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Investing In Others: The Role of Mentors In Today’s Workforce

Part 1

By Stefanie Siebold

In order to stay competitive and survive in today’s economy, corporations are becoming leaner, tighter working units. They are facing major structural and design changes and have to re-evaluate their corporate strategy. Corporations that were built as multi-layered hierarchical powerhouses are now downsizing and implementing total quality management, reward systems, and allocating more money to training programs. These corporations are also restructuring work environments to be more diverse, cooperative and team based. An organization’s key asset is its people. Since these changes are making career stability seem shaky, corporations need to retain and recruit workers by providing them with the key skills and abilities that will make them more marketable in the organization.

One way corporations are doing this is through the strategy of mentoring. Mentoring can be the key to a corporation’s survival and individual’s professional and personal development, but unless these relationships are nurtured with both individual and organization needs in mind, they can become stressful relationships that cause conflict within the corporation.

Mentoring has a long and reputable history. Through time, mentoring has included trade and craft guilds, apprenticeship systems, and similar learning styles. Mentoring dates back to 800 B.C. The philosophy of mentoring originated from the Greek story, Odyssey. When Odysseus, king of Ithaca, left his home to fight in the Trojan War, he left his household in the trusted care of Mentor. Mentor served as teacher and overseer of Telemachus, Odysseus’ son. In time, the word mentor became synonymous with trusted advisor, friend, teacher and wise person (Shea, 1997).

In the late twentieth century, mentoring has returned to popularity under a variety of names and styles. In modern use, mentor may include some or all of these roles: advisor, coach, counselor, experienced leader, advocate, patron, role model, trainer or guide. Mentoring is a method by which a less experienced individual can learn from a more experienced one. It has embraced a number of innovations, one of them being facilitated mentoring. This is where an organization (usually the employer) establishes a specific methodology and expectations and places individuals into relationships.

Mentoring is a fundamental part of human development, which directly affects the success of an organization. According to Stephen Gibb (1994), a mentor is “an accomplished and experienced performer who takes a special, personal interest in helping to guide and develop a junior or more inexperienced person,” (p. 223). Mentoring is an advanced skill that requires both interpersonal ability as well as expert job-skill knowledge.

The protégé and mentor are two individuals who engage in a structured relationship with specific objectives. The mentor shares with the protégé the responsibility of achieving the goals rather than bearing sole responsibility. A dictionary definition of protégé includes "a person under the patronage or care of someone influential who can further his or her career" (Random House, 1988). Other terms used for protégé include mentee, apprentice, candidate and trainee.

According to Hagstad (1999):

Two-thirds of 1,250 top executives surveyed recently had mentors early in their careers. Some of those surveyed believe that succeeding in the workplace requires a mentor.

A positive and effective mentoring relationship is similar to any valued human relationship. Both partners enter the mentoring relationship with a desire to develop a defined skill or competency. There must be respect for the values and expectations of the other person. Mentoring relationships are evolutionary. They change as the protégé (and mentor) acquire new knowledge, skills, and standards of professional competence.

The role of the mentor takes on many different styles of relationships. An effective mentor first must act as a sponsor to the protégé. A mentor should be in a position where they have the power and ability to help the protégé gain visibility and exposure. The mentor should secure invitations to key meetings, gain membership to important task groups, or recommend the protégé for new projects and learning opportunities.

Another relationship style is to act as teacher. A mentor is able to help a protégé learn new skills by allowing themselves to observe the protégé in action and emulate the skills and behaviors demonstrated. Providing constructive feedback is also inestimable. A mentor is an information source. They can provide their protégé with both one-time and ongoing information.

Acting as nurturer is a relationship style also required by the mentor. A mentor can assist the protégé by listening to their needs and frustrations and by offering support and encouragement. A mentor must serve as a sounding board, providing additional insights and clarification on issues.

Based on personal experiences, a mentor can provide their protégé with advice, sincere opinions, and unique insights. The mentor must act as an advisor on behalf of the protégé. In a mentoring relationship the mentor takes on the role of a connector by offering a wealth of introductions to their protégé, connecting them with other professionals, and opening up new avenues and opportunities for their learning and growth. The mentor takes the protégé under their wing, per se, and helps to socialize them into the corporate culture and political ways.

