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A Practical Guide for Managers

The idea of creating a culture that cultivates mentoring is still relatively new. Different companies and organizations have differed mentoring needs, and coaching frameworks are diverse to a certain extent. However, the base of these mentoring schemes consists of a few standard components.

Who Should Read “Mentoring in Action”? And Why?

This handbook discloses how to set up a coaching program and does that in a practical and workable manner. The book is a linkage of an extended presentation of more than 25 case studies and a conclusion. These examples include a wide assortment of corporate and academic cases.

The drawback is that creators David Megginson, Bob Garvey, David Clutterbuck, Paul Stokes and Ruth Garrett-Harris have written the book, assuming that readers are already knowledgeable about mentoring terminology.

We recommend “Mentoring in Action” to human resources and management experts who are interested in conducting a mentoring program. Also, professionals who are not sure if their company is suited for a mentoring program, and if such programs work, may find the answer between the book pages.

About David Megginson, David Clutterbuck, & Bob Garvey

David Megginson is a software developer, specializing in open source software development and application.

David Clutterbuck is a professor of coaching and mentoring at Sheffield Hallam University, where Bob Garvey is the pioneer of the related research section.

“Mentoring in Action Summary”

The first element is defining the purpose. In other words, building up a clear and unmistakable comprehension of what you need your mentoring system to achieve is crucial.

To make sure that no conflicts or pressure will appear later in the process, you must make sure that participants concur on the objectives before they start. The next stage is an evaluation or deciding how you will assess the program’s result before you begin.

Determine how you will define achievement and what accomplishments you will take into consideration during evaluation. Select the criteria you will utilize.

The third element is recruitment and selection. It incorporates figuring out who qualifies to enter the program and become a “mentee.” Depending on your objectives, just a few individuals from your organization will partake in the process.

When you identify the potential partakers, make a strategy for enlisting them. The fourth element is mentoring training. For a useful program, you need talented mentors. Mentoring can be taught. Choose what sort of instructions and preparation your mentors need.

Finally, the last element is coordinating and matching mentees with suitable mentors.

The dynamic of the mentoring relationship will develop after some time, and may include a transition period. Outside conditions can influence it, including age, the corporate culture and structure, and the length of the relationship.

Profound discussions may not happen in short coaching relationships, so utilizing a short-term program may restrain learning opportunities. Cementing this center relationship is the most significant factor in maintaining the mentoring process. So, what exactly shapes the relationship?

On the off chance that you could decide precisely what might make one coaching relationship stable and productive, while another one is the complete opposite, you could spare organizations billions of dollars and hours of lost time.

From various perspectives, the mentor-mentee relationship is a dance of expectations and practices. It is important what mentees figure they will get from mentoring and how they act to deserve those benefits.

In building up those desires and expectations, it is essential to consider the context of the relationship. Naturally, conditions change after some time, so stay aware of the “gradual maturing” of the relationship and the people taking an interest in your coaching program.

In the end, great mentoring ought to result in a crisp awareness that prompts real changes in the mentee’s conduct and activities.

Key Lessons from “Mentoring in Action”

1.      Perspectives on Mentoring
2.      Building Quality Relationships
3.      “The Learning Conversation”

Perspectives on Mentoring

The mentoring process should be viewed from multiple angles, to be able to clarify how it works. These angles include cultural impact, mentoring “schemes,” individual relationships and mentoring techniques. Another important element in mentoring is “mentoring moments.”

People who have previously participated in a mentoring program testify of a particular moment that resulted in a vital difference in their progress.

These moments are called “mentoring moments” and understanding how they happen and what they do, can be of high importance to a particular mentoring program.

Building Quality Relationships

The quality of the relationship between the mentor and the mentee is critical. The elements that affect this bond include rapport, voluntariness, fundamental competencies, proactive attitudes, and finally – assessment.

“The Learning Conversation”

Members can see the mentoring process as a broadened “learning conversation” with five particular aspects:

• • “Reaffirmation”: the partners build up personal connectedness before they begin the mentoring relationship.

• • “Identifying the issue”: the partners share their thoughts on what they think that mentoring can achieve.

• • “Building mutual understanding”: the mentor challenges the mentee to contemplate the current issues, all the while abstaining from lecturing about how they tackled such issues.

• • “Exploring alternative solutions”: the partners talk about possible ways to deal with the issues.

• “The final check”: mentors coordinate mentees to analyze their gained knowledge and to regularly apply it to their conduct.

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“Mentoring in Action” Quotes

Our Critical Review

Nowadays, almost every knowledgeable person concurs that cutting-edge organizations must change and develop rapidly. However, few companies sufficiently underline the significance of mentoring – the face-to-face instructing that get employees ready to take on more significant responsibilities.

Emir Zecovic

Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.