Vol. 76 No. 4 — July/August 1995 —
Acting as a Mentor
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'Mentoring' has lately become a trend in
management science as its importance to the wellbeing of organizations
here has finally been recognized. It should be taken very
seriously. Which is not to say that it can't be fun...
What is a mentor? Our exploration of that interesting question
takes us all the way back to the western world's earliest
literature. The character in Homer's Odyssey named
Mentor is a friend of Odysseus who undertakes the education
of the hero's son Telemachus. Later, Mentor helps the youth
track down his missing father, but by then he has been possessed
by Athene, the Greek goddess of war, patron of the arts and
crafts, and paragon of wisdom. Athene, in the guise of Mentor,
pilots Telemachus past ambushes and other deadly hazards to
see him safely through his quest.
Thus the word derives from the image of a loyal, wise and
helpful friend - a teacher, protector and guide who uses his/her
experience to show a person how to overcome difficulties and
avoid dangers. Homer's mythical figure was undoubtedly drawn
from the real life of his time, for clearly there have been
mentors for as long as there have been human beings. From
the stone age on, youngsters learned how to hunt, gather and
prepare food and fight their enemies under the guidance of
older members of their family, tribe or clan.
The very first mentors as we understand the concept today
were probably aunts, uncles or older cousins. The relationship
between parents and their children and between older and younger
siblings is usually too sensitive for ideal mentorship. Less
intimate relatives can talk to young people with a degree
of confidence and understanding which immediate family members
can seldom muster. To be a mentor requires both a warm interest
in a learner's welfare and a certain objectivity.
In any case, mentorship tended to move out of the family
circle as societies grew more sophisticated. A system emerged
whereby apprentices learned their trades under masters who
had gone through the same process themselves. The masters
might be related to the apprentices, but more often they were
non-relatives who engaged the youths in exchange for near-free
labour. For centuries, apprenticeship was virtually the only
method of passing on advanced technical skills and knowledge.
Book-learning was confined to theoretical questions of religion
and philosophy.
And therein lies the essential difference between formal
education and what now goes by the unlovely name of "mentoring"
- the closeness to the subject being studied. Education, for
the most part, tells people about things on paper or in a
teacher's words. Mentoring shows them how to do things in
actual situations. An old- fashioned master craftsman might
have been quite illiterate, but he could demonstrate how to
saw a board or make a pair of boots using the right tools,
and keep his apprentice at it until it became second nature.
Unlike much of what we study through reading or other second-hand
means, the things we learn by practice are not easy to forget.
The apprenticeship system still thrives in large parts of
the world, where it remains the chief form of technical training.
In North America, formal apprenticeships have been replaced
to some extent by schooling, but they still exist in various
complex trades in which certified competence is required.
Hands-on learning of this kind is not confined to industry.
Medical interns and articled law students, among others, are
expected to work for certain set periods under senior practitioners
before they are considered fully qualified. Thesis advisors
in universities occupy a classic mentor's role vis-a-vis graduate
students: they combine their knowledge and judgment with their
juniors' boldness and energy to blaze new trails of learning.
George Bernard Shaw caught the spirit of the relationship
in his play Getting Married, in which a character says:
"I am not a teacher, only a fellow traveller of whom you asked
the way. I pointed ahead - ahead of myself, as well as you."
Not just another buzz-word, but the key to the survival of any group
In addition to teaching, mentors employ psychology to encourage
people to make the most of their abilities and personalities.
Clergy persons, social workers, and concerned volunteers act
as mentors when they help people get back on their feet in
times of distress. In our own backgrounds, most of us can
recall a teacher or athletic coach who went beyond the call
of duty in attempts to bring our potential to its peak.
But mentors need not hold an official position. Some of
the best are not even conscious of the role they play. An
example may be found in the story of a boy who was nine years
old when his father died, and the man next door decided to
"keep an eye" on his welfare. Over the next few years he encouraged
the boy to do well in school, gave him odd jobs to do, and
let him know that he was always welcome to come to him for
instruction and advice. When the boy got into trouble with
the police, the man interceded and pledged to see to it that
the boy behaved himself in future - which he did, mostly out
of a sense of obligation. To the man, it was all a just part
of being a good neighbour. To the boy, it was an invaluable
head start to a successful life.
In the past few years, mentoring has come to be identified
with management. In fact, it has become a kind of buzz-word
in management theory, and that is not a good thing. Its popularity
may lead people to regard it as just another theory of the
month in a field where theories burn with the brilliance of
Roman candles for a while, then fade into extinction. It should
be understood that mentoring is not a fad; it is a serious
and eminently practical matter, vital to the progress of any
organization, whatever its purpose may be.
