Mentoring Matters

Mentoring Requires More Than Good Intention

Mentoring is a proven way to promote employee growth and development, accelerate learning, fast track leadership, improve retention, elevate morale, strengthen recruitment and promote diversity. Too often, people step into their mentoring roles without sufficient training, relying on their good intention or past experience to carry the day. 

4 Frequently Missed Mentoring Opportunities .... And, What You Can Do About Them

Author and missionary William Arthur Ward once said, "Opportunity is often difficult to recognize; we usually expect it to beckon us with beepers and billboards." While many believe that mentoring opportunities arise organically and in the moment, we believe that effective mentoring programs require continuous optimization of opportunity. Often opportunities are right there in front of us and yet we fail to recognize them or bargain them away, thinking that we will find the time to get to them later. 

#1. Be open and honest with your mentor about your challenges on the job, weaknesses in your leadership, and issues you need to address. Your willingness to be vulnerable demonstrates your commitment to mentoring and strengthens your relationship with your mentor.

How important is it to reward mentors?

It depends on the culture in your organization. Some organizations reward everything. Some do not. Appreciation and recognition go a long way and are often sufficient.

Does the conversation that occurs between a mentor and mentee necessarily remain confidential during a time when the mentee is being considered for a career move?
Does the conversation that occurs between a mentor and mentee necessarily remain confidential during a time when the mentee is being considered for a career move?  Or, when a leadership team sits to talk about whether to move someone who has been a mentee, can the mentor add to the conversation from his or her experience with the mentee?  Or, is the conversation between the mentor and the mentee always strictly confidential? Do you have any guidelines on this question? 

Are High Marks Enough? 

Congratulations. Your mentoring program received high marks this year. Training sessions were packed. Website usage tripled. The degree of satisfaction with mentoring matches surpassed last year.  You've received a ton of accolades. But are these high marks enough to declare your mentoring program a success?

What Leaders Do to Support Mentoring

Creating and building a mentoring culture requires ongoing participation and commitment of executive leadership. 

12 "Must Do's" for Mentoring Program Administrators and Managers

If your organization is preparing to launch a mentoring initiative, you may be wondering where to begin. Here are six tasks to add to your to-do list: #1. Make sure the business case for mentoring aligns with your organization's strategic direction. #2. Develop job descriptions for your Mentoring Oversight/Advisory Team, their individual member roles and responsibilities.... 

Mentoring Culture Check-In: Are You Minding Your P's and Q's?

Creating a mentoring culture is a work in progress. This means you need to be minding your Ps and Qs:  continuously monitoring, assessing and enhancing your efforts. If you keep these six Ps in mind - preparation, priority, position, pool, politics and progress  - they should enhance your efforts and further help you embed good mentoring practice in your organization.

Mentoring Has A Multiplier Effect

Some of the many mentoring benefits for individuals include accelerated learning, expanded and diverse perspectives, increased tacit organizational knowledge, additional insights about other business units, improved skills in specific areas ( for example, listening, building relationships).  Mentoring also offers individuals a trusted sounding board, role model, and/or go-to individual. Individuals often say that as a result of mentoring they feel more self-aware and self-confident, connected more closely to the organization, and find work more satisfying and meaningful.  

We recently asked participants at a seminar to raise their hand if they were informally mentoring someone. Almost everyone in the room held their hand up. We told those folks to keep their hand raised if the answer was yes to the following question: "Would that person, if they were sitting next to you right now, say they were being mentored by you?" Almost all the hands dropped.

Hot Buttons!

All of us have things that consistently irk and annoy us about someone else's behaviors and actions. These are our hot buttons because when someone's behavior "pushes our buttons," it triggers an emotional response in us.

 Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me a Match

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make me a match, Find me a find, catch me a catch. Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Look through your book, and make me a perfect match". Every mentee who participates in a mentoring program where matches are made for them hopes that their mentor will be a perfect match.

Are You Uncomfortable Being Open in a Mentoring Relationship? 

Letting go of one's defenses and being truly open with a senior leader is one of the most daunting challenges new mentees face....

Preparing for Mentoring