TM - May 2008 - (Page 39) Move From a Dyadic to a Communal Mentorship Model Depth and a substantive approach to succession management should change how organizations view the traditional mentor-learner archetype. A mentor is someone who takes a personal and systematic interest in a junior person’s career development, guiding and sponsoring that person for advancement. Core mentoring competencies include being an effective listener, a proactive coach, a challenger, cheerleader and skillful teacher of organizational wisdom. Mentees, on the other hand, have to prepare for the relationship by acknowledging they are in it to learn. This often requires being comfortable asking questions, revealing concerns, initiating contact with a busy mentor and even exposing certain vulnerabilities. The underlying notion that mentoring is essentially about an apprenticeship-like process, involving masters on the one hand and learners on the other, is a valid one that deserves support. However, the manner in which most mentoring relationships are implemented is straining to fit today’s nimble and change-friendly organizations. Women and minorities, in particular, find themselves increasingly ill served by the traditional model. Matching mentors and learners is simply a red herring that begs the following question: Why not give mentoring relationships a more strategic and communal bounce by turning them loose in a true learning and teaching organization? In this kind of environment, each person would be prepared to welcome an effective teacher in some situations and expected to act as an observant learner in others. The Mentoring Launch Platform It’s now well-known that the best way to develop highpotential individuals is to provide them with a series of stretch assignments in concert with the coaching and support necessary when they’re pushed out of their comfort zones. This simple truth is anything but simple to execute in the real world. Again, mentoring relationships are only one facet of the overall succession management platform. But leaders constructing a systemic path to follow the EQ arc should start at the beginning. The platform from which true adult learning can launch is built by creating a vision, articulating the mission, identifying core values, constructing a strategy map and outlining a strategic blueprint for execution. The companies best positioned for success are those that already possess a deep respect for the extraordinary complexity of human beings and have a “talent culture” mindset. A strategic frame of mind is far more important than any set of tactics could ever be. Stra- tegic-minded organizations value and cultivate a performance culture seeded with socially and self-aware protagonists, a population of change agents who thrive in a fluid, open-ended workplace experiment. Dynamic cultures such as these will attract like-minded people who want to work in a meritocratic, energizing and engaging organization. These workers generally are team players who enjoy and are adept at changing roles — from mentor to learner and back again, for example — with a speed and flexibility similar to what they demonstrate and find exciting in their personal lives. Mentoring is one important link in this new process of succession management. The much larger process con- Core mentoring competencies include being an effective listener, a proactive coach, a challenger, cheerleader and skillful teacher of organizational wisdom. tinually seeks greater optimization of the people value chain (PVC), which is a relatively new concept in the talent development arena. The PVC is a model for organizational transformation that applies the value chain concept, introduced by Michael Porter in 1985, to the people side of the overall business equation. Companies that are serious about solidifying and extending their competitive advantage in the global marketplace need to realize that nearly all the organizational levers required to get them from good to great are related to people. They also need to realize their competitive edge is determined primarily by talent management and leadership expertise, not by their core business processes. In short, profitability is about performance, and performance is about people, which is what the PVC process is all about. Mark Brenner is chairman of the Global Consulting Partnership, which provides executive coaching and organizational performance solutions. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. May 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 39 http://www.TalentMgt.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - May 2008 Talent Management - May 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take The Four Pillars of Managing Performance Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential TM - May 2008 TM - May 2008 - (Page Intro) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page Cover2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 1) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 2) TM - May 2008 - Talent Management - May 2008 (Page 3) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 4) TM - May 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 6) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 7) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 8) TM - May 2008 - Contents (Page 9) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 10) TM - May 2008 - Human Performance (Page 11) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 12) TM - May 2008 - Leading Edge (Page 13) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 14) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 15) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 16) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 17) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 18) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 19) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 20) TM - May 2008 - Learning Connections (Page 21) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 22) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 23) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 24) TM - May 2008 - Make the Connection: Effective Employee Evaluations (Page 25) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 26) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 27) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 28) TM - May 2008 - Vacation: The Benefit Many Employees Don't Take (Page 29) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 30) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 31) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 32) TM - May 2008 - The Four Pillars of Managing Performance (Page 33) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 34) TM - May 2008 - Transform Talent With Deeper Skill Specialization (Page 35) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 36) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 37) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 38) TM - May 2008 - Mentoring's Role in Succession Planning (Page 39) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 40) TM - May 2008 - Graybar: Supporting a Long-Term View of Talent Management (Page 41) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 42) TM - May 2008 - American Diabetes Association: On a Mission to Improve Employee Health (Page 43) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 44) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 45) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 46) TM - May 2008 - Taking the Talent Pulse: What Drives High Potentials? (Page 47) TM - May 2008 - American Systems Employees Earn a Piece of the Pie (Page 48) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 49) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 50) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 51) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page 52) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover3) TM - May 2008 - Editorial Resources (Page Cover4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.