Benefits of a Mentor:
What Follows May Surprise You?

Key Points of this Page

In this Benefits of a Mentor page you will find:

* the major benefits that a Mentor brings to the mentoring of mentees

* some 'hidden' benefits that may emerge from mentoring as it unfolds

* some more tacit benefits that may have strategic importance for the business, its future and organisational change

 The High Support-High Challenge model below is one of the Mentors' favourites from their training and learning experiences with us

Both mentors and mentees are approximately 20% more likely to get a pay rise than individuals who have not been mentored, according to a Sun Microsystems study on mentoring.

WHY IS THAT, DO YOU THINK?

Well, there maybe a few reasons but it is likely that at some level the pay decision maker perceives that mentoring has appreciated the people - in both senses of the word.

Its people are a business asset that does appreciate (increases in value).  Other assets depreciate, some by a lot.

And it's not too difficult to accept that people involved in mentoring get a financial reward when you see the key areas that tend to improve as the mentor and mentee(s) 'deliver the goods'. 

In no order of priority, they are:

Learning and Development

Our definition of mentoring is: 

a shared learning process that helps people to help themselves to release and realise more of their potential

(potential = unrealised possibilities and 'impossibilities').

Mentoring, therefore, emphasises learning in every situation as a means of realising potential, continuously improving everything and achieving personal and professional development for both mentee(s) and mentors.

The mentor will also encourage the mentee(s) to share their learnings with their peers and colleagues to show transparency and help maintain a positive climate.

Teaching someone else what has been learned is a great way to 'test' how well you have learned it yourself.

The mentor will encourage self-management by mentee(s) including if they are offered the opportunity, self-managing their mentoring process. 

This works wonders in building the mentee(s) self-image, confidence, self belief, skills, knowledge, giving and receiving feedback for learning purposes and intrinsic motivation. 

This may also result in financially beneficial changes such as profit improvement ideas and cost reductions making mentoring self-financing.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Self Confidence

With the high emphasis on learning and self-management, and the encouragement and support of the mentor, mentees begin to display increasing self confidence.

There are two major benefits arising from the mentor's efforts above:

1. the mentee(s) will feel a surge in motivation for the next stages of their mentoring because of their achievements and recognition of their achievements

2. their improving self-belief will begin to transfer into everything they do as well as mentoring. 

It may show itself, for example, as increased responsibility and initiative and / or improved inter-personal relationships with their peers and colleagues and leaders.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Decision Making

As the mentee(s), with help and guidance from their mentor, get deeper into self-ownership and self-management of their mentoring process, they will need to make decisions for which they will be held accountable by the Sponsor or CEO or small business owner.

The mentor will encourage the mentee(s) to make decisions  and to accept responsibility for them and to learn from whatever the outcomes may be.

This too will benefit the mentee(s) self-belief and confidence and it is likely to have a positive effect for leaders.

HOW COME?

Well, if the mentor's guidance and leadership and encouragement was not there, the decisions the mentee(s) are learning to make would have to be made by someone else, wouldn't they?  Guess who?

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Leadership

The 3 major benefits of a mentor, as described above, all contribute to developing the mentee(s) leadership.

Our definition of leadership is: a leader is someone to whom others turn for help, advice and guidance.

That is exactly what the mentee(s) will be experiencing during their sessions with the mentor who, in effect, will be demonstrating effective leadership as a role model.

The mentor will be guiding, inspiring and supporting mentee(s) in very practical ways in a collaborative, facilitating style of leadership quite different to a traditional 'command and control' style.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Increased Engagement, Alignment and Loyalty

A study by The Journal of Vocational Behavior discovered that people with mentors reported higher job satisfaction and a stronger commitment to their organization than those without.

Which subsequently led to increased productivity and reduced turnover of employees.

This is one of the major benefits of a mentor because both increased productivity and lower turnover will reduce high employment costs and contribute to business success.

There may be immediate cost reductions arising from the mentor sharing and involving the mentee/s in continuous improvement initiatives.

From this, the mentee's learn about business success and how 'profit' leads to employment and rewards and how they can make a positive difference to everyone's benefit.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Transfer of Experience

One of the inherent benefits of a mentor is the inevitable transfer of knowledge and skills from the mentor to the mentee(s).