History shows that, among any group of human beings, the
nurturing of skills and talent from one generation to the
next is the very basis of survival. To go back to ancient
Greece, the fathers of western philosophy regarded the transmission
of experience as nothing less than a moral duty. Socrates,
for instance, declared that knowledge is the most valuable
thing a person can have, and that it must be shared for the
good of the community.
No matter what size it is, every organization is a kind
of a community. Like any village, town, or city, it has its
body politic, its culture, its leaders and its specialists.
One traditional feature of a well-ordered community is that
its elders are called upon to share their wisdom with people
who stand to benefit from it. If a community is not to wither
away, it must perpetuate itself by a flow of new blood throughout
its system. In a modern business or other organization, this
new blood takes the form of abilities that are being developed
bit by bit, day by day.
The elders in an organization are the managers, supervisors
and senior co-workers of "developing" employees at every level.
To serve well as mentors, they must be aware that mentoring
is not a peripheral task; it is an integral part of their
jobs. Some companies drive this point home by specifically
pairing off junior and senior employees. These designated
mentors and their protégés often work in teams,
so that much of the learning and questing is done collectively.
Nevertheless, an able team leader singles out individuals
for special attention as required.
In most organizations, mentoring is carried out informally,
especially when both parties to the relationship are in white-
collar positions. It would seem clear that fledgling white-collar
workers are just as much in need of assistance and encouragement
as their apprenticed blue-collar counterparts, but until lately,
this need was widely overlooked. New people would arrive in
the office, and - after they had been given a critical once-over
- senior colleagues might or might not tacitly "adopt" them.
In general, however, managers and supervisors in offices were
expected to master their jobs through a combination of osmosis
and time.
Until a few years ago, there was enough time - and enough
people in a typical office - for this slap-dash tradition
to yield more or less satisfactory results. Curiously enough,
there is more need for mentorship as a corporate way of life
now that productivity has become a watchword and people at
all levels have a full quota of work. In a busy shop, the
development of abilities among the staff will tend to be neglected
unless time and effort is expressly allotted to it. It must
receive regular and continual attention, and not be left up
to occasional training sessions or seminars. Mentoring is
not a sometime thing.
What makes a good mentor? First of all, he or she must be
accessible. Today's heavy workloads tend to pin managers down
at their desks. Good mentors refuse to stay comfortably ensconced
in their office chairs; they walk around, pop into people's
offices to see how things are going, keep in regular touch
with people in the field over the telephone, and make sure
their own doors are open. As one young manager approvingly
described her boss, "She has a way of being there whenever
I need her, and when I don't need her, she lets me do my own
thing."
The wise mentor guards against the urge
to play favourites
This is just the reverse of another young manager's report:
"When I have a problem, my boss comes in and solves it, and
then he goes back to his 'real' job." A person in this position
is left knowing as little about how to deal with the problem
after the boss has disposed of it as he did before. Superiors
who take such a "do it yourself' approach should consider
its effect on their subordinates' future capabilities in terms
both of know-how and confidence. They would do well to think
of those old master craftsmen, patiently nursing apprentices
along until they had become masters in their own right. Incidentally,
at a time when technology is always likely to make sudden
big changes in jobs, the "apprentices" are no longer necessarily
rookies. They might have years of work behind them, and rank
fairly high on the organization chart.
In the old days, relationships between mentors and their
protégés usually depended on personalities.
Senior people in positions of authority would sponsor those
they particularly liked, and stand aloof from the rest. This
was - and is - known as the "buddy system, " and it had the
unhealthy effect of giving rise to office cliques and cabals.
Often, there would be political struggles in which " Smith's
gang" would be pitted against "Jones's gang." Those outside
of the buddy system would find themselves shoved aside and
passed over for promotion. Nothing could be worse for overall
morale.
It is only human to like some people better than others,
but any boss who aspires to be a responsible mentor should
be on guard against the instinct to play favourites. Within
working groups and teams, personal feelings must be set aside
and everyone given an even chance.
Sympathetic to personal concerns, but seeing that the work is done
Management experts warn that, apart from any question of
fairness, highly personal mentor/learner relationships do
not always yield the best results in the long run. People
are drawn to each other by similarities. The danger is that
the mentors will turn out clones of themselves who are followers
instead of potential leaders. Juniors should be encouraged
to act independently and pursue their own ideas, thereby reinforcing
their individual strengths.
