How Leadership Mentoring can Support your Leaders’ Development

Mentoring leaders is a targeted and cost-effective method of developing your leaders. Mentoring provides the resources and support that is specific to the mentee’s needs, the result is positive action, goals achieved and mentees taking on responsibility for their development and performance.

In my experience of delivering leadership development programmes, leaders take away a greater awareness of the knowledge and skills required for great leadership, but unfortunately, once back in the workplace, if these skills aren’t embedded into day-to-day working life, there can be a slow slide back into old habits and old ways of doing things. There is a temporary ‘high’ straight after the learning, but this isn’t sustained often due to a lack of reinforcement, opportunities to practice and feedback. There is limited accountability and responsibility to demonstrate the skills. There may be a quick de-brief – ‘how did it go?’ But new skills and behaviours aren’t built on.

What is needed for a sustained and continued change in leadership performance is accountability, the opportunity to ‘check-in’ with someone who will hold you to account and provide support and feedback, to ensure that performance isn’t defaulting back to comfort zones and the ‘way I have always done it’. Mentoring might be the solution if this is the case.

In my experience of mentoring, both as a mentor and as a mentee, I know that this ‘checking-in’ is hugely valuable and achieves outcomes. Mentoring does this by providing the resources and support that is specific to the mentee’s needs. The result is positive action, goals achieved and mentees taking on responsibility for their development and performance.

Organisations need leaders that are constantly moving forward, leaders that are flexible, self-managing and self-aware. Leaders need to be quick to adapt, problem-solvers and to continually develop and grow in their experience, mindset, and skills to meet the ever-changing demands. Leaders can no longer be ‘static’, stuck in their comfort zones, blinkered in the ways of working and tied to their ‘tribe’. Leaders need to be constantly adapting, challenging themselves, collaborating. Mentoring can leaders to achieve this in a targeted and cost-effective way.

Other ways leadership mentoring can benefit

Leadership mentoring can help develop networks

When in a mentoring relationship, leaders and potential leaders can tap into the network of the mentor. A mentor can help the mentee make connections that will allow them to grow in their career. In addition, a great leadership mentor naturally has a great network of leaders. He or she can push a mentee in the direction of other leaders who can help develop and manage the mentee’s growth. They also get to interact with different types of people and broaden their horizons.

Leadership mentoring can increase both the mentor’s and mentee’s communication and interpersonal skills

Leaders often lack ‘presence’ and the experience or skills in presentations and self-promotion skills. Paired with an experienced mentor, the mentee has the benefit of both a role model as well as access to feedback on these areas.

For mentors, a mentoring relationship can demand more advanced communication skills and push them to a higher level. For example, even seasoned professionals may not have had much experience with the deep, active listening required to be an effective mentor, or the skills in providing critical feedback. Mentoring allows both the mentee and the mentor to practice and grow these important interpersonal and communication skills.

Leadership mentoring levels the playing field

Leadership mentoring, at both the individual and organisational level, levels the playing field for all people. Mentoring is a well-researched and proven method for moving the diversity and inclusion needle. One of the known reasons that there is an under representation of certain groups and individuals at the leadership level is that these groups simply don’t have the mentoring, sponsorship, or support networks required to get there.

Leadership mentoring for succession planning

Research has shown that leaders developed from within tend to be more successful than those brought in. They have relevant operational experience, understand cultural nuances, and have benefited from in-house leadership programmes.

Succession planning focuses on identifying and growing talent to fill leadership and business-critical positions in the future. Succession planning can help retain talented individuals as they are aware of internal opportunities to progress their careers and mentoring can support and promote both succession planning and talent management initiatives.

Summary

Providing a mentor to leaders in your organisation can be one of the greatest resources available to them. Not only are you improving your succession pipeline, but you are also creating exceptional leaders that are going to stay with your organisation. Is there a better way to develop great leaders than granting them time, advice, and insight from current great leaders?

Leadership mentoring is a tried and trusted method for developing the best leaders of tomorrow.

Next Steps…

If you would like to explore mentoring in your organisation and how it can work for you and your leaders, then please get in touch. Together we can identify what you want to achieve from a mentoring programme and how to go about achieving it.

I have put together an e-guide on Introducing a Mentoring Programme in your organisation, if you would like a copy, you can download it here: download our Introduction to Mentoring Programme.

For more information email me here or call me on: (+44) 01332 527144