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As a manager, you've got plenty of responsibilities and a heavy workload. Mentoring your employees may seem like a luxury -- great when you have the time but not a priority.
But chances are you're already acting as a mentor for your staff, even if you don't think of yourself that way. "Whether managers realize it or not, they typically serve as informal mentors to those who report to them," says Reesa Staten, director of research for international staffing firm Robert Half International. "That's why it's crucial to lead by example and live by the principles you want staff to follow."
Mentoring is a key practice for transferring wisdom, fostering talent and promoting best practices within a firm or department, says Staten. It's also one of the most effective ways to develop new leaders: 51 percent of executives surveyed by Robert Half said they benefited from having a mentor.
Still not convinced mentoring is important? Here's how it could help both you and your company.
Groom New Talent
Think about when you started out in your career, says Carol E. Gilson, vice president of human resources and client services for EMPO, an organization that provides human resources services to small to midsize companies. Was there a mentor that stood out? How did it benefit your career path?
"Most successful people have been mentored either formally or informally by many persons in many ways throughout their careers," says Gilson, who also is an adjunct professor in human resources and management at St. Paul College. "To pass the gift of mentorship on to others positively affects both the mentor and the person being mentored."
Share Information
At the same time, mentors must recognize that the process is not about a wise senior sage showing a young, wet-behind-the-ears recruit all the informal secrets of the company, says Chip R. Bell, president of The Chip Bell Group and author of Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning.
"Mentoring is about helping another person learn through a one-to-one relationship," says Bell. "That means mentoring could occur between peers. Mentoring could also be the 22-year-old in IT teaching the CEO about PowerPoint."
Gilson says good managers constantly observe their employees' strengths and weaknesses, providing guidance and training to bolster underdeveloped areas and regularly counseling employees in appropriate business strategies.
Benefit Your Organization
Mentoring relationships are more than just mutually satisfying for managers and employees -- the organization as a whole benefits too, says Bell. Here's how:
- Knowledge becomes obsolete quickly. Smart managers keep their employees in a constant state of learning.
- Smart managers know learning organizations, where managers act as mentors, are better able to attract and retain the very best.
- Employees who are in a constant state of learning are better able to effectively cope with change, which is now a permanent part of the corporate landscape.
- As organizations flatten, upward mobility is less available as a motivational tool. Learning becomes a more important way to keep employees engaged and motivated.
"In a knowledge-based economy, the skills and capabilities of an organization's team members are crucial to success, so managers should make sure this talent is consistently being cultivated," says Staten. "Mentoring professionals who show promise is one of the best ways to hone skills and develop a company's future leaders."
Staten points out that "mentoring is really the motivational side of management, and this has grown more important over the years as companies rely increasingly on their internal talent for their competitive edge."
Build Loyalty
By serving as a coach or mentor to employees, managers instill loyalty and build trust, Staten explains. "People typically don't leave jobs -- they leave people. A person's relationship with his or her manager has a major influence on his or her productivity and overall job satisfaction. If a supervisor shows an interest in an employee's professional development and helps that person advance, he or she is going to want to continue to grow with the company."