Awuese Oku, Chief Policy Development, Special Contracts and Projects Officer at African Development Bank.
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In the Odyssey, Odysseus has a trusted advisor, Mentor. When Odysseus goes to fight in the Trojan war, he places Telemachus (his son) in Mentor’s care. Mentor looks after Telemachus, offering support and guidance. It seems that since then, formal mentoring has been adopted in all spheres of life.
Mentoring can be summarized as a supportive and encouraging relationship between two people, one in a more senior position (mentor) and one in a less senior position (mentee). The aim is to guide the mentee to maximize potential, develop skills, improve performance and progress on their career or life path.
The younger generation entering the workforce today has been shaped by the parameters of a Covid-compliant world. Most earned degrees in a virtual world, and most have commenced jobs in a virtual world; the requirements for mentoring have therefore changed.
In the new norm that is defined by virtual, remote and hybrid work, mentors need to respond to these realities. The focus of mentoring in a pre-pandemic world was to get the mentee up to speed in professional development. Mentors must consider mentoring as the total package for the mentee: building self-confidence, breaking isolation, assisting in developing a broader outlook that responds to a global talent outreach and interventions that guarantee psychological safety.
Diversity, inclusion and equality are strong emerging themes; assisting a mentee to grasp the business and global development imperatives of these will enable a faster ascendency to the leadership path. Gender-based violence increased during the pandemic, and organizations must set transparent guidance on gender relations and protect the vulnerable. This message needs to be passed on to the entire workforce through many other channels but especially through mentoring. Organizations must also strengthen the culture through defined values or cornerstones that set boundaries for what are acceptable behaviors.
Organizations can support mentoring efforts in the new norm by creating environments that respond to both the needs of the mentors and the mentees. Organizations can leverage technology to ensure connectivity and visibility of all employees. Visual connectivity between a mentor and a mentee is necessary to ensure a productive relationship.
Required Skills For Mentors
Successful mentors must create an open and supportive environment but adhere to boundaries. Seek to develop trust by encouraging open, two-way communications. Respect individuality, and accept that the mentee may have a different learning style. Deploy appreciative inquiry through active listening, asking open-ended and follow-up questions. Paraphrase at the end of each discussion to ensure that the information shared is correctly captured. After an issue is discussed, inquire how the situation has progressed. Give a balance of both praise and constructive feedback on how to improve. Always focus on skills that can be developed to enable progression. Let the mentee set the goals; the mentor should give feedback and suggestions but not in a prescriptive way.
Consider using the GROW model for effective mentoring:
Goals: Set SMART goals with the mentee. Check the progress of achieving these goals at each meeting.
Reality: Check the current reality of the mentee. Ensure that the mentee is in a good place, mentally and psychologically to follow through on commitments made. Verify what concrete steps are being deployed to achieve set goals and what new skills the mentee might require to advance to the next stage in their career path. Suggest helpful networks.
Options (or obstacles): Work through the options or obstacles the mentee might be confronting. Explore how these can be managed or overcome and what changes can be made to ensure that the best option is adapted. Provide the proper guidance for the mentee, but do not become the decision maker.
Way forward (or will): Find out the depth of willingness to advance, as well as the ability to stay motivated and focused on achieving the set goals or objectives. Finally, fix a date when the progress can be reviewed. Close the session with the expected accountability for the mentee. This will enable the mentee to self-reflect on the current actions and determine if adjustments need to be made.
As the world of work changes and adapts to new demographics—with more older adults and Gen Zers rejoining and joining the workforce, respectively—organizations are relying on internal mentors to keep the culture, core values, business value chain knowledge and business delivery expectations going.
For this to be operative in any organization: Senior management must walk the talk by participating in mentoring programs as mentors. Organizations must commit resources (financial and human) to support mentoring programs. The managerial effectiveness index must include mentoring as a core key performance indicator (KPI).
Bill Clinton explained in a talk on leadership for HR.com that despite growing up in difficult circumstances, successful people usually had a relationship with a mentor who guided and led them.
Do not assume that what worked for you will work for the mentee. Be cognizant of the times and dimensions that the mentee might be operating in. When I started my career, my mentor gave me some advice that I have valued for life: Be diligent, authentic, empathetic, intentional and communicative, but only talk when you can add meaning to the discussion. Be visible through effective deliverables, appreciate and value networks, and set boundaries in every relationship, but above all have confidence in who you are—that is the only way you can market yourself effectively. I think many mentees might benefit from this guidance.
Mentoring is the invisible umbilical cord that nourishes both the workforce and the organization. Effective mentoring leads to talent flowering, growth, enhanced retention, a greater leadership pipeline and a workforce of the future that develops a sustained and defined culture.
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