Nurturing Profitable Mentoring Relationships

Neil Steimann is the founder of People Dynamics, a business consultancy based in South Africa. During the weekends, he is a volunteer in one of the local projects to rehabilitate lions for release into the wild. Through the interaction between these seemingly unrelated worlds and work, Neil distils lessons on what makes for a profitable mentoring relationship.

In observing two prides of lions, Neil discovered that pride 'A' appeared to specialise in hunting, particularly buffaloes. However, the pride was unable to raise a single cub. This contrasted with pride 'B', which displayed average skills in hunting, but was always successful in raising cubs. Imagine these two prides as teams within an organisation, team 'A' and team 'B'. Just as pride 'A' focuses all its energies into hunting instead of raising cubs, team 'A' will also invest its energies into excelling in its work rather than developing future leaders. In contrast, just as the lioness in pride 'B' invests energies into hunting as well as preparing its cubs for the wild, team 'B' will also invest in both work as well as team development.

Neil suggests that most organisations make the mistake of treating mentoring as HR's responsibility or initiative. Organisations engage in a constant battle to sustain mentoring. "Formal" mentoring in which staff are assigned mentors often struggle because staff perceives that there is no "heart" in the arrangement. "Informal" mentoring is perceived to be natural and authentic, but is time-consuming and does not ensure that all staff receive the benefits of mentoring. Neil suggests that the key to successful and profitable mentoring relationships is a sense of ownership by managers involved in the relationships.

Neil also distilled some lessons on mentoring:
1. Intentionality of exposure will facilitate mentees' willingness to learn.

2. Ensure both mentor and mentee have a clear understanding of what the relationship is about.

3. The importance of crucial conversations in mentoring relationships.

4. Mentoring relationships can be enhanced by some structured maintenance sessions during which mentors and mentees take the time to review the relationship.

Sueann