Like parents, mentors who have their protégés
tucked too firmly under their wings are inclined either to
be too hard on them or not hard enough on them. If the former,
there is a danger of destroying their confidence; if the latter,
the danger is that they will become overconfident and hence
slack. It would be better for all concerned if, instead of
playing the father or mother to their wards, mentors would
play the concerned aunt or uncle - sympathetic to their personal
concerns, but not trying to run their lives.
Some people, of course, try to get close to the boss to
push their own advancement. These sycophants are parasites
who live off their superiors' vanity. Taking nothing away
from their individual right to instruction and honestly-earned
opportunity, the wise boss/ mentor will subtly let them know
that flattery will get them nowhere. Otherwise the bosses
can bask in the glow of fake admiration while the morale of
other workers goes down the drain.
It takes a delicate balancing act to be both a good mentor
and a responsible boss. Mentors must take a learners' weak
spots into account and work to overcome them; at the same
time, they must ensure that the necessary work is done, and
done properly. They must therefore cultivate the art of gentle
correction. When things are done wrong, it must be viewed
as a learning opportunity and not as a occasion for recrimination.
Set-backs are bound to happen, in which case the best course
is to analyze the causes together, quickly pick up the pieces,
and get on with the work at hand.
The hardest judgment call in mentoring is how much support
to give. Over-protection breeds the feeling that the boss
will always come to the rescue, so that it does not matter
much if work is well done. On the other hand, leaving people
to go it alone can make them feel that the boss does not care
about whether they look bad in the eyes of even more senior
bosses. The worst case is when, under the pretence of mentoring,
bosses get juniors to do their work for them, and then shift
the blame on them when things go wrong.
A generator of humour and friendship in our working lives
A careful mentor must have a feeling for when to exercise
restraint by saying, in effect: "Don't try to do everything
all at once. What's your hurry?" It is flirting with failure
to allow too much independence too soon. At the same time,
people hate to have superiors breathing down their necks.
They have a basic human desire to be trusted, and they want
their individuality to be respected. There are times when
a mentor must recognize that if a person does things differently
than they do, it is simply different - not inferior or wrong.
A common way of displaying a lack of trust is by needlessly
guarding information. People work best when they know exactly
why they are doing something, and how that something fits
in with an overall plan. Organizations by their nature tend
to play information tight to their chests, and managers may
keep secrets merely because it makes them feel important.
Mentors should assess how much of what they know should be
passed on to their subordinates to keep them in the picture
- and the more the better, short of clearly damaging the organization.
For a start, people should regularly be kept informed as to
how the organization is faring. It strengthens their commitment
to thus feel involved.
Mentors must prove by their actions that they are worthy
of their juniors' trust. These actions often take the form
of using their superior "clout" and familiarity with the organization
to clear away bureaucratic difficulties that can detract from
their subordinate's performance and impede initiatives. If,
for instance, the purchasing authority of a person trying
to run a project is restricted to nickels and dimes, he or
she is not likely to feel very trusted. Mentors often find
themselves acting as facilitators and friends in court, making
it easier to get things done.
Management experts have observed that much of the mistrust
subordinates feel towards their bosses stems from poor communications.
They must be told explicitly what is expected of them in advance,
and not learn that they were supposed to do something only
when their bosses complain that it was not done.
If there are times when learners feel let down by their
mentors, there will also be times when the mentors feel they
have been let down, and they should let the learners know
it. Being sympathetic towards people does not mean being soft
on them. Good mentors are hard taskmasters, demanding that
work be accomplished to the best of their subordinate's abilities
at their particular stage of development. They do not accept
excuses easily, and they let it be known that they will not
allow their juniors to take advantage of them. If such warnings
must be given, they should be given early. A relationship
that gets off on the wrong foot in this respect may never
be put right.
But this makes it sound as though mentoring is a grimly
earnest affair, when in reality it is usually just the opposite.
As in most other aspects of life, people most enjoy work when
it is shared. A wholesome mentor/learner relationship - one
in which no undue advantage is taken on either side - adds
a lot of fun to working. It brings exchanges of humour and
the glow of warm human feelings, and it produces lasting friendships.
For the mentor, it brings the gratification of exercising
a kind of creativity. Yet another ancient Greek, Aristotle,
said that he regarded his students with the affection an artist
feels for his work.
In the aftermath of the "me generation" when selfishness
gained temporary approval in the public mind, mentoring represents
a return to good old human values. On the part of the practitioner,
it combines generosity, a concern for others' wellbeing, and
the making of a contribution that will last beyond their own
time. For its beneficiaries, it revives something that has
been somewhat missing of late - respect for elders. Wherever
they might be exercised, these are among the values that form
the foundation of civilization. The great Greek philosophers
would have approved.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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