Page 207 - Retaining Top Employees

McKeown11.qxd 4/13/02 11:23 AM Page 195

Mentoring and Coaching Programs 195

What Is a Mentor?

In the business environment, the role of the mentor has
changed over the last five to 10 years.
Until about 10 years ago, a mentor was almost universally
seen as an older, senior person who would help someone more
junior in whatever manner seemed right to the mentor at the
time. There was a sense of quirkiness, capriciousness, about
what mentors did.
It was almost as if the decision to act as a mentor was so
benevolent that no one had any right to question the mentor
about how he (it was almost always he) did it, let alone expect
anything structured or accountable. A person was lucky just to
have a mentor, so that meant putting up with strange habits or
unrealistic expectations and being thankful.
Nowadays, mentoring is a much more accepted part of gen-
eral business practice and, as with any practice that gets assim-
ilated into the mainstream, mentoring has become less mysteri-
ous and more accessible.
Mentors are now much more accountable. There’s more
agreement on what’s expected from the manager as a mentor,
what works and what doesn’t, and how the mentoring relation-
ship should be structured for optimum results. Today, the role of
the mentoring manager is less power-related: it’s less about sen-
iority and teaching and more about sharing and development.
In its purest sense, mentoring is about supporting and devel-
oping the all-round growth of the protégé, not just helping him
or her do the job better.
Here are some statements used by organizations to describe
mentors:
• A mentor is someone who supports another individual
and is concerned with his or her growth.
• A mentor is concerned for the individual as a person, not
just as an employee.
• A mentor is concerned for his protégé’s development as a
whole, and not just in the job he does.