The Workplace Coach

The Gallup Organization, a global analytics and advisory company, conducts extensive research on employee engagement and organizational performance. Their findings, based on over 10 million interviews with managers and employees, highlight 12 Elements of Great Managing for engagement and high performance. Consistently, employees worldwide have conveyed a clear message:

“If you do these things for us, we will do what the company needs of us”.

The sixth element of great managing is measured by the statement, “There is someone at work who encourages my development.” The word “mentor” is derived from the character Mentor in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. Mentor was given responsibility to counsel Odysseus’ son Telemachus during his father’s absence. The mentor concept is apparent in the relationships between master craftsman and apprentice, doctoral candidate and thesis supervisor, or resident physician and intern. Musicians learn by watching better musicians. Surgical students look over the shoulders of experienced surgeons. There is something about working closely with someone who supervises the less experienced person’s progress that cannot be accomplished quite as well in any other way.

The data shows that two-thirds of employees who report having someone at work who encourages their development are classified as “engaged,” while one-third are “not engaged,” and less than 1% are “actively disengaged.” This suggests that having a mentor at work is part of the unwritten social contract that workers expect when they are hired. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to build engagement, many companies will roll out a formal “mentoring” program that tries to assign two people to each other, or impose connections that, to be really effective, must form naturally.

Here are three practical ways to develop your people:

1. Talk about it. Have regular conversations with your direct reports about their career aspirations.  Where do they see themselves in 5 years? What opportunities can you provide them which will help with their professional development?
2. Partner them up. Pair the newer, less experienced people in your team with a more experienced high performer. The quickest way to help people level up is to have them observe an expert.  For example, executives are more likely to become a CEO if they have been mentored by one.
3. Develop your mentor mindset.  There will be many small opportunities for you to share your knowledge and experience with your team.  Sometimes it might just be a word of encouragement or confirmation of your belief in their ability to do something. “In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.” – Scott Adams, Dilbert Cartoonist.

The benefits of being mentored are usually pretty obvious but what is becoming more apparent is that there is an upside for the mentor as well. Mentors report that they get immense satisfaction from seeing their people succeed, get promoted or receive recognition, knowing that they had some part in that person’s success.

For further information on this topic, or any other related to people management, feel free to reach out.  We’re here to help. 

The Workplace Coach.