Planning the Time for Mentoring That's Needed Starting Week One
by Barry Sweeny, 2003
INDEX:
Embedding Mentoring Into the Work
Whether a mentor's protégé is a novice teacher just beginning a career, a student beginning college, or an existing employee targeted for a fast track leadership development sequence, finding the time needed for effective mentoring suddenly becomes much harder to do once "work" has begun. The press on the protégé of tasks to do, and the challenge of learning multiple new tasks and responsibilities may mean that there is little time for mentor and protégé to get together for their own work as they previously might have been able to do. It's time to "shift gears" regarding finding the time for mentoring.
That is why it is crucial now for the mentoring to become more embedded within the protege's work, not in addition to that work. This means that the mentor actually works along side the protégé helping him/her, to some extent, to do the initial work that is required of the protégé.
Whether the protégé is a novice in a career, or an existing employee with a new assignment, the "modeling-and-talking-while-doing" mentoring method is very helpful for protégés to experience, especially if the mentor can "unpack" his/her own thinking and decision making process while doing the process. This is so valuable for the protégé exactly because thinking is NOT observable.
How Can a Mentor Make the Time for This Approach?
OK, you're convinced the "embedded mentoring in the protégé's work" concept is great for the protégé, and that it saves the protégé time. But, if you are the mentor, where do you find the time to give to this approach?
1. Mentoring Deserves Work Time Because it Serves Work Initiatives & Needs
That title says a great deal, doesn't it!?
Some mentoring programs do not provide any released time for the mentors and protégés who work in their program. When this is the case it is often because there are few expectations placed on the mentoring pair. Typically these programs only expect work on orientation and friendly support of the protégés.
The only way to really "find" time for staff development is to
restructure the professional year and work day to make employee learning a daily
priority. That this is what's needed has become evident in almost all modern countries
in Europe and Asia. In the USA, however, learning and improving our work is NOT yet
viewed as PART of the work that's expected. As long as employee learning time remains
"borrowed" from work time, we will never have the time to grow and improve
as we need, AND we will always feel guilty when we take that time for our own learning.
It is a real TRAP! Think about it. By the traditional definition of staff development,
the time to improve work is in conflict with doing the work! It's a no-win
proposition.
Except for true restructuring to solve this conflict, the real issue is NOT FINDING
time for staff development. We are not likely to find much more time than we already
have without expanding the work day. The real issue is a matter of our priorities.
We need to look closely and critically at how we spend the time we already have and
see if there are any candidates for eliminating things we do now that are less than
productive.
If there are expectations for mentoring to produce improved performance and results, then programs must redefine improving our work as part of the work. Doing that makes mentoring a win-win-win proposition for the protégé, mentor, and the organization. Programs must provide the time during the work day for the mentoring pair to interact and WORK together. Also, generally, the greater the expectation for results in our work, the greater the time that is needed.
2. What can a MENTOR do if your organization has not provided released time or made mentoring part of your work assignment?
A. Advocate with your manager and others in your organization that they SHOULD provide released time and adjust work task expectations for protégé and mentors to allow embedded mentoring during the work day. Discuss the "win-win-win" proposition described above.
B. Print out this and other related web pages, and share them and discuss them with your manager and others in HR, Training, etc.
C. Find Someone Who Believes in What You Are Doing & Will Cover For You
More could be said about exactly how to do this with colleagues, supervisors, volunteers, and others. But, you get the idea.
D. Change YOUR Priorities for Using the Time You Already Have
True, the organization that wants you to be an effective mentor SHOULD provide the time to do the work that's expected, time that is embedded within the work day. However, what can YOU do when that is not done or is not sufficient. YOU must make the time if you are going to make a DIFFERENCE.
For example, when we decide we need the credentials and discipline of a master's degree for our learning and career, we would never go into such a course of study thinking we can leave our lives unchanged. We KNOW we will have to reprioritize our use of personal and discretionary time, perhaps even work time, to gain the time we need for the new commitment we have made. Mentoring requires a similar rethinking of our priorities, AND, as a result, will deliver a similar opportunity for increasing our own learning and growth.
Just DO it!
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