How Mentoring Can Be An Effective Business Strategy

"Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction!" - John Crosby

By Ray B. Williams
Many small to medium sized companies have become so successful that they have been "corporatized," a term coined that describes the feeling of professionals working in those companies that makes them feel like "cogs in a wheel."

In an article the Harvard Business Review, authors Thomas J. Delong, John J. Gabarro and Robert J. Lees argue that the remedy for the corporatized phenomena is for those companies to institute a program of mentoring. While the need for mentoring was once more commonplace during good economic times, it has slowly disappeared from many organizations during the growth of the global economy and fierce competition and specifically during the recession.The mentoring relationship can serve a critical role in an employee's career, skill development; and is a key to retaining talent and a fundamental way by which the organization can shape leadership.

Workplace mentoring usually takes place between two individuals; one, the older more experience person and the other, the younger, less experienced individual. Mentors typically provide career related support which includes visibility, networking, coaching and sponsorship as well as psychosocial support by developing the protégés sense of identity, competence and effectiveness, sometimes including friendship and role modeling.

A research study conducted by professor Christina Underhill at he University of Memphis, where she examined all the research conducted on mentoring in the past 25 years showed the organization benefits from mentoring by enhanced organization attractiveness and recruitment, reduced employee turnover, increased organizational learning, and employee productivity and socialization.

The selection of a mentor is critical to the program's success. The research by DeLong, Gabarro and Lees showed that a good mentor: Is someone who is absolutely credible and whose integrity transcends any messages; tells the protégés truthful things they may not want to hear; interacts with the protégés in ways that the protégés wants to become a better person; helps the protégés feel secure enough to take risks; helps develop the protégé’s' confidence to raise above their inner doubts and fears; supports the protégé’s' attempts to set and achieve audacious but attainable goals; and present challenges and opportunities the protégés might not have seen on their own.

The Vancouver Board of Trade initiated the 'Leaders of Tomorrow' program, in which young university graduates, who want to be involved with the Board of Trade, are matched up with experienced business and professional mentors. Feedback from the both the protégés and the mentors involved in the program have indicated it has been a huge success!

Given the challenge and potential conflicts between the generations--Baby Boomers and Generation Y in particular--the promise of a beneficial and low cost initiative such as mentoring can be a smart organizational strategy!

For US based entrepreneurs, SCORE ("Counselors to America's Small Business") has thousands of volunteer mentors/counselors around the nation, ready to help entrepreneurs for FREE! Not only do they offer one-on-one mentoring, but workshops, online articles, and online help are also available. Just visit www.score.org for more info.

"One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people!" - Dick Gregory

For more mentoring insights, please read the blog post 'Can You Afford NOT To Invest In A Coach And Mentor?'

Warm regards & success,


Patrick

Can You Afford NOT To Invest In A Coach And Mentor?

By Patrick Driessen & Nancy Adler

Can you afford NOT to invest in a Coach and Mentor? My guess is that if things were going absolutely wonderfully for you in your professional and personal life, you would probably not be reading this article. 

Consider the fact that almost all highly successful people have a Coach and Mentor from which to garner guidance and support in so many different ways. Below is a list of just a few of those highly valuable assets that a Coach and Mentor can offer by advicing, counseling and coaching you.

It is of immeasurable value to have someone that allows you to learn from their mistakes. We can learn one of two ways; from our own mistakes or from the mistakes of others. Having a Coach and Mentor that has been there and done that and who is willing to share their errors so they do not have to be repeated is worth the investment in a Coach and Mentor in and of itself.

The polar opposite of learning from a Coach and Mentor’s mistakes, of course, is learning from their successes. Shortening up the learning curve and learning from their expertise saves time. And time is money. Save yourself some effort by not having to reinvent the wheel.

A Coach and Mentor serves as a strong accountability partner. Like a good friend that will tell you what you need to hear which is not always what you may want to hear. Ultimately, the goal is to hold ourselves accountable. Taking responsibility for one’s own success is most important to long term achievement of our goals and aspirations.  

A Coach and Mentor is a strong leader and will let you know what their expectations are of you.

A strong Coach and Mentor assists in setting realistic and achievable goals based on your desires. At the same time, a Coach and Mentor will build on existing strengths, unwrap hidden potential and ask that you stretch to reach your full potential! Stretching and changing can cause some short term pain and your Coach and Mentor will be the first to let you know that. The expression no pain, no gain certainly applies here.

It is a valuable asset to have someone in your corner to share your vision and validate your goals. There is value also in having a Coach and Mentor by your side to offer another way of looking at things. Another point of view can be valuable to remove one from their entrenched thinking. 

Coaching Issues

Most people turn to their coach for help on time management as well as career guidance and business advice. To a lesser but still significant extent, they seek coaching on relationships, family, wellness and spirituality. Coaching clients, who could select as many choices as were applicable, said they work with their coach on the following issues:

• Time management: 80%
• Career: 74%
• Business: 73%
• Relationships/Family: 58%
• Physical/Wellness: 52%
• Spiritual: 51%
• Personal: 45%
• Goal-setting: 40%
• Financial: 38%
• Creativity: 11%
• Other: 10%.

Your Investment

The best investment anyone can ever make is an investment in oneself! Ultimately, the investment decision is yours alone to make!

Your Return on Investment
The positive return on investment are the results of working with a coach and mentor. In various research reports 98.5% of coaching clients said their investment in a coach was well worth the money! In another study conducted by MetrixGlobal, the Return on Investment of coaching was calculated to exceed 500%!

The outcomes that coaching clients most often attribute to their coaching are a higher level of self-awareness and self-confidence, a more balanced life, smarter goal-setting and lower stress levels. Clients reported experiencing the following outcomes as a result of working with a coach:

• Self-awareness: 67%
• Setting better goals: 62%
• More balanced life: 60%
• Lower stress levels: 57%
• Self-discovery: 53%
• Self-confidence: 52%
• Improvement in quality of life: 43%
• Enhanced communication skills: 39%
• Project completion: 35%
• Health or fitness improvement: 34%
• Better relationship w/ boss, co-workers: 33%
• Better family relationship(s): 33%
• Increased energy: 31%
• More fun: 31%
• More income: 25%
• Stopped a bad habit: 25%
• Change in career: 24%
• More free time: 22%
• Increased profitability of business: 17%
• Other: 15%
• Started new business: 13%
• Empowered employees: 11%
• Business turn around: 9%
• Change in residential location: 5%.

Business Return on Investment

In business applications, the following benefits were recorded in a study conducted by Manchester Inc.

Tangible Business Impacts (frequency of impacts reported by executives):

• Increased productivity: 53%
• Increased quality: 48%
• Improved organizational strength: 48%
• Improved customer service: 39%
• Reduced complaints: 34%
• Own retention: 32%
• Cost reductions: 23%
• Increased bottom line profitability: 22%
• Increased top line revenue: 14%
• Reduced turnover: 12%
• Other business: 7%.

Intangible Business Impacts (frequency of impacts reported by executives):

• Improved relationships with direct reports: 77%
• Improved relationships with stakeholders: 71%
• Improved teamwork: 67%
• Improved relationships with peers: 63%
• Improved job satisfaction: 61%
• Reduced conflicts: 52%
• Increased organizational commitment: 44%
• Improved relationships with clients: 37%
• Other intangibles: 31%.

How to Find a Coach: To help you find a certified and experienced business, leadership or life coach, please check the International Coach Federation website, the Results website or the CoachU website.

Make this a Positive & Fruitful day....unless you have other plans!

Thanks, warm regards & success,

Patrick Driessen