Training Blog

Mentoring is a relationship in which one person (the mentor) – usually someone more experienced and often more senior in an organization/ helps another ( men learner) to discover more about his or her personal qualities, capabilities and potential. It can e an informal relationship, with the learner leaning on the mentor for guidance, support, help, and feedback, or a more formal arrangement between two people who respect and trust each other.

Mentoring need not bring together a trainer and a trainee or resemble line management with its attention to seniority and rank. Instead, the mentors role is to listen, ask questions, and probe for facts and career choices; the mentor is a channel of information , experience, and opportunities from various sources that can benefit the learner.

Mentors are there not to instruct, but to provide learners with input to help them from their own views, develop different perspectives, and develop as people and as potential managers.

The key elements:

1. check the mentor has the right skills

It’s essential that the mentor has

1. • good listening skills
   • sophistication in using different forms of questions –open, closed, probing, etc.
   • the maturity to suspend personal judgment and prejudice so that the learner can choose from a variety of directions.
   • Experience in giving constructive feedback, covering negative and positive aspects in a way that the learner can act on.
   • Skill in helping to define objectives and plan ways of achieving them
   • The initiative to use other people’s skills and experiences to open up learning opportunities on the learner’s behalf

Consider having the skills of a potential mentor evaluated by an objective party, ideally someone with experience in mentoring. Individuals almost always either over- or underestimate their own competence (especially in communication, where most people believe they shine, even when they are barely adequate)

The mentor must be someone of authority in the organization, an experience person who can open doors for the learner and offer viewpoints from a valued perspective. If necessary, arrange training and development for the mentor to sharpened and refine appropriate skills.

1. Clarify the mentoring relationship

Ensure that both the learner and the mentor are clear on what the relationship is – and is not – about. Early clarification can help avoid any later confusion and disappointment.

If appropriate, consider drafting a mentoring contract, specifying>

• The participants’ respective roles responsibilities, and commitment.
• The planned number and frequency of meetings, to be reviewed and amended as necessary
• The participants’ obligation of confidentiality within the relationship

Remember that the aim of the mentor is to help the learner develop, not adopt the mentor’s ideas. The relationship should never become one of dependency – watch our for signs that this might be happening.

1. Open the relationship

Recognize that in the early stages of the relationship the mentor needs to take the lead; later s the learner’s confidence and understanding grows, the balance shifts. Set objectives for what the mentoring process is to achieve; make the objective relevant, specific, achievable, and time-limited.

Identify potential short- and long-term problems and discuss ways of tackling them.

1. Develop the relationship

At the start of each mentoring session, and each time learners reach a milestone, review not just their current performance or success, but what lessons they learned about themselves and the process.

Mentor and learner should jointly identify what needs to be explored in order to achieve each objective. Compare the desired outcome with the current situation, identify the gaps, and outline what needs to happen to get from here to there.

Select and agree an appropriate route to achieving each objective. Possible routes included learning experiences that can be provided or facilitated by he mentor, knowledge that can be passed from mentor to learner, and counseling and feedback to heighten the learner’s self-awareness.

1. End the relationship

Mentoring relationships between people outside work may flourish for years. Inside the workplace, however, mentoring ends when the objectives are achieved. Having reached this point, celebrate the success of the relationship with a final review of the learner’s progress.