Tips for passing along the skills and knowledge of your top employees to other staff members
By Phillip M. Perry
You’ve spent good money attracting, hiring and training great employees. But what happens when your skilled workers retire or move on to other pursuits? Does all your investment go down the drain? Maybe not. You can capture the skills and knowledge of your top performers by having them pass along their expertise to other staff members. It’s done through mentoring, which fosters greater employee loyalty, more effective problem resolutions and a fatter bottom line.
On the Move
Securing your training investment is especially critical today, given the mobility of the nation’s workforce. Because people are more likely than ever to work for multiple employers over the course of their careers, your own staff is always subject to unexpected change.
“You could lose one of your top designers, salespeople, delivery drivers or managers tomorrow,” says Randy Goruk, president of The Randall Wade Group / Leaders Edge 360 in Phoenix, Ariz. “You need to have someone ready to step up to the plate.”
In addition to keeping valuable expertise and skills from going out the door, mentoring can help your business in other ways. First, it is likely to increase your overall retention rate: People will be more loyal to your organization when they see you take an interest in their professional development. Second, as employees become more skilled, you will more likely promote from within. That’s one more contributor to loyalty.
Third, mentoring can help when new faces come aboard. “Mentoring by seasoned employees, especially floral designers, salespeople and delivery drivers, can help new hires more quickly acquire skills needed to become valuable players,” says Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., president of Corporate Coaching International in Pasadena, Calif.
Finally, mentoring can result in a more productive work environment. “Businesses with mentoring programs often end up with more solid succession plans, as well as better procedures for workplace problem solving and conflict resolution,” says Lauran Star, Ph.D., a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) psychologist based in Bedford, N.H.
Develop Skills
Two workplace trends are making mentoring programs more critical. The first is the retirement of baby boomers who, this year, range in age from 59 to 77. When older people leave your workforce, they take along their considerable expertise—unless you have taken steps to capture it.
Second, more job applicants are becoming aware of their need to improve their skills to maintain a competitive edge. As a result, they want to join companies that will help them do that. And they will want to make sure you are on the same page before they agree to work for you.
“Today’s applicants are telling prospective employers they want personal development in their work lives,” says Richard Avdoian, an employee development consultant in Fairview Heights, Ill. “It’s all part of a changing business environment: As people move more rapidly between employers, they are looking ahead to their next stops.”
This trend is visible as early as the job interview. “Gone are the days when interviewers would ask more questions than candidates,” says Avdoian. “Now applicants are leading the way by asking for key information such as ‘What do you do to enhance and develop employees’ skills? Do you offer education opportunities? Training?’”
Think Business
Does mentoring sound a lot like coaching? It’s true that both initiatives attempt to improve employee performance, but they differ in their details. Confusing the two can be costly.
“Coaching is much more proactive than mentoring,” explains Alan Weiss, Ph.D., CMC, CPAE, CSP, FCMC, president of Summit Consulting Group in East Greenwich, R.I. “Very often, a coach will reach out to an individual exhibiting a specific workplace development need. Maybe the person’s sales or design skills need improvement.” Once a skill is improved, the coaching initiative is over.
Mentoring, in contrast, is a longer-term effort intended to help individuals engage more successfully with their workplace environment and climb the ladder of success. As such, it tends to promote a spirit of loyalty in the business.
Coaching and mentoring make different demands on the person being trained. “A coach will ask questions such as ‘What do you think your next step is?’” says Star. “The idea is to empower the coached individuals to come up with their own solutions. A mentor, on the other hand, might make a more direct statement, such as ‘This is what you need to do.’”
Select the right candidates for each initiative. “If you try to mentor someone who needs coaching, he or she will not learn,” Star offers. “And, if you try to coach someone who needs mentoring, his or her needs will not be met, and he or she will feel frustrated. Job satisfaction will deteriorate, and those people won’t stick around.”
Teach Success
So, what specific skills should your mentoring program teach? Start with the vagaries of company culture.
