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The Best Practice
Framework for "High Impact" Mentoring Programs
© By Barry Sweeny, 2005
It is NOT SIMPLE to
develop and implement effective mentoring programs that will
improve employee learning, professional growth, and performance
AND increase results. If someone else tells you they can do it "quick
and dirty", thank them and send them packing. They are in business
for themselves, not for you!
Designing such "high impact" mentor
programs is my specialty and I have been perfecting my knowledge
and strategies for this task since 1987. I will MENTOR you and your
program to excellence. I know what is needed in every setting,
and I know what is needed that is unique from setting to
setting. That means that, no matter what kind of organization you
are in, I know exactly WHAT to do, HOW to do it, and WHEN to do
it so the results YOU want happen in a planned, measureable process.
These statements are not bragging. They are statements
of pride and are meant to reassure you that I can deliver what I
promise.
Such a planned, measureable process is NECESSARY
if your program is to capture high level support and remain sustainable
across time. There is NO OTHER WAY to achieve these ends and to
be COST EFFECTIVE, except to do it the right way.
Don't be timid about undertaking such complexities.
The point of working with me is to:
- Develop exactly the program that you need for
the goals you want to attain
- Get it right the first time, without trial and
error learning and wasting of resources and time
- Gradually develop your own internal capacity
to be self-sufficient and conduct the full program yourself.
What follows here is a GIFT from me to you.
The chart below is the WHAT or structure that an excellent "high
impact" mentoring program needs. HOW and WHEN to do these things
effectively is what I will help you learn. This chart shows the full
range of mentoring and other support program strategies which are
needed in organizations with results expectations for those
programs.
My advice is, if you DO have such expectations,
that you PLAN your program to include ALL of these components, but
that you implement them gradually over time as you have the
internal capacity to do so, until you have them all in place.
** Since the chart relates to all forms of mentoring,
you should probably choose ONE vertical column for your program
model. You may also elect to incorporate a subset of the components
in that column, reject the full model, and I will still gladly work
with you.
Note: The last three elements (PD goals, PD portfolios
& PD action plans) may be optional IF your organization or profession
does NOT have a set of performance standards or competencies against
which employees are assessed.
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- EARLY
INTERVENTION
Student or youth
targeted for later
participation or employment |
INDUCTION |
INSERVICE
|
| PROTÉGÉ
> CHARACTERISTICS |
Novice
or beginner in the career
and new in the organization |
New employee with prior
experience in another similar job & organization |
Current employee
increasing skills for the current responsibility |
Current employee
preparing for or already in a new responsibility
- Leadership dev.
- Mgmít succession |
PROGRAM
COMPONENTS \/ |
Career
has NO
standards for performance |
Career
HAS
standards for performance |
Formal protégé
needs assessment:
- Self- assessment |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| - Supervisor's
assessment |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| - Peer/subordinate
assessment |
n/a
|
Peer
later on |
Peer
later on |
Peer
later on |
Peer/subordinate
|
Peer/subordinate
|
Orientation
to:
- the organization |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
| - the new job |
to
the potential job |
X
|
X
|
X
|
n/a
|
X
|
| - mentoring/coaching |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Training
designed for the protégé |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Observation
by protégés of experts in the same role as theirs,
OR in the roles for which they are being prepared |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Protégé
peer support group |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Mentoring
& coaching to ensure implementation of training & to
support & guide protégé growth in self assessment,
reflective process & other work skills |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Professional
growth goals & planning based on protege's on awareness
of needs |
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
| Goals & plan
based on assessment against standards for performance |
n/a
|
n/a
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Professional
growth portfolio of artifacts related to the professional
growth
goals, plan, process & results |
Save
your stuff 2 |
Save
your stuff |
Save
your stuff |
Save
your stuff |
X
|
X
|
2. Some portfolio processes
may actual require time needed for effective work, and therefore,
can be counterproductive to their own intensions. When a portfolio
process, or any other professional growth process, inhibits work effectiveness,
it becomes a useless process because it is seen as a compliance issue,
not a professional growth support system.
The "Save Your Stuff" approach is a portfolio strategy
that is designed to be developmentally appropriate for novice employees
who have so much to do already, and so little time in which to do
it. The requirements are phased-in over time as the protégé
can handle them, and the mentor facilitates the reflection to ensure
that it is productive and viewed as worth doing.
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