The willingness of the mentor to share their experience and wisdom with the mentee(s) is priceless in terms of its value to the mentee(s), their leaders and the business.

It will reduce the mentee(s) time and effort on their learning and experience curves, speeding up the whole process with benefits to the business and its stakeholders.

It will provide the mentee(s) with reference points in terms of learning to do the right things and releasing and realising their potential across a wide range of situations.

It will facilitate the mentee(s) learning what are the right things to do.

This will prove very reassuring for the mentee(s) and confidence boosting, making their willingness and capacity to 'step out of their current mental and physical comfort zones' easier and more likely.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Networking Across 'Silos'

Among the benefits of a mentor is networking although it is sometimes under used and under valued.

The mentor will encourage the mentee(s) to interact with appropriate resources in achieving the release and realisation of her or his potential.

In practice, this is likely to require the mentee(s) to cross the invisible but powerful mini-cultures that can turn different departments in the organisation into 'silos' rather than colleagues with a common purpose.

The mentoring context, if understood accurately and explained fully, is one of the few contexts that make the silo-crossing network possible.

Silos can be very deep rooted in organisations based on all sorts of criteria such as skills; education; age; group think; leaders; personalities....the list could go on, but learning in mentoring can be an entry-point into making them crumble.

If so, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

Increased Diversity, Creativity and Synergy

Studies of successful mentoring programmes often show that they stimulate increased diversity in organisations.by providing equitable, non-discriminatory opportunities for a wide range of employees who release and realise more of their potential which benefits the business as outlined above.

Equally, it is frequently reported that mentors who inspire their mentee(s) will produce increased creativity from and with them which can then be used for innovation and positive change in any aspect of the mentee(s) and mentor's role and the business at large.

In the context of continuous improvement, increased creativity often leads to cost reduction and increases revenue which may make mentoring self-financing.

Such creativity improvements are often stimulated by the synergy that emerges from the mentor's and mentee/s' teamwork cooperation and relationship.

Synergy = 2 + 2 = 5.

That is, the output of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts because the interactions of the parts generate ideas and creativity that would have been impossible for an individual to achieve alone.

If the above is valid, well done that mentor (and mentee(s)).

The above eight benefits is not an exhaustive list.  You can probably add your own list of known benefits that emerge from mentoring.

Even so, the above represents a very high ROI (return on investment) for mentee(s), mentor, leaders, the business and the Sponsor and / or mentoring investor - and for YOU?

Mentoring is, however, a complex adaptive system - please click here to go to our page explaining what these systems are and why they are so important.

Of the many benefits of a mentor, his or her ability to turn complex adaptive systems to positive benefits that release and realise more potential of the business and its people is invaluable.....but is often unintentionally 'hidden'.

Our shared learning and training experiences for mentors and mentees will enable this tacit skill to emerge from the shadows and we will nurture it to 'blossom'  to everyone's benefit. 

Please read on to the second level of benefits of a mentor.

The Above Will Yield a Very Worthwhile Return on Investment, but the Benefits of a Mentor Often Go Much Further

There are a couple of 'if's here, of course.

What follows is a great contribution from the mentor IF he or she has the capacity, ability, motivation etc. to do what is described.

Potentially all mentors could do what is described, especially with help and support and encouragement.

But it does involve working more deeply with complex adaptive systems, where outcomes are unknowable and unpredictable until they happen, and it may be that when in the reality of doing this the mentor baulks because linear planning and control is ineffective.

The second 'if' is the benefits below are only worthwhile fundamentally IF they match your needs. 

If you have no need for organisational development change or culture change or how to move from 'survival' to 'survive and thrive', what follows is probably unnecessary for you right now.

WHY have you included this stuff then Dennis?

Well, as you know our definition of mentoring puts the release and realising of potential as its purpose. 

What follows in the next two sections represents significant potential (i.e. unrealised possibilities and 'impossibilities') inherent in mentoring.

With our clients Lubrizol and Pfizer in particular I have experienced the significant effects of what is possible (mentoring potential) with amazing results and I thought you, at least, should be made aware of them if you are not already.

