Maximizing Your Mentorship: Benefits, Phases, and Dysfunctions

1. Module Nine Mentoring

2. A Few Questions… • Think of a person you consider(ed) to be a mentor. • How did that person assist you? Be specific. • Was the relationship always positive for you? For the other person? • Did you ever assist the person in a meaningful way? How so?

3. Mentoring Functions – What do Mentors Provide? Career functions • Challenging work assignments • Protection • Exposure/visibility • Sponsorship • Coaching Psychosocial support • Friendship • Counseling • Acceptance • Role modeling

4. Mentoring Phases – How do Mentoring Relationships Evolve? • Initiation (first six to twelve months) • Get acquainted; establish expectations • Cultivation (two to five years) • Time during which most mentoring occurs; protégé gains competence and skills • Separation (undefined) • Protégé, having gained needed support, seeks autonomy; often marked by feelings of loss or distress • Redefinition (undefined) • Relationship redefined as parties become peers; this phase does not always occur

5. Mentoring Benefits

6. THE MENTOR/LEADER - DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE LEADERS (Boyatzis, 2006) • Leadership requires the exercise of influence or power • Leaders are under a steady flow of stress related to the exercise of power and its responsibility • For leaders to sustain themselves, the human response to stress must be ameliorated. • To sustain their effectiveness leaders should emphasize coaching (with compassion) as a key part of their role and behavioral habits (Boyatzis et al, 2006)

7. Potential Mentoring Relationship Dysfunctions • Sabotage (e.g., a mentor or protégé could ignore the other party or seek revenge for a perceived wrongdoing) • Negative relations (e.g., a mentor may exploit or bully the protégé) • Submissiveness (e.g., if a protégé becomes overly dependent upon a mentor) • Deception (e.g., active attempts to deceive the other party)

8. Mentoring Alternatives: Other Developmental Relationships • A mentoring relationship—a relationship between a senior, more experienced mentor and a junior protégé—is one type of learning vehicle • Other types • Peers at “co-learners” • Community organizations • Teams • Family members • Friends outside of work • Task forces • Network groups

9. Diversity and Mentoring • Gender • Race • Age

10. Successful Formal Mentoring Programs • A clear set of objectives aligned with human resources and business strategy • Sponsorship by senior leaders • Communications and training • Choosing appropriate mentors and matching of mentors and protégés • Evaluation and review of the mentoring program • The need for a skillful program coordinator

11. Newer Mentoring Themes • Mentoring to aid expatriate assignments (e.g., assignment of pre-departure, on-site, and repatriation developers) • E-Mentoring • Leveraging one’s developmental network in a turbulent career context

12. Developmental Network“A group of people who take an active interest in and action to advance a focal person’s career.” • Spend a few minutes thinking about who is in your network.

13. Using Your Developmental Network to Experience Growth • Create a career and personal growth plan • Identify goals, desired skills, strengths to build upon • Identify your current developmental network • Conduct a gap analysis • Consider skills and strengths you need to get to a desired future state; key events that need to happen • Outline what your network should look like in order to “fill the gaps” • How can you foster a network that will be responsive to your needs?