Insights from the Mentoring Gurus

In an ideal world, everyone in your firm would instantly have the right answers to every messy challenge in their work life. Every manager would get help and know exactly the right way to deal with every employee to gain maximum productivity. Sigh … A nice dream. People are complex and multi-dimensional. The best we can hope for is business coaching for people in leadership and talent development programs, with the use of effective corporate learning tools and reinforcement of the learnings with eMentor programs.

Whether you are in Talent Management, Diversity, Corporate Training and Learning, or part of Human Resources that touches these areas, join us in a webinar on overview that basics of Mentoring and Leadership Training and Development.

The new year has started - with new plans and new budgets. Beyond the usual questions about mentoring programs, several emails and blogs have passed my on the impact of Mergers on corporate cultures. The latest as from Kevin Knowles, a Principal at Deloitte Consulting, who is taking a poll: Should leaders avoid Mergers, knowing that most deals do not add value and many are disruptive to the organization’s main business (imagine a fish with wings), or Is it the role of leaders to seek out growth, even with attendant risk?

Each year, business leaders are challenged to develop and revise strategic plans for their company – the future strategy for product development, marketing and to think through the specific tactics to achieve goals. Often these plans for the future state of the firm include thinking about the skills needed. A firm can hire new skills, but often it is more effective (on the basis of cost and productivity) to invest in leadership training. Almost any leadership training can be enhanced and reinforced with an eMentor program which connects people based upon their current and future skills, their needs and job requirements AND the personality and world view.

A few years back, Clark Quinn coined the term, SlowLearning. Those responsible for corporate training and learning want their participants to absorb new information and apply the concepts to their business processes as quickly as possible. The goal of corporate training is rapid learning, and meaningful impact to performance without wasting employees time. Quinn believes that in some corporate training, the ideas are presented like water out of a fire hose, and rush by with as much absorption as if the plant was hit with a jet of water. 

So you’re thinking about starting a Mentor Program. You’ve heard about them, and read a few articles about mentor programs in HR magazines, and your C group has indicated an interest in them.

You have questions:

Here’s a statistic that blew me away: Corporate Training Budgets add up to a $50 billion industry.  50 Billion!  According to Training Industry’s 2011 Survey, Corporate Training Budget figures include not only spending directly on training, but training staff and outside products and services.

Here’s another outcome I didn’t expect: Big companies (10,000 or more employees) are training more, but the money, when you look at it on a basis of how much is spent on the average learner – is down!

In today’s knowledge economy, a corporation's workforce is its most important asset, as well as one of its greatest investments.  The same holds true to the government - most departments have mentoring programs.  Unlike corporations, few agencies have have invested in mentor program software to increase the efficiency of their mentor programs.  Mentor Resources' WisdomShare is available through the GSA schedule. We have an experienced Value Added Reseller in Winvale.  Our partner has a variety of software solutions for governments in the area of Human Resources and Workforce Management, ranging from recruiting to scheduling and compensation to succession.

Eleanor demonstrated leadership in the Progressive and Suffrage Movements, but in many ways her leadership, causes and public persona was a direct result of her mentor's efforts to broadened her worldview.  Eleanor Roosevelt's mentor was the headmistress of Allenswood, Marie Souvestre. While today, Eleanor is considered one of the most respected women of the 20th century, but Robin Gerber, author of Leadership the Eleanor Roosevelt Way: Timeless Strategies from the First Lady of Courage suggests that it was not an easy path. 

Have you ever been on a blind date?  Most mentor programs match people based on skills, level in the organization and departments.  The resulting match feels very similar to a blind date – or worse.  People are a multi-dimensional, the desired skills or level in the organization is only the smallest part of who they are, how they feel about their career and what makes them tick.