Mentoring and growth of employees
Mentoring is a form of effective training and adaptation of employees. It is based on the exercise of care during the development of competence and the implementation of the professional path of the trainee. Mentoring is support, care, devoting time to the person developing his talent.
However, it does not refer only to the specific tasks assigned to the employee, as the concept is much broader in its meaning. Effective mentoring should identify itself as a partnership relationship in the professional field. This relationship, to be valuable, should bind a person with extensive experience to an employee with less competence or shorter seniority. Mentoring is designed to benefit both parties involved. The mentor can develop his interpersonal skills, while his mentee can develop self-awareness, and strive to realize his full potential.
Table of Contents
1. The role of mentoring
The importance of mentoring has developed in response to the need to support employees on the path of development and the achievement of organizational goals. Many factors contribute to the success of mentoring. These include good planning of the various stages of development of the mentor’s relationship with his/her mentee. A key role in the whole process is played by the mentor. His or her professional competence, motivation and willingness to share knowledge and ability to pass it on are crucial to achieving joint success. The two people who share a mentoring relationship must have trust, understanding and forbearance for each other. This is important due to the fact that many obstacles and downfalls sometimes await on the common path to achieve the desired goal. Mentor and mentee do not always manage to get along smoothly on all levels. This is normal, as character differences are natural for people. Skillful mentoring has partly to do with the human psyche. It is also the art of compromise.
2. Operating principles
Through mentoring, the transfer of key information and skills takes place. This is a basic and necessary foundation, the foundation of which indicates the good prognosis of the mentoring relationship. However, it should be noted that mentoring brings with it both more responsibilities and benefits for the company as a whole. These include, among other things, building loyalty among new employees, emerging leaders and supporting older employees. Mentoring is based primarily on regular meetings. A plan of action should be established at the beginning, and over time progress and goals achieved should be analyzed and discussed. During the meetings, the mentor’s job is to ask questions and listen to his/her mentee. For this, motivation plays an important role. The mentor praises any successes, even small ones, in order to inspire more enthusiasm in his/her mentee and improve his/her self-esteem. The duration of mentoring depends on the needs of both parties, but it usually lasts from several to several months.
3. Mentoring a Coaching
Mentoring is often confused with coaching, but the terms are not synonymous. In both cases, the main axis of the process is the goals set. In the mentoring process, the main resource is the knowledge and experience of the mentor. He is an expert in a particular area and is therefore competent to act as a guide and mentor. In this relationship, the master gives his student quite a lot of freedom in choices and encourages experimentation, while tapping into his own rich resources. The coach’s expertise refers to the process itself, the tools, and techniques to enable the mentee to achieve the desired results. The role of the coach is not to offer his student specific solutions, give explicit advice or hints on how to solve a problem. His task, as it were, is to ask questions aimed at understanding oneself, one’s needs, and capabilities. The coach is supposed to support the employee, motivate him, improve his self-confidence. A person who is a coach assumes in advance that his charge has all the skills needed to solve a given problem. He must, however, help him tap into his inner source, which for assorted reasons may be blocked, for example, due to professional burnout or low self-esteem.
4. Summary
Mentoring in an organization, in order to have positive effects, must be a long-term project with clearly defined development goals. It requires regularity and persistence on both sides. Mentoring builds a sense of connection, community and trust. It can also be a kind of bridge between generations to enhance the well-being of all employees.