Using all of the defined relationship styles, the mentor communicates information, personal insight, tips, techniques and advice regarding the corporation’s culture: who the key people are, strategies within the organization etc., and the corporate politics: how work gets accomplished. Other functions of the mentor are to provide support, direction, and feedback regarding career plans and personal development (Levinson, 1978). The mentor achieves this by providing exposure, protection and challenges to the protégé, all the while increasing the protégé’s sense of identity and competencies. Overall, the mentor relationships are implemented to help remove barriers within a corporation in order to help the protégé move within it (Stokes, 1994).

Within the different relationship styles there are many behaviors that have been identified in effective mentoring programs. A mentor should be willing to put forth the effort without consideration of personal benefit. Personal benefits are often intangible, but they do exist, and will materialize over time. Mentoring is not effortless, nor is it an instantaneous event. Time will be spent in active discourse with the protégé, and time will be required to adequately prepare for meetings. A good mentor will be easily accessible to their protégé. The mentor must be generous with time throughout the relationship, not just at the beginning. Being an active participant in the relationship is critical, seeking out the protégé rather then waiting for the protégé to make contact. This creates a sense of commitment and worth to the protégé.

In a mentoring relationship, the protégé must be able to contact the mentor easily. Mentors must respond in a timely fashion. The protégé may need a few moments of the mentor’s time on short notice. However, an important component of professionalism is respect for the time of others. It is up to the mentor to define reasonable limits and to identify demands that are excessive or unreasonable.

Another effective mentor behavior is sensitivity. A mentor must be sensitive to cultural and gender differences. Some of the most effective protégé/mentor matches involve very different individuals. This allows the relationship and learning to take on different levels and meaning.

Confidentiality must be a required behavior for both the mentor and the protégé. The protégé will expect, and the corporation should demand, that all details and particulars that are discussed be kept in confidence. Most often the protégé will come to the mentor to discuss their difficulties with others. As a professional, gossiping about those difficulties with any other person is highly inappropriate and should be considered unprofessional conduct. However, any situation involving a risk to the public would override this expectation of confidentiality.

Additionally, effective mentors must have certain 'soft skills' to work with, and teach their protégés. A good mentor will also recognize their own limitations, and will take active steps towards improvement. Being an effective mentor means having the ability to be objective. The protégé will go to the mentor for advice. As a mentor, the individual needs to be able to separate themselves from the situation, be able to view both sides, and provide the protégé with meaningful direction that is not slanted towards personal biases.

In order for a mentoring relationship to succeed, it must be completely confidential. This is especially important when the participants work for different organizations. Any information that either the mentor or protégé receives about the other organization must be kept confidential, and not relayed to their co-workers or exploited for personal gain. According to Kram (1985), “before a cross-organizational mentoring relationship is established, both participants should fully disclose their intentions to their respective employers. It is important to remember that a mentoring relationship does not exist for technical reasons. Its purpose is to aid the protégé in developing other skills such as communication skills, management skills and an understanding of the societal impact of practicing the professions. Any technical content should be at the most, a very minor component of the relationship” (p. 23)

Once a mentor/protégé relationship is established, it is important to identify the type of mentoring style that is being used. Corporations use many different styles of mentoring in today’s workforce. Parsloe (1999) gives meaning to the different styles of mentoring: business mentoring, executive mentoring, performance mentoring, skills mentoring and finally, personal mentoring. Effective mentoring programs use many different styles of mentoring to best meet the needs of the company.

Performance and skills mentoring occur in many forms. One example is called casual mentoring. Casual mentoring is one of the most common styles of mentoring; it is also the most informal. This is an example of personal mentoring and what some individuals are referring to when they give public recognition to their mentor. They may be referring to someone who has served as a role model or example. The mentor may not be aware that the protégé is using their behaviors as an example to follow (Parsloe, 1999). Everyone engages in this type of mentoring, but it has no formal structure or defined objectives - it involves simply learning from the good habits and behaviors demonstrated by others. This is not to suggest that casual mentoring be without value, since much can be learned from others, even in passing interactions.

Informal mentoring relationships are unplanned mentoring relationships. Corporations use this as another form of performance and skills style mentoring. Parsloe (1999) states that informal mentoring relationships grow out of a chance connection between two people, and are further built into a relationship where there is transference of skills and knowledge. The relationship may transcend from professional to personal, and may last a lifetime. These mentoring relationships are unquestionably valuable, but 'just happen' as opposed to being actively developed. Informal mentoring can be enhanced if the participants in the relationship take the time to formally discuss and establish specific goals for the transference of certain skills and knowledge in set time periods.

