Mentoring at the Workplace for Effective Staff Development - Essay Example

Mentoring in the Workplace Introduction A mentor is a person who can be considered as a trusted friend, counsellor or teacher. In general a mentor isa more experienced person. The student of a mentor is called a protégé or mentee. Some professions have "mentoring programs" in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people in order to obtain good examples and advice as they advance, and schools sometimes have mentoring programs for new students or students who are having difficulties. Mentoring refers to a developmental relationship between a more experienced mentor and a less experienced partner referred to as a mentee or protégé. Today mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks. Most of us can identify someone who has had a major influence on their personal and professional lives. Many of the worlds most successful people have benefited from having a mentor including: business people - Freddie Laker mentored Richard Branson politicians - Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great actors - Mel Gibson mentored Heath Ledger athletes - Eddy Merckx (five-time Tour de France winner) mentored Lance Armstrong (seven-time Tour de France winner) (Wikipedia, 2006). The persons who are identified as mentors may not have been formally identified as mentors but they have inspired, challenged, and supported different people in an organization to reach their full potential. They are often a more experienced friend, co-worker, or teacher who serves as a role model, challenger, guide and cheerleader. Successful mentoring in the workplace can reinforce both mentors and mentees’ abilities to learn, grow, advance in career, handle difficult relationships and situations, and develop leadership potential in others. In a work place for a new employee a mentor can play a very important role in helping him/her to get accustomed to the working environment at a faster phase. This will not only help the new person but also save the organization’s time and increase the productivity. Besides, a workplace mentor may also help the trainees make the connection between their present performance- at the workplace, and their future. When they are exposed to an adult environment, adult standards, and adult mentors, they change the way they behave and the way they look at their world. A mentor can play many different roles, For Example: A mentor instructs the trainee in various areas not limited to job tasks; and as a supervisor gives direction. They think in terms of how the trainees fit into the needs of the organization. The basic qualities of good mentoring are commitment to the mentoring role, acceptance of beginning a mentor, proficiency at providing instructional support, interpersonal effectiveness, skill at modelling continuous learning, and ability to communicate hope and optimism (Rowley, 1999). Qualities of a Good Work-based Learning Mentor A good mentor has the following characters- they are respectful of others, they always have a positive outlook on life; they see all challenges as an opportunity to grow; they enjoys working with young people; are extremely passionate towards their work; they are good listeners and they also have good communication skills; they stay flexible while keeping healthy boundaries; have capacity for sharing and understanding others problems; promotes the growth and development of the co-workers or mentees’; can go out of the way to make people and resources of the organization available to the mentees’; and can sees the mentees’ as capable of making decisions and learning new things. In order to develop good mentorship qualities especially when helping others to explore their hidden behaviours and pattern of action, if they themselves have not done it, supervision can be of good help to the mentors. According to Barrett (2002), a mentor can be more effective in supporting their mentee, when they can work “from where the mentor is”. In other words, a mentor needs to take his own experiences and feelings to understand the mentees and help them choose the right approach to solve any problem. This requires an ability to work in the present with a developed sense of awareness. It is also essential that the mentors at a personnel level must not have any responsibility for the mentee. The mentor must have a professional insight into the tasks the mentee will be carrying out. The mentor must have a good network and know the organisation well. The mentor will preferably have faced the same challenges that the mentee will meet in connection with his or her integration. At this stage the mentor must be prepared to – and have the opportunity to – set aside time for the mentor role even during busy periods. The mentor’s personality must match the mentee’s as much as possible, as good chemistry and trust are the keys to a successful programme. The mentor must have good social and personal competencies, including a high level of personal integrity, empathy and energy (Thomas Karlsson, Group HR, 2004). These qualities will help not only the mentor and mentee but also the organization. According to Lacey (1999) the mentor uses their greater knowledge, expertise and experience to help the protégé or mentee develop their own unique skills. While the protégé or mentee receives obvious benefits from the relationship, the mentor too is rewarded, both personally & professionally. Organisations also benefit from the increased efficiency of their staff. It is therefore essential that all the organizations looking for growth and success need to have proper mentorship programmes designed. All new employees can benefit from having a mentor whom they can approach with questions and challenges. Moreover, the mentor scheme helps to develop those employees who undertake the role of mentor. They also get the chance to get close to – and therefore be inspired by – a new colleague. The mentor programme offers many benefits – for the mentee, the mentor and for the whole team. For new employees, a mentor can help generate a sense of security during their integration period and reduce the time it takes to become socially and professionally integrated at work. If we look at specific roles a mentor plays in order to support the mentee may include: Socially, the mentor can play an important role when it comes to making the mentee feel at home in the workplace. This covers everything from giving a warm welcome on the mentee’s first day and introducing him or her to other colleagues, to helping the mentee to build up good social relations with colleagues on an ongoing basis. Professionally, the mentor can accomplish the role of sparring partner and advise the mentee on his or her professional work – someone to help solve work issues and give