Developmental mentoring is concerned with co-learning and helping someone make better decisions and grow in wisdom, as a result of deeper self-awareness. Instead of having a protégé, as is the case in Sponsorship Mentoring, this kind of mentoring uses the term mentee, to place less emphasis on any difference in power.
Lis Merrick defined Developmental Mentoring in 2005 as:
The role of the mentor is one of support to the mentee. The mentor will listen and give advice and guidance, when it is appropriate. Mentoring focuses on developing capability by working with the mentee’s goals to help them realise their potential. The mentee is responsible for their learning and development and setting the direction and goals for the relationship. The flow of learning is two-way in a mentoring relationship and the mentor often gains as much as the mentee. (Merrick, 2005)
Once again in 2019, we’ve been supporting International Women’s Day with a variety of new blogs on women’s development and mentoring. However, there are some previous very relevant women’s mentoring articles that you might have missed. So here’s a summary of some of our favourites. Enjoy! Continue reading
Don’t choose the Ego Strokers!So how should you organise mentor selection for your mentoring programme and actually what makes a really great and effective mentor?
These are two critical questions I get asked frequently. Here is the wisdom of over twenty years supporting mentoring programmes. It cuts through some of the mystique and confusion around mentor selection and gives my view of what makes a really great mentor. Continue reading
In the last two decades, many employers have shown enthusiastic commitment to gender diversity. Women have made enormous strides in being able to compete on the same playing field as men at work. This is where initiatives such as mentoring and sponsor programmes have been really successful in helping erode this gender imbalance and create more gender equity. Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. All the research strongly confirms this as being an important factor in developing more women leaders. So let us consider:
As long ago as 2005, Brewster et al defined talent management as occurring on a global basis. It is a far broader concept than a series of international assignments for young potential. They describe a picture of being able to retain and attract the best talent anywhere in the world. Global brands like Diageo, Shell and Rolls Royce attach great importance to developing a positive brand for potential recruits.
Read on, or watch the video, to learn more about a model on Talent Management and Mentoring that I developed with my colleague, Lis Merrick.
With summer just around the corner, it is a good time to health check your mentoring programme to ensure it’s in tip-top condition to keep it going over the holiday months and into the autumn. Effective formal mentoring needs nurturing and energising to deliver the best outcomes. So, whether you are an external consultant or an internal co-ordinator, freshen up your mentoring programme before people drift off on their holiday.
Watch Lis Merrick’s mentoring programme health tips and download the free Infographic. Continue reading
The more self-aware a mentor can be about their behaviour and the degree to which they listen to their mentees around what the mentee is looking for from them, the better the relationship can be.
This video explores two different and sometimes competing models of mentoring which are used globally. It also provides a simple and practical framework to help mentors understand how to behave effectively in an organisational mentoring programme.
Watch Lis Merrick now and download our Infographic to find out more! Continue reading
This year the term ‘Mindful March’ is everywhere, with encouragement to be more mindful in your approach to life for the 31 days, trying out a new idea or action to help you live more in the present moment. Lovely ideas and sentiments and I hope ones that will support people to live more connected lives and cope better with day to day stress, anxiety and depression. It is delightful to see and feel the energy on social media as people respond to these ideas. Continue reading
Organisations may face a higher risk of losing female employees who experience female instigated rudeness as they report less satisfaction at work and increased intentions to quit their current jobs in response to these unpleasant experiences. This is according to a new study to be published shortly in the Journal of Applied Psychology by a team led by Allison Gabriel of the University of Arizona.
Queen Bee Syndrome has always been with us, women can be terribly cruel to those underneath them in the hierarchy and pull the ladder up behind them, rather than extend it down to support them in their career progression. If women have had a tough time becoming successful in their career, some women, rather than become the great role model and mentor they could be, feel other junior women coming up behind them are a threat and deciding to either be unpleasant to them or deliberately block their career path.
So how much of an issue is Queen Bee Syndrome in organisations and is it impacting the increase in numbers of women into the Board Room? Continue reading