And, you never know, even though these benefits of a mentor are not essential for you right now, they might be at some time in the future?

If the above has raised questions or suggestions in your mind, please let me know using the Contact Help Form for Dennis below.  I will be pleased to hear your views and happy to discuss them with you:

Benefits of a Mentor as a 'Barometer'

The relationship between the mentor and the mentee(s), and the nature of the mentoring process, can provide valuable insights into the organisation's culture, morale, tensions, receptivity to change, unrealised possibilities, opportunities etc.

I see it as the mentee(s) naturally sharing essential 'ground level' feedback in their learnings with the mentor and the mentor, therefore, can be like a 'barometer' of confidential feedback re the above that the leadership of the business probably could not have discovered any other way or certainly not through hierarchical channels.

Sometimes mentors have asked me, 'are you asking me to be a 'spy' for management?', which is a valid and valuable questions.

My response is usually along these lines: 'no, definitely not, that would be against everything we are trying to achieve and would destroy trust.'

We have talked though about 'doing the right things' even if others can't or won't.

So, this is a judgement call that the mentor and mentee(s) should discuss and make a decision and agree an approach together.

But, if it is clear and genuine that, for example, morale is so bad the company is beginning to lose its 'best' people, and this could be avoided by some honest, inclusive communication from leaders about the future of the business, is it the right thing to stay quiet or is it the right thing to speak out confidentially of course with your suggestion about communication?' 

Benefits of a Mentor as a 'Catalyst for Change'

The pursuit of releasing and realising the mentee(s) potential may also invite the mentor to encourage mentee(s) to interact with colleagues elsewhere in the organisation that he or she would rarely encounter.

The context of positive 'learning' may result in some creative and unique cross functional collaborations with the short-term aim of increasing the mentee(s) knowledge, skills and experience.

However, it may also become sustainable longer-term if it produces larger benefits such as profit improvement or cost reduction or leads to safety improvements or a method or system change that makes everyone's working life easier.

In effect, the mentor (and mentee(s)) may have initiated a cross functional (i.e. cross silo) operational change.

Their actions may have been a catalyst for cross functional cooperation and change that may never have been achieved any other way than in the context of mentoring and learning. 

Benefits of a Mentor in Creating Trust and Giving and Receiving Feedback for Learning Purposes

The mentor, in building the 'right' relationship with a mentee/s, especially with self-ownership and self-management, will inevitably create high levels of trust and giving and receiving feedback.

His or her behaviour doing this will be on display as a role model for others to follow.

Trust we define as: I know that you will not take unfair advantage of me.

If at the heart of mentoring is the mentor / mentee(s) relationship and we believe it is,

then at the heart of that relationship is trust, for without it, none of the benefits of a mentor can be achieved.

Feedback is the breakfast of champions, but only if it is shared and used to learn, of course.

The mentor knows that his or her purpose is to help a mentee(s) help themselves to be a 'champion'.

So he or she will encourage the mentee(s) to seek continuous feedback from  many channels in order to learn.

For example, the mentor might help and encourage the mentee(s) to self-own and self-manage face-to-face, paperless 360-degree feedback loops with colleagues, leaders, others to assess progress and create suggestions about what next?

The mentor knows that the 'power and control' in the feedback process rests with the receiver.

How the giver gives feedback is significant, but the mentor will tutor the mentee/s that there is no such thing as negative feedback unless the mentee(s) chooses to make it so – when the mentee(s) really wants to learn from feedback he or she will perceive the key messages however badly, emotionally or clumsily they may be communicated.

Giving feedback makes explicit what was already in people’s minds.

Whilst feedback stays unshared in people’s minds it is of no value to the mentee(s) (even though it will be affecting the giver’s attitude and behaviour). 

The mentor will also facilitate the mentee/s positive attitude because feedback may engender (short-term) discomfort.

The mentor will tutor the mentee/s to  be comfortable with the uncomfortable, it usually means that growth and learning are taking place.

The mentor also has a validation role to help the mentee/s. Feedback requires high support and high challenge.

Simply dumping opinions (and prejudices) on the mentee/s and walking away is not feedback.

The mentor would 'blow the whistle' on this invalid behaviour.

