n
Types
of Mentoring
Mentoring
Types
- Organizational
and Cultural Mentoring
- Skill/Competency-Based
Mentoring
- Networking
and Career Path Mentoring
- Team
Mentoring
- Distance
Mentoring
1.
Organizational
and Culture Mentoring fosters
the type of development that comes from learning about the organization,
its culture, its vision, its history and its status in today's world.
This is much more than an "orientation program" for new
individuals. This type of
mentoring is normally facilitated by individuals that have been with the
organization for a number of years. These
individuals have normally witnessed many changes and can impart this type
of "history" to an individual to help him/her understand what
the organization stands for, and how it has evolved.
This
Mentor knows many other individuals within the organization and can tell a
Mentee how to "maneuver" within the organization to get things
accomplished, as well as making introductions for the Mentee to others in
various departments. The objective is to set up the Mentee “for
success” and make the transition an easy one both for the Mentee and the
organization.
Organizational
and Cultural Mentoring also addresses the organization's customs and
policies, both those that are stated and those that are
"unstated" but "understood".
In addition, the Cultural side
of this type of mentoring may also refer to an individual culture. For
an individual who brings a specific culture as a part of his/her identity,
it may be more comfortable and also in many ways beneficial, for that
individual to be paired with a Mentor that can relate from a similar
cultural perspective. It may
be very beneficial for the Mentee, in this case, to have someone of a
similar culture and background to talk to and gain advice from.
2.
Skill/Competency-Based
Mentoring helps an individual
improve and develop skills/competencies where he/she is deficient.
During this form of mentoring, not only is knowledge taught and
imparted, but the Mentor can design specific situations where the Mentee
can practice these new skills/competencies without risk or without
necessarily "being on the line"!
This
type of mentoring can greatly assist a Mentee in a career change or
discipline transfer where new skills/competencies
are required. The learning
curve in this situation is greatly decreased.
We know that not all learning takes place in a classroom. We
also know that even if we attend a training class, we then need to put
those skills/competencies into use to be able to reinforce the learning.
This type of mentoring addresses that issue.
3.
Networking
and Career Path Mentoring focuses
solely on "upward" mobility and that of
career
enhancing/ career pathing, versus behaviors and activities that promote
skill/competency performance. This
is the more historical perception of mentoring.
This is different from the Cultural Mentoring in that normally the
Mentors involved are at higher levels in the organization and/or well
respected within the corporation. The
goal is leadership development to assist the Mentee in fine tuning key Leadership
Behaviors in order to prepare him/her for advancement opportunities.
4.
Team Mentoring can be utilized when there are more Mentees in need of a
Mentor or when there are a limited number of prospective Mentors who
possess the skills/competencies and talents required.
Based on this premise, it is conceivable that a given Mentee may
have more than one Mentor (being sure that each Mentor addresses a
different aspect of the Mentee’s professional needs and pursuits).
Team
Mentoring can also mean that one Mentor has several Mentees. This is
primarily utilized in short term transitions where the number of Mentees
in need exceeds the number of available Mentors or when the sharing of
knowledge or insight of a particular person is critical.
The
concept of Team Mentoring is based on accomplishment as a team effort. One
Mentor may work with the Mentee specifically in a
"Skill/Competency-Based" area, while another Mentor may be
working with the Mentee in a "Networking and Career Pathing"
area. Both Mentors, the Mentee,
and the Mentee’s manager work together as a team to ensure that an
optimum level of development is taking place.
It is
also conceivable, with the Team Mentoring focus, that at the same time an
individual is a Mentee receiving Organizational and Cultural Mentoring,
the same individual might also be playing the role of a
Skill/Competency-Based Mentor for another Mentee.
Offering
different focuses of mentoring allows a larger group of individuals to
experience the advantages of a mentoring process both from the role of a
Mentor and as a Mentee. It
helps address issues raised by individuals today regarding "I want to
grow, develop and be the best that I can be in my job, but I'm not
interested in moving upward into management!"
5.
Distance Mentoring becomes a viable tool to execute the mentoring relationship
as organizations become global. Face-to-face
communications, interactions and sharing of knowledge and expertise may
become more difficult, and special treatment is required to maximize the
relationship and ensure a successful outcome for both the Mentor and the
Mentee.
With the
integration of this focus, an organization is able to work with both
Mentors and Mentees that interact in traditional, face-to-face mentoring
relationships, purely distance mentoring relationships, and those with a
mixture of both. We emphasize
the concept of Distance Mentoring as a specific delivery method of
mentoring. Although many times
specific “technologies” are involved with this type of mentoring, it
is important not to lose the main point that the focus is Distance
Mentoring and the technology involved is the tool to implement that focus.
