Benefits of a Mentoring Relationship
Here are the findings……
For Mentors the group agreed they gained:
- Satisfaction at the success of mentees.
- Recognition of the mentor’s development skills by higher management.
- Challenge, stimulation.
- Identify future potential.
- Development opportunities for the mentor: coaching, counselling and motivating skills.
- Future goodwill from the mentee who may well overtake the mentor career wise.
The Mentees believed they benefited by:
- Career enhancement in terms of: advice (both professional and also in the timing of job moves) and sponsorship (such as recognition by senior people, ‘mentioned in dispatches’).
- Speedier and easier induction into the formal and informal world of organisations.
- Ready access to senior managers undoubtedly aids the mentees self confidence. .
- Training in organisation politics offered by mentoring.
- Learning about the politics of organisations through their mentors.
- A role model who can be observed closely as well as from a distance.
Line Managers thought they benefitted by gaining:
- A more effective member of staff.
- A second opinion of mentee’s performance or potential.
- Information from the mentor via the mentee (about other people, other departments, other programmes or other ideas).
- Ease of workload in terms of developmental responsibilities.
- ‘Bask in the reflected glory’ of the mentee, who will probably impress the senior management.
For the Organisation therefore the benefits identified included:
- More effective staff, line managers and mentors as well as mentees.
- Demonstrates a commitment to training and development.
- Tangible and measurable gains if work tasks or projects are used as developmental tools.
- Improved communication across the organisation, between mentor, mentee and line manager.
- Increased motivation of all parties involved
By Charlotte
quicklearn.org.uk
Mentoring and the Law 