Classical mentoring in the form of apprenticeships used to be quite common. Historically, the desired goal was to transfer experience, knowledge, and wisdom from people who had it to those who needed it. But after the industrial age, the amount of different jobs that existed increased exponentially. So to find a person who has done what you want to do in within your locale has become quite the challenge. And now through the information age, there are new industries, vocations, and specialties being created as we speak.This constant change in jobs and roles also means there might not be any available people who have done what you are trying to do.
Now that social media and emerging technologies can connect us to new people, communities, and sources of knowledge, the constraints of mentoring itself can be revisited. Mentoring is not an outcome. It is a process. Consider a new definition of mentoring to be “a process designed to provide access to knowledge from wherever it exists, whether from a person, a community, or a source of knowledge, to whoever needs it at the time they need it.”
If mentoring is a process, then the outcome under the new definition is an EPowered individual: one capable of attaining high performance.
Is Your Company Prepared?
- Do leaders and managers have mentors?
- Are high potential employees provided with guidance and support in a way that is useful to them?
- Does it matter who, what, or where the source of learning is?
- Does it matter if new knowledge is acquired internally or externally of your company?
- Is the best source of wisdom a person, a community, or a knowledge source?
Quotes to Contemplate
“Mentoring is often misunderstood and not presented effectively. What happens is usually the company identifies a mentor and the needs. But mentoring is dynamic. One can have multiple mentors-a technical mentor, an EQ mentor, an on-boarding mentor. Mentoring can’t be prescribed. It must be embraced by employees who understand their developmental areas.”
~Effenus Henderson, Chief Diversity Officer, Weyerhaeuser
“Love and caring are elements of a good mentoring relationship. Negativity is a reality of organizational life. Mentoring is a kind of caring that individuals feel for others that make them want to help them.”
~Bill Hodgetts, VP of Corporate Leadership Development, Fidelity
“Mentoring and coaching, which, in my opinion exist on the same spectrum, are about the development of someone. That accountability to another (the mentor or coach) makes the learning stick. Whatever you call the method, it can be an accelerant in setting up a team for success as they go, especially as you are trying to move to a new culture, structure, or process.”
~Jane Luciano, VP of Global Learning and Organization Development at Bristol-Myers Squibb
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