LEADERSHIP

Do you have a mentoring program in your organization?

Do you also have a mentoring program manager?

I invite you to think about what we forget too often in Mentoring.

This is an essential thing that I researched in my Master’s thesis. This work is probably my first written source, which also captures my thoughts on Mentoring Culture. The work was defended in 2014, but the culture of mentoring haunted me much longer. Like the perception of what kind of mistake we as leaders keep repeating in mentoring.

All leaders are well aware that processes need to be managed. No, I will not talk about process management. However, neither ten years ago nor now do I understand why leaders do not pay enough attention to the management of the Mentoring process. And yet they expect results.

The role played by the third party, the Mentoring program manager, is highlighted by most authors writing on the topic of Mentoring.

However, after many of my interviews with both the leaders of the organizations themselves and with the Mentors and mentee, the picture emerges that the focus is on mentoring pairing. And here it stops. As if that’s all. Here is a mentee, here is a mentor assigned to the mentee. Let’s go. Start mentoring. Create benefits for each other and the organization. So they start creating.

 Usually they do it the way they know it. What if there are 20, 30 or more Mentors in an organization?… And is there no program manager or he is not very active? Or the process itself and his own functions are not very clear to him? Then we will have not a single purposeful Mentoring process in the organization leading to the desired result, but many different small Mentoring processes. Some will be more successful, others not very successful. Some will be closer to the goal we hope to achieve, while others will fall far short of the arc.

The Mentoring program manager is one of the most important factors in determining the success of mentoring programs.

Whether an organization is implementing a Mentoring program or fostering a Mentoring culture will lead to those promised Mentoring benefits is highly dependent on who will be the guide who will lead to that goal.

That was just one parameter that let us to expect to have an effective mentoring program. Next time I will look at other components.

So take a look at your own mentoring programs.

Haven’t you lost any component that would lead to your success?

Do not hesitate to let me a message 🙂