The Importance of Mentoring
By Ginger Grant
The concept of Mentor is an ancient one.
In ancient India, the God Krishna advised General Arjuna on the battlefield at the onset of the battle of Mahabharata. The wise advice Arjuna provided becomes the Bhagavad Gita, which is a sacred text of Hinduism to this day.
In ancient China, the wisdom of Confucius provides the Tao—the Way—a path still used today.
Thousands of years later in ancient Greece, the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena, disguised herself as a manservant named Mentor. She appeared to Telemachus, son of Odysseus, to advise him to go in search of his father.
Clearly, the act of providing the experience of objective wisdom has been around for thousands of years. Its current importance in corporate life becomes paramount as we face demographics that will reduce our workforce in numbers never before experienced.
The act of mentoring provides a powerful tool that erodes our resistance to change and enables us to step up to the next level in our development, assuming of course, that we wish to continue to learn.
We tend to forget that mentoring is an act of service—to act as a guide, to lend the experience that comes with age, to provide a shoulder to lean on when times become difficult, and a swift kick in the pants when needed. Mentoring takes time, effort and a commitment to the success of the person being mentored.
Some law firms see mentoring as a necessary evil that commonly translates into a review of technical competence. Many senior partners bemoan the fact that today’s associates do not seem to possess business development skills—the ability to move from the technical practice of law to the upper ranks of rainmaker to the firm.
Rainmakers do not come from the womb proficient in the skills of building relationships with clients. Rainmaking is a skill like any other. Some have a natural ability in sales which is, to a large extent, what rainmaking really is (selling your firm over any other). The expert rainmaker has another skill—tacit or invisible knowledge about the act of rainmaking itself that is hard to define, impossible to teach and can only be learned. This is why mentoring is so important. For it is in the act of mentoring that these interpersonal skills are developed and then honed.
If associates are concentrating on ‘billable hours’, when is the time for mentoring provided? Mentoring takes time, and is not something that can be delivered in a one-day seminar or a lunch and learn session.
You would think that lawyers would understand the importance of allowing time for reflective thought and interpersonal skill development. What is more important than establishing the continued success of your firm? Mentoring is one of your most valuable tools and should be treated as such.
When choosing mentors, ensure that they possess the value systems, behaviours and beliefs that you want transmitted to your next generation of leaders. Envision all of your associates copying that person’s value system, behaviours and skill set. Can you see an entire firm behaving in the same manner? If you don’t like the vision, get another volunteer.
Tips for associates on how to get the most out of the mentoring relationship:
1.Take charge of your own career. Think about where you want to go in your professional development and bring those goals, desires, partial plan, dreams, and whatever you have developed to your mentor. It will give him or her something tangible to work with. You might not have all of the answers, but at least have some interesting questions. It will give you both a place to start.
2. Know your strengths. One of the easiest ways to examine your own strengths is from the Gallup organization. Purchase “Now Discover Your Strengths” and locate the key on the inside of the book jacket. Log onto the Gallup Web site and take the strengthsfinder course (approximately 45 minutes). Gallup will then forward to you your top five strengths. Bring those to your mentor. Try to link your professional development goals with your natural strengths.
Martin Seligman, a psychologist specializing in what is called ‘positive psychology’ has also devised a strengthsfinder test that you can take over the Internet at no cost. You can locate the VIA Strengths Survey at http://www.authentichappiness.com. The statistical validity is not as well established as the Gallup materials, but it may give you additional insight.
If you want to dig a little deeper, try the 20-subscale Myers Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI. I prefer working with the 20-subscale version as it gives me an in depth-visual profile of your personality type.
3. If you have given some thought and attention to the above two points, you will begin to get a sense of two very important questions: “Who is my Self? and What is my Work?”. In exploring both with your Mentor, you will be able to begin to construct your own personal ‘strategic plan’, a vision for your future that is guided by your strengths.
4. Establish your most important values. A conscious value system is one of the most valuable tools you can possess. Try the following exercise:
What is the most meaningful thing you've done this week? Write it down. Why was that so meaningful to you? Write that down too. Now ask yourself: ‘Why was that so important to me?’ Keep repeating this same question until you get down to a one word answer. That one word is part of your core value system. Try to implement your ‘personal strategic plan’ using that one word. It sounds too simple, but if whatever you are trying to accomplish doesn’t fit with your core values, change what you are doing or where you are working. Your core values, or what we call ‘essence’, is who you are. Discuss this set of core values with your mentor and make sure that you share a common set of values. If not, find another mentor.
5. Match your workplace to your value system. If your organization doesn’t share your value system, move on. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Demographics is on your side and it’s your life. Why spend it with people who don’t value you?
6. Walk your talk and find a mentor that does the same. It takes guts to live from your own value system so make sure you find a mentor who practices what they preach. Make sure you do too.
7. Get out of your comfort zone. Try to extend your reach every day. No matter how small an action, do something different or new on a daily basis. It keeps your wits sharp and will prevent you from furnishing a rut and moving in. Rigidity in thinking and in behaviour is the enemy of excellence.
8. Grow your own hedgehog. Read ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins and discuss how to develop your hedgehog with your mentor. Nope, I’m not explaining that. Go find out for yourself.
9. Have faith in your own ability. If you don’t have faith in your own ability, why should anyone else? This doesn’t mean that you should be arrogant—you need a healthy dose of humility in order to keep learning. To fully benefit from a good mentor though, bring your commitment to your own self (not your ego) to the table.
10. If at first you don’t succeed, quit. What do you need to stop doing? What are the activities, people or situations that do not fit with your core value system? Focus on your natural talent, your strengths, and don’t deviate. Focus on your commitment to yourself to be the best you can possibly be. Bring that level of commitment to your mentor.
In the next instalment…
Next month, find out how mentoring is both a service to the firm and to the associate, and how it provides the groundwork for what is called “branding”. You cannot brand something externally that does not already exist internally.
Also next month, a checklist for mentors that can be linked into your marketing strategy to help establish both knowledge transfer within the firm and branding of your organization without.
A good mentoring program is worth its weight in gold—not only for associate retention, but also in succession planning, knowledge management and establishing and marketing a ‘brand’. When you’ve discovered the best mentors within your firm you have located, and perhaps more importantly articulated, your organizational DNA.
About the Author:
Ginger Grant, M.A., is the President of Creativity in Business Canada Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in corporate culture and creativity. Check out the June/July issue of Scarlett magazine to see how the “Creativity in Business” program ‘mentored’ one lawyer in Vancouver. Ginger can be reached at: ginger@creativityinbusiness.org or 604-924-5360 or through www.creativityinbusiness.org.
Neither the author nor the CBA should be construed as endorsing any product or website listed in this article. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CBA.
In this document, any reference to "jurist" or "lawyer" includes, where appropriate, "Québec notary". |
