Mentoring is one of the most effective development tools. But what elements must be met for it to actually work?
According to 75% of managers, individual mentoring is one of the most important factors affecting their professional success (after The American Society for Training & Development). Top management of the largest organizations thinks the same way – as many as 71% of Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring programs to their employees, treating them as a tool: career development, talent development, diversity training and knowledge transfer.
This is great news for those who see their future in mentoring: whether professional or amateur.
Without a doubt, mentoring is one of the most effective development tools.
But what elements must be met for it to actually work? Based on our years of observation and professional experience, we have distinguished 5 factors that we believe affect the effectiveness of mentoring.
We call them the “Big Five.” They are:
1. involvement of the mentored
In order for the mentoring process to be meaningful and successful, the mentee’s willingness to develop and willingness to work on himself is essential. He must commit his time and energy to the process, be prepared to change and accept that the mentor will evaluate his actions and ideas. He also needs to take responsibility for his progress in the process, rather than counting on the mentor to develop him.
2. jointly set a challenge/goal
The mentee’s task (with the help of the mentor) is to define the challenge he or she will want to work on. It must be a clear, long-term development goal and be linked to progress.
3. partnership relationship
The mentoring relationship should be a partnership, based on the equivalence of the rights of both parties. The prerequisite for this is full openness to have deep conversations, to expose doubts, weaknesses and mistakes, to introduce resolutions and to be ready to engage in the process. Your role is not only to support and impart experience, but also to organize the mentee’s knowledge – you need to take care and have a sense of what and how you are imparting so as not to overwhelm him. Remember that your relationship is one of those intimate ones that require the courage to expose yourself.
4 Sticking to established rules and regularity of meetings
Mentoring is a social transaction that needs to be agreed upon. Together with the mentee, you should establish a schedule and formula for meetings that you will follow (regardless of other business and life tasks). This is because the mentoring process consists of regular sessions aimed at self-reflection, working on a strategy for action, verifying hypotheses.
5. mentor support
You are a mature person who has knowledge, experience and knows how to share them in an appropriate way. However, regardless of your position and seniority, you must remember that you are an equivalent partner to the mentee. Your job is to accompany him – to monitor his progress toward his goal, to give support, to help him understand behaviors and attitudes, not to gloss over them.
Without meeting these 5 conditions, it will be difficult to achieve the mentoring goal. This is the starting point for your work together.