Non-facilitated mentoring relationships are those with structure, such as a mentoring contract, but they have no coordinated assignment of mentor-protégé pairs. The individuals make a connection with help or direction. The individuals will have supporting material such as written guidelines or seminars, and will be cognizant of their individual and paired expectations. They will undertake a mentoring contract, and will consult their respective employers if necessary. They may have access to resource persons for help. This is also an example of skills mentoring.

The opposite of non-facilitated mentoring relationships is the facilitated relationship. According to Murray (1991), this is "a structure and series of processes designed to create effective mentoring relationships, guide the desired behavior change of those involved, and evaluate the results for the apprentices, the mentors, and the organization." It involves an autonomous body assigning individuals together based on character, skills, need, and other criteria. Some large corporations have facilitated mentoring programs as part of their company orientation practices, or as succession to management strategies. This can be an example of performance and executive mentoring styles. The matching process is time consuming and requires considerable human and capital resources. Other drawbacks of facilitated mentoring include the lack of choice and potential problems due to lack of flexibility.

A relatively new idea, or renewed idea, that was a practiced hundreds of years ago under various names, is group mentoring. This occurs when a number of mentors serve together as a resource for a defined group of protégés with similar expectations. The mentors bring a variety of skills to the protégés, and share responsibility for the protégés' growth. The group may meet at regular intervals, and unlike a one-on-one pairing, if one or two mentors are unavailable, the protégés will still have a contact person. The protégé group also benefits from the varying backgrounds and skill sets of their peers, and may not need the mentor(s) presence at each meeting. All involved benefit from the network of colleagues which naturally ensues. Group mentoring can be categorized as an example of business mentoring.

The corporation that I work for, Management Training Corporation (MTC), uses this style of mentoring. MTC has developed several mentoring programs for employees’ professional development within the corporation. These programs have been very beneficial in the growth of the employees and the company. By using this group style of mentoring, the MTCs’ mentors have experienced a relief in the partnership by less time constraints. This allows the mentor to feel less stress with time management and also gives the mentor other outlets for the protégé. In this style the protégé benefits as well. It has been my experience that the group of protéges’ form a bond that provides a sense of security in their skills learning. This allows them to also learn from each other forming their own casual mentoring relationships.

When the individuals benefit from a mentoring relationship, so too will the organization! It has been shown that with greater job satisfaction there is an increase in productivity. This increased productivity benefits the organization by having less turnover and absenteeism, but most important to one’s bottom-line is that increased productivity allows the corporation to stay competitive. These are not the only benefits that organizations receive from successful mentor programs. Hunt (1993) states that mentor programs “also aid in the development of managerial type talent”. This is true as long as the mentor is well educated and rehearsed in their job duties and the corporate culture.

According to Russell (1997):

Companies that utilize effective mentor programs report faster promotion rates, increased compensation, increased job satisfaction, accelerated career mobility, and reduced role conflict and role ambiguity for the protégé.”

Due to happier and more satisfied workers, organizations see the benefit through increased productivity, enhanced organization-wide communication, and lower levels of turnover. Leading edge companies that are still continuing to invest in training and development will come out far ahead of other businesses whose only management strategy is to cut costs. This will eventually cause a reduction in the company’s training due to the fact that the focus, financially, is not directed on the advances in the training or personal growth of their employee, but rather in enhancing the company’s products or services.

Training, education, and degree completion programs have become one of the most desired employee benefits available. Among younger job seekers, Smith (2001), found that the opportunity to learn new skills is the number one benefit.

According to Smith (2001):

Employees value the opportunity to advance and make more money. They also want to make a bigger contribution and have a fear of failing or falling behind in a competitive world. Satisfying this desire with training accomplishes personal and organizational goals. Well-trained employees are more capable and willing to assume more control over their jobs. They need less supervision, which frees management for other tasks.

With effective mentor programs, employees are better able to answer the questions of customers, which builds better customer loyalty. Employees who understand the business complain less, are more satisfied and are more motivated. All of this leads to better management-employee relationships.

In a study of more than 3,100 U.S. workplaces, the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce found that on average, a 10 percent increase in work force education level led to an 8.6 percent gain in total productivity. But a 10 percent increase in the value of equipment increased productivity just 3.4 percent (Employee Turnover- Respect your investment, www.incentivepower.com)

Part 2 of this article will be published in the February 2003 issue of weLEAD Online Magazine.

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About the author:

Stefanie Siebold has personal experience with mentoring as an employee of the Management Training Corporation (MTC). She is completing her B.S. degree in Management at Bellevue University.

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