Part III – Formal Mentoring Programs

There is a similarity between all mentoring programs whether they are in academia, non-profit, service organizations or industry. It all begins with a cadre of individuals that have the know-how and patience to serve as a mentor and willing participants that understand that they don’t know it all and have a lust for knowledge. To establish a formal program for mentorship in a business, there are threads of conflict that must be resolved before a successful launch and execution of a program can be made. One aspect that must always be included in a mentoring plan is some way of assessing the participants and making corrections as necessary to improve the process. While all processes are not so technical as to demand detailed specifications, most employees will ramp up to a higher level of productivity in a faster time if given a leg up by mentoring.

There are many ways that a company can arrange for the mentoring process to begin, but after selection of the designated pool of mentors and mentees a successful pairing must be performed and maintained. The likelihood of success depends on the strength of that bond.

1. Resources Matching – There must be similar expectations on the use of “together time” and “away time” that tracks to the availability of the pair. Likewise, there can be no set rule for the length of the mentorship unless company restraints dictate otherwise. Once formed, the successful partnership will take a life of its own and it is not uncommon for it to go beyond any corporate guidelines and even continue in an informal relationship after the training is completed. As mentioned in previous parts of this article, this is not a friendship, or at least not in the beginning, but if the resources allow for continued relationships to exist beyond the normal term this could extend into lifelong mutual respect.
2. Needs Matching – A new hire mentoring program takes employees from an external source and matches them with someone with deep institutional knowledge. This does not necessarily mean the trainee is someone fresh out of school, but those from other companies with dissimilar cultures may be candidates for mentoring.  This type of matching could also be someone that is promoted to a new level within the same company. Needs analysis is so much more than just a pairing by chance because the technical and intellectual maturity needs of each mentee has to be assessed. Similar academic background or previous work assignments can be the formal bond that makes the pairing come together. Regardless of the need, expect for unplanned surprises when self driven mentorship pairs define their own agenda and go beyond intended objectives.
3. Talent Matching – Pairing the technical expertise of a long term employee with those who have the potential to reach the same heights would seem to be a condition for a perfect match. Accountants with accountants, engineers with engineers, and so on would only be a minimum standard. Allowing for divergence of thought to expand the horizons of both mentors and mentees is also a consideration. Entry level talent in most cases will not have hands-on practical experience, but some mentors may not have been exposed even in theory to new trends and techniques. Usually the expert is able to broaden perspective by incorporating the thinking of experiences from the wild. New and novel ideas originate from such cross-pollination of ideas.
4. Psychological Matching – Most formal programs do not rely on formal testing of mentorship pairs to determine their compatibility but this technique is extremely useful. One such test, appropriately used in marriage counseling, is the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis (TJTA) that measures nine personality traits and their polar opposites. An interesting experiment conducted in the military evaluated team leaders their peers or subordinates would take the same test responding as the leader. The differences in perspective are usually quite revealing. A more common technique would be to use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators to evaluate each person in assigning the mentor/mentee pairings. Needless to say, this is not foolproof but avoiding extroverted clashes might be a better way to decide. An important note: Psychological testing is not a tool for amateurs! An HR “expert” playing amateur shrink can create as many problems as solutions.

Before moving on to discuss other types of mentor/mentee relationships, consider this: There is no such thing as a formal 360° mentoring program. A program that is designed to teach the old dog new tricks is in fact a traditional mentorship where the mentee happens to be older or have more seniority than the mentor. In a true mentor/mentee relationship, 360° learning is expected to happen naturally. Mutual respect and trust is the glue that makes it work.

 
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