Not all companies have formal programs to start a new employee on the right track. Many long term employees entering new jobs may not be afforded a formal program to bring them up to speed. It is necessary in some cases for mentors to self appoint themselves to fill a training gap. It is also important for all of us who need assistance to seek out and appoint our own mentors. Is this some sort of a new tactic? Of course not! When children really, REALLY want something they beg, cry, bargain and rant until magic happens and it arrives… or they sadly accept the finality of the situation and relapse into pouting, whining and stamping of feet. Hopefully, most of us have evolved past the childish tantrum stage and have matured into adults that never have to wait for someone else to satisfy our needs. Waiting for someone else to act when control could be self-generated is passive and non-productive. Seizing the opportunity and actively pursuing it will cause it to happen. The mentee is always in charge of the mentorship. If a mentor is not appointed, resorting to self selection is the next best thing. The important thing to remember is that the characteristics and rules for being a mentor or mentee in a formal program still apply.
- Executive Career Mentoring – Individuals with brilliant minds often ascend to a throne of power by incorporating their ideas and hiring employees to help with the business. For a larger company there may be time for the exec to attend the short course at Harvard on how to run a company, but for the most part it is trial by fire. When the walls are closing in, it is important to remember that brilliant minds do not suddenly go stupid. What is needed in most cases is simply expert advice and counsel on a regular basis by an individual who has been through hell and survived. Formal engagement of this expertise is preferable, but there are local organizations of retired business executives who find that they actually miss the daily grind and offer their support to businesses in need of mentoring. The important factor to remember is that the self-designated mentee must honestly admit that they need the assistance and actively solicit help.
- Mid-Career Mentoring – In an era of specialization, it is possible to arrive at a relatively senior position within an organization without paying appropriate dues in all aspects of the field. When this happens in an environment of fiscal belt-tightening, formal training programs are often not available or practical. This is especially true in technical or scientific areas where knowledge expands faster than any single individual can experience. It is not a sign of weakness for a self-designated mentee to reach out to someone with experience that fills the gap in personal knowledge or forming working partnerships with individuals having a complementary skill set. In the typical mentor/mentee relationship, both parties will benefit equally from this arrangement. It only takes one person to initiate the mentorship and arrange for a plan of improvement.
- Circular Mentoring – Again quoting Howard Rheingold, “All of us can be smarter than any of us.†Cultivating an environment in a company or other organization that encourages informal collaborations to share basic skills and knowledge will improve the performance of all participants. The rules for being a mentor or mentee have not been overlooked, but there can be a conscious and deliberate rotation of responsibility that not only improves mentorship abilities within the group but also fosters a culture of equality that promotes mutual respect. The use of online collective intelligence cannot be overlooked as an important form of mentoring as close ties in social media can lead to important progress in personal development.
- Forward Mentoring – Although this sounds a bit like demanding that someone “volunteer†to be mentored, sometimes it is necessary to recognize weaknesses in coworkers and colleagues and offer to assist them reach the next level. If this is done in an atmosphere that preaches “Pay it forward†then the reward will not only be a more efficient and productive organization but a continuing process of forward mentoring. The absence of a formal mechanism to set goals and objectives is not an obstacle if management endorses this concept and allows it to happen without restraint.
Whether formal or informal, mentorship programs are necessary and opportunities for engagement are all around us. It takes hard work to organize, promote and execute any mentorship, but there is documented evidence that it works. Even anecdotal proof in our own careers lends credibility to the importance of learning through others. It also constantly reinforces that none of us know it all and all of us can use some help.
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