What is mentoring?
Mentoring refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person. It is a process for sharing knowledge relevant to work, career, or professional development. The intent is to develop another’s capabilities through a one-on-one relationship that is outside a formal organizational structure. It can be face-to-face or via technology, and held over a sustained period of time. Mentors come either from within one’s own organization or externally, even outside one’s sector. They provide insight, guidance, and often pointed advice and direction, based on their own experience and expertise. Effective mentoring requires agreed upon goals, scheduled meetings, and evaluation of outcomes.
What’s the difference between mentoring and coaching?
There is often confusion between mentoring and coaching because one of the functions of a good mentor is to coach a mentee.
Although mentors use coaching skills to serve the mentee, mentoring involves additional tasks, which can include:
- Being a role model—performing actions and displaying behaviors specific to a given role
- Consulting—sharing information about an industry, company or business unit relevant to mentee
- Brokering—making introductions to powerful, influential, and otherwise useful individuals in an industry or organization
- Advocating—for a mentee’s work assignments or career development to support the mentee’s growth and development
Good mentors also use a coaching process and coaching skills to help mentees:
- Be clear about big picture career goals
- Identify and develop leadership qualities
- Develop sound structures and accountability to accomplish the important long-term development goals (vs. the urgent performance ones)
- Understand their own value and needs
- Leverage their best qualities and talents
The Mentorship Programme
LEAP offers a unique Mentorship Programme to teach Line Managers how to mentor and become effective Mentors. The Mentorship Programme is a 4-day programme that includes the following:
Day 1 and 2:
Training of Future Mentors on key Montorship skills
- Context – mentoring vs. other modalities – how mentoring differs from other ways of being with people
- Mentoring – the art of conversation – conversational skills necessary to be an effective mentor
- The mentoring conversation – Listening – practical experience and knowledge on doing this effectively
- The mentoring conversation – Questioning – the essence of powerful and incisive questioning
- The Flow of the Mentoring Conversation
Day 3:
Prticipants will practice the skills learnt on Day 1 with other participants in triads where each participant will be given an opportunity of playing the role of a Mentor, while another is the Mentee, and the third member of the triad is the Observer. They will then switch roles so that each gets an opportunity to practice mentoring and get feedback from the other members of the triad.
Day 4:
- (Half day): Workshop with possible Mentees/Protoges
- (2 hour session): Orientation of Line Managers
- (2 hour session): Chemistry session between Mentors and Mentees
LEAP is amenable to meeting the needs of the clients and customising the Mentorship Programme to suit their context.