feedback. Also, the mentor will often be able to support the mentee in building up a professional network with other colleagues and help the mentee to get involved with interesting work tasks. Just like any other new employee, the mentee will have practical questions on an ongoing basis which the mentor can help answer, such as: Where do you log your work time? Who do you call when you are sick? Where is the coffee machine? These personal interactions with the mentor will give an initial confidence in the mentee. The final responsibility for a mentee’s development lies with his or her direct manager. Hear again the mentor can play a good role. Nevertheless, the mentee will still be able to discuss longer term development with a mentor, such as: What sort of jobs will the mentee be able to do? What training does the mentee need? And what are the basic skills that need to be developed by the mentee to do these jobs with perfection. Being a mentor is a privilege and provides several benefits personally as well as professionally. The very fact or the acknowledgement of having been asked to become a mentor boosts up the self esteem of a person. It also provides training in the role of a coach and advisor that would help in personal and carrier growth. The pleasure of teaching others and seeing a colleague benefiting from your own knowledge and experience will provide a sense of self satisfaction. This also gives an opportunity to be inspired by a new colleague in your own work and professional development. Above all it provides an opportunity to establish a close personal relationship with a new colleague and build up lasting relations and networks. The mentorship program also benefits the organisations and the team in many ways. It allows a faster integration of new staff. A mentor scheme can reduce the time needed to integrate new staff – and in this way reduce the time it takes for a new staff member to start making a full contribution. It improves knowledge sharing experience. Mentor schemes help to create a work culture where more experienced employees pass on their knowledge to less experienced employees – and vice versa. The personal relations and respect, which the mentor scheme builds upon, form the basis for developing a culture where the differences between individuals are used as an asset. It also helps in clearly defining the work tasks. The task of integrating a new member of staff into the workplace is made visible through the mentor scheme. In this way it is clear who has primary responsibility for the day-to-day integration process. Through the mentor program, the team can systematically use a new employee’s impressions as a source of inspiration for new ways of thinking. For example, the observations of mentors and mentees can be brought up at team meetings and discussed together. Through the interaction of mentor and mentee new and innovative ideas of the mentee can be incorporated into the programme. In this way the previous experiences of the mentee can be utilized to improve the efficiency of the organization. Finally, the mentor scheme can contribute towards improving employees’ job satisfaction – not least for the mentor and mentee. In a case study presented by MacGregor (1997) in Arnotts biscuit it was said that the mentoring program that was initiated in January 1996 was quite beneficial and gave good results. The mentoring program at Arnott’s Virginia was a successful and exciting experience for all of them who were involved particularly the mentors and the trainees. Besides, it demonstrated the most important values of combining external expertise with internal knowledge and commitment to implement mentoring as a successful HR strategy that supports the organization in achieving its goal. They also identified training as a basic need for all those who were involved in the mentoring program. The performance of an organization is affected by several factors. Function-potential or the performance is directly proportional to the capacity and willingness of its component parts to work together towards achieving the organizations aims and goals. However, this depends on the capacity of the individual to work co-operatively and it is largely determined by his/her professional development and maturity. Staff development is a critical internal matter for any organization. It needs to be positive, directed and of practical relevance to each individuals working environment. The areas in which administrators appear to demonstrate greatest need for maturation and development include- Awareness of the uniqueness and individuality of others, especially their colleagues, together with some insight into their potential, attitudes of responsibility and even accountability; attitudes towards work generally and their own tasks specifically, towards themselves and their colleagues, and towards their own potential role in the total organizational process, in association with those other individuals and groups – that is, co-operation. And last but not the least knowledge, skills and techniques with specific relevance to their job responsibilities (Riley, 2006). In all these aspects of development in an organization a good mentorship program may be very helpful. Mentoring at workplace can be used for effective staff development. In today’s world of competence it is essential that all organizations need to have mentoring program to realize their goals at a faster rate and also to make the trainee get quickly adapted to the organizational environment. It is very essential that each organization need to set up there specific target groups who need to benefit from the mentorship program and also identify a set of mentors who are efficiently able to transfer knowledge, confidence, and their expertise to the mentee. These strategies will not only help the organization achieve their objectives but also make the new comer feel comfortable and more productive. References Barrett, R. (2002), Mentor supervision and development – exploration of lived experience. Career development International, Vol 7 No. 5, p279-283. Lacey, K. (1999), Building bridges - making mentoring happen, Training and Development in Australia, vol. 26, no. 5, October 1999, pp. 8-10. MacGregor, L. and Kerswell, G. (1997), Mentoring: The Arnotts experience, HR Monthly, May 1997, pp. 8-10. Rowley, J.B. (1999). The Good Mentor. Educational Leadership Vol. 56 no. 8, p.20-22, May 1999. Riley, D. (2006) PDAS 313: Fundamentals of Staff Development- Module Notes. The University of New England, CRICOS Provider No: 00003G, 1-63. Thomas Karlsson, Group HR, (2004) Mentor – a fast track into the workplace. [online] TDC. Available from: [19 April 2006] Wikipedia, (2006) Mentor. [Online] Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Available from: [17 April 2006]. Read More