Mentoring
Thoughts such as: “Will I measure up? Where do I start? How do I build my authority?” occur to everyone, especially for a newly appointed manager, probably more than once. We can learn on our own, gaining experience with each action or learning from our mistakes. Being “thrown in at the deep end” can also sometimes yield good results. Often, however, we cannot experiment and need to be sure that our solution is the best in a given situation. This is when a mentor comes in handy. A person who has a lot of experience and knows what to do in the circumstances and how to achieve a specific result. Mentoring is a relationship in which the mentor safely guides the mentee through the learning process. They guide and share their knowledge and experience, supporting the mentee in making decisions, but the decisions themselves are the responsibility of the mentee.
In what situations?
# a newly promoted manager
# promotion of an HR manager
# leader without experience
# HR manager with limited experience
# manager being prepared for a new role, succession
# HR in a new situation with a new task
# a very important project for HR with no or limited experience
# a new project for a manager with no or limited experience
How does it work?
An executive mentoring/coaching program usually begins with a mutually agreed upon contract between three parties: the client (manager), the organization, and the mentor/coach. The contract primarily includes the goals of the direct client, as well as the organization.
The individual mentoring/coaching process begins with a contract between the selected mentor and manager and is directed at the individual goals the mentee wants to work on.
Course of action:
- Initial meeting, during which we establish the goals and scope of mentoring.
- We agree on the number of sessions (8-10) and working conditions.
- The meetings take place on fixed dates, on average every two weeks. The frequency and number of sessions are determined individually, after collecting necessary information from the client and setting the goals for the process.
- In the case of the process, where the sponsor is an organization, the evaluation of the process takes place in the middle and after the end of the contracted number of meetings.
- The mentee’s own work between the meetings is crucial for the effectiveness of the work.
- The mentor/coach agrees to keep the content of conversations with the client during the mentoring sessions confidential.
The benefits that arise from the mentoring/coaching process consist primarily in increasing the personal effectiveness of the manager and accelerating the process of achieving goals. The mentoring process is a fast track to greater self-awareness of one’s potential, strengthened self-confidence and a clarified development plan.
The organization gains a more engaged and aware employee with knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses. New competencies translate into more efficient team management, conflict management, but also into increased identification of the employee with the company’s goals. This increases not only the effectiveness of the manager, but also their team.