“Businesses are like playing fields,” says Frankel. “There are rules, boundaries and strategies that have to be employed if players (employees) want to be successful. Most often, these are not things that are written down but, rather, things that people learn from observing and working closely with colleagues.”
Not knowing the rules of the game can be dangerous. New employees—and even some seasoned ones—might not realize they are going out of bounds until their careers or reputations have been damaged.
Examples? Weiss offers one: “A mentee might ask ‘Is it appropriate for me to bring up a certain topic at the next employee meeting?’” Getting the right guidance on such a matter is important, Weiss says. “If you fail to speak up about a critical matter at the meeting you might be regarded as unobservant, but if you make the wrong statement, or the right statement at the wrong time, people may feel you lack sensitivity to the work environment.”
Here are five other common mentoring topics:
1. How should a newly promoted individual deal with co-workers who have suddenly become subordinates? “While new supervisors cannot hang out with their former peers, sometimes it is not clear what interactions they should have,” says Weiss. “A mentor can help the newly promoted individual sidestep the old familiarities without being rude.”
2. What is the best way to approach the influential players in a company, given their personal management styles?
3. How should a mentee network to get ahead? What players have the ears of the top people?
4. What steps should a person take to improve his or her professional stance? Continuing education to learn specific skills? Teach workshops? Solve a workplace problem? Maybe mentor others?
5. How are decisions made in the organization? Is there a common process by which new ideas are vetted? What is the best way to introduce a new idea without ruffling feathers?
Share Expertise
So, what makes a great mentor? Before anything else, a mentor must have expertise worth sharing. “Great mentors have something to offer because they have achieved success in their careers,” Goruk explains. “They are willing to share their bad as well as their good work life experiences, pointing out mistakes that they and others have made.”
Such openness requires self-confidence. “A mentor must be able to trust people,” says Star. “Not everyone has that capability. Some people feel threatened by the act of sharing their talents because they feel they might be replaced. And a mentor may also be afraid of losing his or her edge if the mentee should communicate the shared information with others.”
Great mentors avoid grinding a personal philosophical axe that might warp the learning process. “A good mentor is completely objective about the company and is not trying to push a personal agenda,” says Weiss. “He or she looks out for the best interests of the mentee, in a way that is consistent with the company’s strategy and culture.”
Finally, great mentors not only are willing to perform the required work but also have the time to do so. And they must have a genuine interest in a mentee’s success.
Are mentors born or made? “Both,” Weiss says. “While you may be able to easily find some people with native mentoring skills, there’s nothing wrong with providing some training—even just a half day’s discussion covering the ground rules.”
Bonus tip: A good mentor need not be in the mentee’s chain of command. “Although a boss can be a mentor, it’s often more effective when someone who is not in a position to judge performance or make decisions about continued employment provides feedback and guidance,” Frankel offers.
Listen Up
Now, for the other side of the selection coin: Who makes a great mentee? Frankel says the best candidates possess at least three of these five characteristics.
1. An innate desire to learn for the sake of learning—not just because it’s required for the job.
2. The willingness to do things differently than they’ve always done them and acknowledge that there is more than one way to do things—and that another way might be better, more efficient and/or more profitable.
3. Openness to feedback and the ability to internalize it without taking offense and over-personalizing it.
4. Insight into why they act as they do and the ability to see themselves as others see them.
5. Humility or the knowledge that there’s always room to grow.
The most successful mentees lack sensitive egos that can get in the way of processing constructive criticism. Creatives, such as floral designers, sometimes present a challenge in this area. In addition, the best mentees realize the dynamics of mentoring are a two-way street. “The mentee should not only be willing to learn from people who have been there before but also to share their own skills or talents to benefit the mentor,” says Avdoian. “I have mentored many people, and I always learn from them.”
Perhaps the most important characteristic is a positive mental attitude. “The great mentoring candidate wants to grow professionally and perform at a higher level,” says Goruk. “The individual must listen well and be willing to change.”
Bonus tip: Assess a mentoring candidate’s potential in the light of his or her previous response to guidance. “An individual who has been open to coaching will likely be a good mentee,” says Star.
