benefit through better recruitment, orientation,
and retention of staff, better communication across all areas of the
business, faster learning within the organisation, and a stronger
overall culture.

A few essential qualities that every mentor should possess:

• Good listening ability is necessary. As a mentor, you should not


only listen, but also be able to understand the situation. You
should never be overbearing or make your advice mandatory.
Give the person room to disagree- your role is just to provide
helpful suggestions not to enforce them.
Dr. N. Bhaskaran

• Industry know-how of a high degree is necessary. Before you set


out to help another person, you should be aware of your strong
points and shortcomings. If you cannot be of much help to a
young entrant, don't take up the responsibility; instead refer
him to another more competent person.
• A mentor is a midway position between a boss and a teacher. It
is someone who helps more by way of example. Hence as a
mentor you should have excellent interpersonal skills. You
should be able to manage people well and supervise their work
to see if they are on the right track.
• Your personality as a mentor matters, good communication
skills, with a wide range of experience can make you an
interesting person to be with and to learn from. A good
knowledge of the world and the way things work is necessary if
you want people to look up to you.
• An open mind in disseminating knowledge. Don't treat it as a
top secret; share your expertise with the young company. It is
good to see someone following in your footsteps or even taking
after you!

Excel As a Mentor

As a mentor, you will sometimes need to be a coach, sometimes a


motivator, or guide, counselor, role model, or provider of contacts. To
excel in these roles, you will need to:

ƒ help the employee to focus his or her efforts, and to clarify


personal goals
ƒ prompt the employee to develop effective strategies, and act as
devil’s advocate to challenge them
ƒ help the employee to identify appropriate resources, contacts,
and role models
ƒ Share knowledge and wisdom based on your own experiences
ƒ Act personally as a source of inspiration and motivation, while
maintaining confidentiality.

Effective mentoring approaches include techniques such as:


ƒ asking penetrating questions to help the employee distinguish
“real” issues from apparent ones
ƒ accepting the employee unconditionally, asking “how” or “what”
rather than “why”
ƒ listening actively to the employee’s feelings as well as to the
words
ƒ volunteering your observations where appropriate
ƒ Avoiding the role of personal “fixer” of your mentee’s problems.
Instead, help him or her learn how to develop problem-solving
skills. They will help in overall development.
Dr. N. Bhaskaran

Excel As an Employee

You can gain the most from the relationship if you are:
9 Open with your mentor about your objectives and aspirations,
and also open to feedback or other observations made by your
mentor. If you react defensively to your mentor’s comments, the
relationship will soon wither.
9 Proactive in meeting with your mentor, and in relating to him or
her. Arrive at your meetings fully prepared and with clear
objectives, and take the lead in suggesting new ways of viewing
your issues. Actively follow up on any ideas generated in the
meetings, and let your mentor know of progress you make.
9 Considerate of the mentor’s investment of time. Identify what
the mentor wants to derive from the relationship. Accommodate
the mentor’s schedule when arranging meetings.
9 Provide feedback, Praise, and thanks in an appropriate way.

Understand How Mentoring Can Best Help Your Business

Larger businesses increasingly use formal programs to encourage


mentoring. Compared with natural mentoring, formal mentoring tends
to be based on more specific objectives. It also aims at more
measurable impact, such as employee retention, runs for a more
limited period, typically involves discussions of more prescribed
structure, and is based on pairing that is balanced more in favor of
the employee. Such programs typically aim to support employees who
are new to the business or new to a role, or who are part of a group
that is in some way specialized or disadvantaged.

Efforts to provide mentoring for all employees in a business rarely


succeed if those efforts are based purely on formal programs. The
broader objective of “mentoring for all” is best tackled as part of a
wider program of cultural change, which should also examine how the
organisation’s day-to-day business is conducted.

What to Avoid

A mentoring program that works for another organization or even in


other business unit of the same organisation might not work for your
organization or business unit. To find your best fit, you should:
9 decide whether to adopt a formal program or one that includes
some element of natural mentoring
9 set simple criteria for people’s eligibility to be employees and
mentors and for the maximum number of employees per mentor
9 decide whether employees choose mentors (recommended), or
vice versa, and establish a matching process that is seen as fair
by everyone
9 consider how long each relationship will last, how it can be
terminated, and other features of the program
Dr. N. Bhaskaran

9 ensure that participants respect confidentiality


9 Provide training for mentors and employees and set out the
expected benefits.
9 Determine how you will measure whether the program is
working. Monitor it periodically. Reward, praise, and thank the
mentors appropriately.
9 Make clear to potential employees that the quality of mentoring
they receive will in large measure depend on their own ability to
attract mentors.

When competition abounds and jungle law applies, it is difficult to get


people to take to mentoring. Some organisations are encouraging their
employees to take up mentoring by offering them incentives and
awards. Training institutes are sending interns into companies after
appointing mentors to assist them.

Conclusion

Having a mentor is like having a roadmap. Successful mentoring can


bring about a drastic change in organisational working and culture. It
can encourage new aspirants and minimise corporate jealousies thus
making way for an open atmosphere where learning abounds both for
the experienced and inexperienced alike. This has made mentoring a
buzzword that has brought attitudinal changes that are far-reaching.

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