Mentor Relationships that Work

Sandra Oliver & Claire Carver-Dias

Impact.

Agenda

• Trends in mentorship

• Develop a mentoring plan

• Effective mentoring skills

• Building relationships

Why mentor?

• Onboard effectively

• Enhance diversity

• Improve retention of high potentials

• Targeted skill and leadership development

• Address a critical skill gap (in tandem with

coaching)

Mentoring works. • In a recent meta-study, 90% of organizations surveyed

reported evidence of positive outcomes from mentoring programs

• A comprehensive US study on mentoring revealed the following benefits:

▫ 25% of employees who enrolled in a mentoring program had a salary-grade change; only 5% of workers who did not participate had a change

▫ Mentors were promoted 6 times more often than those not in a mentoring program

▫ Mentees were promoted 5 times more often than those not in a mentoring program

▫ Retention rates also were higher for both mentees (72%) and mentors (69%) than for employees who did not participate in a mentoring program

Mentoring is hot.

• Formalized mentoring programs on the rise:

▫ More than 70% of Fortune 500 companies have a

mentoring program

▫ 69% of surveyed companies representing a wide

variety of industries, have formal mentoring

programs

▫ 60% of UK business leaders have had a mentor,

and of these, 97% claim they have benefited from

the advice given

Definition

• Earliest definitions characterize mentoring as a

sustained relationship between a younger, less

experienced individual (protégé) and an older,

more experienced individual (mentor), dedicated

to achieving long term success and fulfillment

(RJ Burke, 1984; K.E. Kram, 1985).

Current trends. • Short-term, goal-oriented mentoring – focuses on specific

goals for a set time period • Peer-to-peer mentoring – pairs young employees with each

other • Peer group mentoring – matches individuals with similar

objectives into peer support groups • Personal advisory groups – mentees create their own

“board” of advisors • Speed mentoring – time-limited meetings (usually 1 hour or

less) where a mentee is matched with a mentor and focuses on quick-hit information and networking

• Reverse mentoring – matches senior executives (the mentees) with younger people (the mentors) to help them stay up to date in a fast-changing world

• Job-fit related mentoring – fitting specific mentors to particular jobs

Common mistakes. • Not taking a comprehensive approach that

recognizes the differing approaches to mentoring

• Not connecting mentoring to a comprehensive talent management program

• No success measures

• Taking a one-size-fits-all approach

• Not spending enough time selecting participants

• Requiring everyone on a list to have a mentor

• Not enough training, support and follow up for both mentors and mentees

• No mentoring plan to support the relationship

• Not putting enough (or any) emphasis on the mentee

Mentoring is a talent development tool.

Mentoring Plans

Talent assessment and development

process

Leadership commitment, involvement and oversight

Creating a mentoring plan.

Assessment & Planning

Mentoring Conversations

Evaluation

Impact mentoring plan. Strengths

Gaps

Desired Future State

Team

Goals Actions Timing

Agree on the relationship.

• Discuss early how you will work together:

▫ How much time will each invest to build a strong

relationship?

▫ Agree on some norms – “stop by anytime” may

not work

▫ Agree on scheduling

▫ Extreme coachability?

Assessment & Planning

Assessment & Planning

Gather data (both mentee and mentor):

Personality profiles

Performance reviews

Goals

Impressions from others familiar with the work of the mentee

Assessment &

Planning

Mentoring Conversations

Assessment & Planning

Prepare for the meeting:

Schedule a time and place

Assign homework

Do your homework, bring a progress report Mentoring

Conversations

Evaluation

Assessment & Planning

Review progress to plan:

Regular evaluation of the relationship and progress at each meeting (both parties)

Evaluation of mentee progress at leadership talent reviews Evaluation

A word to mentees: It’s your career. • Be prepared for meetings

• Remain open to feedback and act on the feedback

• Close the loop with mentors on feedback offered

• Be appreciative

• Ask for mentors’ time

• Build your own team/personal advisory board

• Be willing to reach way up (and ask for a really good mentor)

• Pick mentors you respect

• Give feedback often

Mentors should be more than just mentors.

• Wants to mentor and is committed to the employee’s growth

• Knows the job and is familiar with the organization culture

• Demonstrates honesty, integrity, and stewardship • Able to spend time with the mentored employee • Is highly successful in their job and the organization • Comfortable challenging an employee • Strong professional networks • Willing to communicate failures as well as successes • Able to say when the relationship is not working / back

away appropriately without regard to ego issues

Effective mentoring skills.

• Don’t assume

• Listen

• Challenge

• Be transparent

• Take risks

• Connect

Ask powerful questions. Personal Vision/ action planning

• What one thing do you enjoy most about your work? What are the things you like

least?

• If you could design your own job (no constraints) what would it look like?

• What are your strengths that you want to preserve and build upon?

• What does success look like on this issue for you (in six months/a year)?

• What would successfully fulfilling these goals look like? How would you measure it?

• How much progress have you made so far?

• How much time do you have to achieve this?

• What is keeping you from getting the results that you want?

• What behaviours will you need to enhance or change?

Developing your Team

• Who needs to know about this? What do you need from them? What is in it for

them?

• Who are supporters? Detractors? What is your plan for each?

Using your mentor

• How can I be most helpful to you?

Challenge.

• Give homework that stretches the mentee

• Have high expectations (expect them to pursue

the plan you’ve agreed to)

Build trust.

• The single most important element of the

mentor-mentee relationship is trust

• Mentor can share stories and his/her own

challenges

• Complete and share personality test data

• Do what you say you’re going to do

• Accept confrontation: when there is a difference

of opinion, promote discussion and explore

solutions with the intent to solve problems

▫ (Michael Hyatt)

Q & A

Additional resources • Powerful Questions Can Have a Powerful Effect

▫ http://www.inc.com/articles/2001/09/23385.html

• Looking for Help at Work? Get a Mentor

▫ http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/mar2010/ca2010031_4

23652.htm

• The Workplace: How to find a mentor at work

▫ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/business/worldbusiness/25iht-

workcol26.html

• Trusted Advisor

▫ David H. Maister (Author), Charles H Green (Author), Robert M. Galford

(Author)

• Demystifying Mentoring (HBR)

▫ http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/02/demystifying-mentoring.html

• Get the Mentoring Equation Right (HBR)

▫ http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2011/10/get-the-mentoring-equation-rig.html