Once leaders, colleagues and others see the really powerful benefits that the mentor helps the mentee(s) gain from giving and receiving feedback. the process may be spread more widely, eventually becoming part of the business's culture.

There are Deeper Third Level Benefits of a Mentor as He or She Develops Tacit Knowledge and Skills 

Flatten the Hierarchy

For example, the mentor will have been emphasising self-ownership and self-managing by the mentee(s) and this includes making decisions, being responsible, taking initiative and developing a sense of self-confidence and independence.

The mentor will be doing all of this with a collaborative, inclusive, teamwork partnership style of leadership a million miles away from the direct and organise, command and control, top-down driven management style of old. 

As the mentor helps the mentee(s) to learn new skills and knowledge and self-management, the mentee(s) is beginning to ask, 'why do I need some one to supervise me or tell me what to do?'.

And as time goes by the mentee(s) begins to absorb more wisdom and tacit skills from the mentor, there is a growing risk that the mentee/s level of frustration will increase.

With our clients Pfizer and Lubrizol this created opportunities to 'flatten the organisation's hierarchy' as mentored employees no longer needed overt front-line supervision or first-line management.

Instead, they needed 'leadership' much more akin to the microcosm of desired culture that their self-owned and self-managed mentoring experiences had created, and that had been transparently demonstrated to work brilliantly.

Develop 'Upward Overlapping' and Move from 'Survival'  to 'Thrive and Survive'  

Many organisations are unbalanced in the sense of looking after the short-termism of 'today' / present on the one hand and being able to look after the longer-term strategic needs of 'tomorrow' / future on the other.

WHY IS THIS?

Well, it's often an unintended consequence of organisational design, culture and leadership style.

Let me explain:

My experience has shown me that in a 'traditionally organised' hierarchical business, the culture has morphed into what I call 'downward overlapping'.

That is, people at the bottom of the hierarchy are told what to do by supervisors even though they manage their own lives so 'managing' the livelihood that finances their lives shouldn't be too difficult, should it?

Worse, the company has employed middle-managers to tell the supervisors what and how to tell the people what to do.

Depending on the size of the business, this effect can reach the CEO or Small Business Owner.

SO WHAT?

So every one in management is very busy seeking to direct and control those beneath them in the hierarchy. 

Supervisors become super-operators, managers become super-supervisors looking after the short-term today /present by directing and controlling others.

Everyone one in management has their heads down into the business, hence downward overlapping.

SO WHAT?

Well, if the management hierarchy is mostly downward overlapping, who is looking after the company's future? 

Looking after the longer-term, strategic needs, the threats and opportunities, the unrealised possibilities awaiting attention in the future? 

How would it be if the mentored developed employees, who manage their own lives, did upward overlapping and looked after the business's 'today' / present?

And the mentor mentored leadership to release and realise their potential to look after the business's 'tomorrow' / future.

Sounds good to me.

You would have then aligned the whole business population's goals with the business's goals and re-balanced so that both the needs of today and those of tomorrow would be met. 

And effective mentoring by the mentor/s would have generated the entry-point to truly significant leadership change that would help the business move from short-termism downward overlapping 'survival' to longer-term upward overlapping 'thrive and survive'.

Now that's what I would call a return on investment very well worth having, wouldn't you?

Along with our brilliant client Lubrizol, we won a UK National Training Award with an approach that achieved what I've set out above and which the judges described as 'revolutionary and inspiring'.

So, I know this approach really works.

Click the link above to read The Lubrizol Story now.

Please click any or all of the links below if you want more information related to this page:

* complex adaptive systems

* business mentoring

* what does a mentor do?

* what is a mentor?

* whole brain thinking

Page Key Points Summary

In this Benefits of a Mentor page you will have found:

* the major benefits that a Mentor brings to the mentoring of mentees

* some 'hidden' benefits that may emerge as mentoring unfolds

* some more profound benefits that may have strategic importance for the business

We've covered a lot of ground on this page and I just want to THANK YOU for visiting my web site and reading this page.  Your attention is much appreciated.

I hope you found the page as enjoyable, worthwhile and interesting reading it as I did writing it.

Kindest regards,

Dennis