Great Mentoring
Some mentoring relationships thrive; others wither on the vine. How can your efforts find a home in the first group? Experts suggest these tips for success.
• Establish parameters. “The mentor needs to define the scope of the mentoring relationship—what it is and what it isn’t,” Frankel advises. “For example, mentoring might not be advocacy. A mentor who can’t or won’t put in a good word for a mentee applying for a promotion might be willing to help prepare for an interview or provide insight into what a position will require.”
• Set goals, when appropriate. The most successful mentoring programs center on an individual’s perceived needs. “Rather than make your own interests the agenda, start by asking the mentee what he or she needs,” says Avdoian. Perhaps the person needs to develop or improve specific design or sales skills, a more authoritative posture or a more positive attitude.
Are specific goals necessary? Maybe not. “Successful mentoring is often more about creating a safe environment to discuss career issues and explore challenges than it is about doing any one particular thing,” Frankel notes.
Sometimes, however, goals are called for. “If you have identified a weak performance area, then a specific, measurable goal will be helpful,” Goruk informs. “But if you are just trying to develop your bench strength and prepare people for advancement, the goal might be simply the retention of a quality employee. In this case, the mentor might help the person stay inspired and feel empowered.”
• Adhere to a schedule. “Decide how frequently you will get together and how long the relationship will last,” Avdoian recommends. “Enter mentoring session dates and times on a calendar. A ‘We’ll meet when we can’ approach never seems to work because there’s always something else to do.” As for the venue of the meetings, establish a designated area that is relaxing and allows for uninterrupted instruction and conversation.
• Discuss privacy. “The issue of confidentiality should be put on the table,” Frankel states. “The mentor and mentee should agree that any shared information will remain private. This will facilitate candid and unguarded discussion.”
• Be honest. “Don’t be afraid to say you do not have the answer to a particular question from or problem for a mentee,” Star advises. “Take steps to help him or her find the answer, and you will both learn in the process.”
How are You Doing?
Assess the quality of your mentoring effort by asking mentees for feedback. “Periodically seek insight into how the initiative is going,” Goruk suggests. “If you get a blank stare when you ask ‘How am I helping you?’ maybe you have not been very helpful. Remember that you are engaged in a process of developing people and their skill-sets. If you are not doing that, you are wasting your time as a mentor.”
You should also assess the quality of your company’s overall business training initiatives. “Thoroughly examine your mentoring program to find out where it is now,” says Goruk. “Then, do it again a year down the road to see how well you have advanced. Identify areas for improvement and encourage mentors to work on them.”
A quality mentoring program will assure that your business will retain critical skills and expertise when good employees leave. Try to extend the mentoring process to every individual who shows promise, no matter what the work level. “The further down you can take your mentoring program in your company, the more profitable you will be,” Goruk concludes.
Award-winning journalist Phillip M. Perry has published widely in the business management press. You may contact him at linkedin.com/in/phillipmperry.
ARE YOU A GREAT MENTOR?
How well do you mentor your employees? Find out by scoring yourself on each of these 10 questions. Total your score and check out the results at the end.
1. Do you ask mentees for insights on the kind of mentoring they need?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
2. Do you share your bad as well as good experiences?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
3. Do you maintain an objective stance and avoid promoting an agenda?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
4. Are you willing to perform the work required?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
5. Do you schedule time with your mentees?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
6. Do you define the scope of your mentoring initiatives?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
7. Do you set mentoring goals when appropriate?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
8. Do you discuss mutual privacy concerns with your mentees?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
9. Do you solicit feedback about your mentoring initiatives?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
10. Do you share your experiences with other mentors?
Never: 0
Seldom: 4
Often: 8
Regularly: 10
WHAT’S YOUR SCORE?
• 80 or more: Congratulations. Your mentoring performance is terrific.
• Between 60 and 79: Time to fine tune your mentoring to better manage your mentees.
• Less than 60: You need to improve your mentoring IQ. Re-gear by instituting ideas in this article.
