SWE - Winter 2009 - (Page 62) POINT OF VIEW Mentoring: Paying It Forward There is nothing as rewarding as seeing someone you have mentored, coached, or counseled move along their career path to where they want to be. BY MARILYN REEDER, SWE EDITORIAL BOARD I n the movie Pay It Forward, a young boy strives to make the world a better place. He decides to return a favor not by paying it back but by paying it forward: by doing a good deed for someone new. To me, mentoring is a way of paying it forward. Over the course of my career, I have learned, grown, and benefited from more than just my own experiences. Other people — colleagues, SWE members, those a bit further along in their careers — have guided me by sharing their experiences and lessons learned. I return that good deed by finding time to help others, especially co-workers, along a path to achieve their goals. I share with them the things I’ve learned and the mistakes I’ve made. My experience allows me to temper some of their frustration at the slowness of change and the career process. I can offer insight, alternative ways of looking at situations, and coach them on providing the appropriate message. als. This type of interaction can occur because people are placed together in a situation where one may have experience that can assist in the protégé’s learning. Frequently, informal mentoring relationships arise out of interactions in groups with a common purpose, such as SWE. Mentoring can focus on career ration and reciprocation; and nurturing, where the mentor provides a safe environment in which the protégé can learn. Many techniques can be applied to mentoring relationships. They may include counseling, coaching, providing direction, and offering advice. It is important to assess the individual needs of each protégé because individuals have different needs, goals, and personalities. Some will be comfortable with a counseling interaction, whereas others may respond better to coaching and suggestions. The needs of a protégé who is older than the mentor will be very different from those of one who is younger. Tips for a positive mentoring relationship • Strive to build mutual trust and commitment • Provide guidance, not direction • Provide an environment of open communication where feedback is positive and twodirectional • Allow for the exploration of new ideas and a questioning attitude • Provide a foundation for ongoing, balanced feedback • Focus on the protégé’s needs, not your own • Accept mistakes as inevitable and use them as mentoring opportunities • Be authentic, open, and sincere • Act more like a friend than a boss advancement, social interaction, technical skill enhancement, or learning the ropes — the how-to’s of a particular position. How to mentor What is mentoring? Mentoring is generally viewed as a relationship between two individuals — the experienced one is the mentor, and the one who can learn from that person’s experience is the protégé. There are two types of mentoring relationships, formal and informal. Formal relationships are typically established methodologies adopted by companies to enhance employee development. Informal mentoring relationships develop spontaneously between individuThere are different models for mentoring. They include apprenticeship, hierarchical, co-mentoring, friendship, nurturing, and peer mentoring, among others. Each model has a different dynamic. In the case of the formal relationship, the two most common models employed are apprenticeship and hierarchical. Both guide the protégé in becoming a valued member of the profession. The two most typical models of informal mentoring are friendship, which entails collabo- Benefits of mentoring Mentoring has many benefits for both parties. The protégé may develop stronger leadership skills, an increased sense of self, and job satisfaction. Mentoring may also provide opportunities 62 SWE WINTER 2009
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.