Lighthouse Performance Strategies FlashByte

The value of mentoring as a development tactic goes unquestioned by most leaders. Since few would debate the potential of mentoring's inherent merits, it seems illogical that mentoring's empiric validity remains questionable. (Reference Lighthouse Performance Strategies, Inc. Mentor Survey 2008 (1))

What we do know is that for optimal success, mentoring needs to be a mission critical process, espoused and enacted by executive leadership and linked to the organization's success measures. In other words, just because organizations say they "value" mentoring, doesn't mean this process will contribute meaningfully to organizational success. "Build it and they will come" is the stuff of motion pictures, whereas "good intentions falling short" is the reality of most work place leadership development initiatives. Even well planned intentions for mentoring relationships to be developmentally rich and promote intimate 1:1 learning, does not guarantee such outcomes, and yet this is just what "mentoring" seeks to make happen.

The "mind of the mentor" is mostly about information transfer from a senior more experienced and knowledgeable individual (mentor), to a less experienced colleague (protégé). Why is it then, that the protégé doesn't always "get it"? Is the mentor speaking in a language that isn't mutually understood, relating information from unfamiliar contexts and/or emphasizing knowledge/experience which is not aligned with the protégé's priorities? If the protégé doesn't get it, the outcome is more consistent with trying to "follow in the mentor's footsteps", versus new learning/innovation which leads to blazing the protégé's own unique trail in best service to her/his organization.

To best facilitate the mentoring process and address these aforementioned "shortcomings" requires that the mentor don the "cap of the coach" (2).

Utilizing a coaching model, the mentoring relationship becomes characterized by:
1. Open and actively receptive mentor and protégé.
2. Mutually agreed upon success measures related to organizational priorities.
3. Dialogue vs. telling orientation; supporting mutual feedback and incorporating techniques from a coaching model, such as the Five-Step Coaching Conversation Model (3).
4. Success orientation; brainstorming, innovation, removing barriers, and consideration of all reasonable alternatives.
5. Goal orientation and action planning; with progress reviewed in each session related to organizational success measures.

Donning the "cap of the coach", addresses the aforementioned need for both structural integrity and mission criticality for optimal mentoring success. Too often mentor programs are too unstructured (request a copy of the LPS, Inc. mentoring survey here), unrelated to organizational success measures, more about telling than dialogue and less about innovation and action planning than "I did it my way...you should do it my way too." Let's teach mentors to don the "cap of the coach" - the dreams of their protégés, and the mission of their organizations will more likely become realized.

CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE?

We have found that getting from an idea i.e., "Mentoring is a good idea", to creating a culture in which Mentoring is a successful development way of being and working, involves a journey. That journey is in essence an experiment. If you would like to join like-minded individuals in the journey to harvesting employee, educator, and student engagement from a mentoring culture, please sign on!

If you are interested in joining an upcoming MasterMind group entitled Harvesting Engagement from Mentoring Cultures,
please register for complimentary informational session.

References:
(1) Mentoring Survey Results
(2) The term "coach" is used as a generic term. A certified coach is credentialed in the ICF core competencies detailed in www.coachfederation.org
(3) 5-Step Coaching Conversation Model, Corporate Coach University Corporate Coaching Clinic. www.coachu.com

Learn more about the programs and services of Lighthouse Performance Strategies, Inc. Visit us on the web: www.lighthousePSI.com . If you are a health care organization, visit us at www.healthcarerenaissance.net.