Make Mentoring Work for you – How to

Author: Carolyn Claridge

I wrote this article for the VETIG Newsletter Summer edition, 2013 as a follow on article to the Mentoring for Success Think Piece. Please visit www.vetig.com.au for more information on the Vocational Education and Training Industry Group and how to become a member of this not-for-profit organisation representing vocational training in Australia.

Your clients’ satisfaction results from quality training services supported by a quality business system. This quality is not obtained through luck or magic; one way is through implementing a mentoring program across your business – top-down, sideways and bottom-up.

The first step to implementing a mentoring program in your training organisation is to recognise that one already exists! Whether you instigated it, supported it, opposed it, knew about it or not – it’s there! There are leaders within your business already championing their colleagues; some may be educating in a positive fashion whilst others may be undermining the quality you are trying to build. Your role is to capture the existing mentoring arrangements (you may see them more as ‘buddy’ arrangements); describe them – what benefits are being reaped and what disadvantages are occurring directly because of these activities? Interview your staff, analyse the links and capture the ‘current state’. Note which relationships are working and which require re-direction. Paradoxically, this is the start of you ‘formalising’ your (existing) informal arrangements.

The second step is to identify the gaps within your organisation relating to skills, knowledge and experience required to build success. The best way to capture this is through a Workforce Skills and Knowledge Analysis (simple table with column headings of Name, Key duties, Role priorities, Qualifications, Professional memberships, Strengths, Expertise and Gaps), completed in consultation with your staff. It is amazing what they know about themselves, what you may have forgotten and any new skills they have acquired since their resumé many projects ago.

This process may support your existing role review and work allocation process, if it is not a part of it already. You may wish to differentiate between short-term and longer term development here, to enable a more extensive and enduring program across your business.

The third step is to match what is noted in the ‘gaps’ column with what others have listed as attributes. Consider reasonably the personalities, locations, shift-times and other vulnerabilities which may be exposed when linking your mentors and mentorees; BUT DO NOT consider their position ranking within your organisation during this planning stage. Breaking down the cultural barriers of historically hierarchical organisations can open the doors for experience and expertise to be transferred horizontally and from bottom-up; challenging the traditionally vertical model of our enterprises (and workplace belief systems).

You could capture the mentoring arrangements like this:

Note in the above table, Andrew is mentoring more than one person in computers and Michael is not only being a mentor but is also a protégé of two others. Note there are no job titles listed.

If your organisation does not hold the expertise to mentor effectively, then go external. Every business has external colleagues, networks and clients. You will be amazed by how you are perceived by those you approach (such as being innovative and proactive) which can do nothing but create a positive image as a quality business striving for excellence.

The fourth and final step is to evaluate; capturing key learnings for the future. What did and did not work? Interview those involved and gain insight from their perspective; noting all this professional development activity in their personnel files for those evidence-hungry auditors.

Valuable trainers are not created through qualifications alone; their skills must be nurtured and their experiences transferred to enable the development of competent, consummate professionals who are bolstered by their knowledge-base. Manipulating your existing mentoring arrangements to focus on addressing identified individual and organisational needs will ultimately enhance your business success.