Articles

An overview of mentoring.

In my ongoing researches into succession planning, one of the recurrent themes is the difficulty companies have in aligning the evolving ambitions and aspirations of employees with the evolving needs of the organisation.

Clutterbuck's interviews indicate that, while millions of dollars have been invested in trying to turn line managers into coaches, many HR and Training and Development leaders feel these programs have had minimal effect - what do you do about it?

When academics clash antlers in ritual ruttings over research, the issues under contention can be of marginal interest to practitioners. But the recent spat over the value of goals, in Academy of Management Perspectives has significance for anyone working at a serious level in coaching or mentoring.

Every significant study of effective managers concludes that those managers, who get the most out of their teams, spend a high proportion of their time and energy coaching or mentoring others. Effective managerial coaches are able to delegate more, to create a stronger sense of purpose within the team and to motivate the performance of others.

Co-ordinators are the largely unsung heroes of mentoring programmes. They promote the programme to participants and corporate sponsors; protect it from the destructive forces of sudden economies and changes of management fashion; and maintain the quality of the programme, often on limited budgets.

The midst of a near recession that may become a full-blown recession doesn’t seem the most obvious time to focus on retention of talent. But experience of previous recessionary periods has taught talent managers a number of lessons, which suggest that now is exactly the time to focus effort in this direction.

The concept of mentoring for diversity is a relatively recent addition to the management lexicology. It’s not surprising, therefore, that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways, which reflect organisational or individual biases in the way it has been applied.

Mentoring is arguably the most cost-effective developmental intervention an organisation can introduce. It has significant positive impacts upon the participants (both mentors and mentees), the organisation and key third parties such as mentees’ line managers.

In-company coaching and mentoring have become part of the fabric of organisational development in recent years. But what are companies using them for and how effective are they?