Effective leadership is about positive influence, about having followers – the art of achieving excellent results through others. If the followers are on the average 50% effective, what does this say about leadership? The challenge is much of the “good” leadership development is often aimed at middle management, while senior executives are “too busy” or claim they “don’t need it” or make some other excuse.

Having “good” middle managers does little to change engagement levels if not strongly supported by executive leadership. It all starts at the top. Some executive managers would not like to hear this. Some would be justified as they do “walk the talk” support their managers, get involved and have high expectations and achieve great outcomes. But too many don’t. The numbers don’t lie. Often when discussing mentoring and coaching opportunities, these folk think it’s a great idea – for someone else!

So what makes for effective leadership and its many forms? At its core, it necessarily includes the ability to:

• Articulate a strategy
• Establish guiding principles
• Make decisions quickly, efficiently and effectively
• Earn the trust of your people, include them in the process, treat them fairly, keep them informed and above all else communicate effectively
• Keep the organisation focussed on the positive outcomes 

Therefore a definition of Leadership –

“To maximise the expectations, the positive hope of the outcomes that come from change – while minimising the fear of change for those involved.”

Today most commentators place coordination, cooperation and collaboration under the single banner of collaboration. But the important skill is knowing when to collaborate, cooperate or coordinate.

Some simple definitions may assist here:

Coordination

Everyone is working separately to achieve the overall goal of completing a specified task or project.  Only a modicum of trust is required (that’s trust in the system) to get the job done.

Cooperation

Cooperation is, for example, when you meet with your team to work out a project review process?

Here we are cooperating with our colleagues to deliver a task that we all know needs to be done. When we cooperate there is often a medium level of trust involved (trust in each other’s competencies and character) – the value of the activity tends not to accrue directly to the participants cooperating and, in most cases, someone else is driving you to do it.

So what is Collaboration then?

It’s when a group of people come together, driven by mutual self-interest, to constructively explore new possibilities and create something that they couldn’t do on their own.

Imagine you’re absolutely passionate about the role that performance reviews play in company effectiveness. You team up with two colleagues to reconceptualise how performance reviews should be done for maximum impact. You trust each other implicitly and share all your good ideas in the effort to create an outstanding result. You and your colleagues share the recognition and praise equally for the innovative work.

The important factor is mutual self-interest – indeed self-respect. When people create things they really want to create, and it is good for the company and its clients, it energises and engages people like nothing else.

It is also important to consider therefore the value of collaboration between synergistic firms to the overwhelming benefit of the client – this is vital, for example, in the context of working with Family firms – where the various aspects of the Family Business dynamic (the family, business and ownership dimensions) require a client centric, multi-disciplinary and collaborative approach.

Ask yourself 2 questions.

1. If you are holding a conversation and you feel good, then is the conversation more likely to have a superior outcome?
2. If you are holding a conversation and you don’t feel good does the conversation often go astray:
   • you get annoyed or frustrated?
   • and even end up in a confrontation?

Well if you have answered “Yes” then reflect on how your key people may respond. The same perhaps? If so, are there then implications for your business?

So what do your highly valued people really think?

Now consider this.

Australia in early 2008 enjoys an unemployment rate under 5%, and, as forecasts emerge of a looming talent crisis, a priority for businesses will be to recruit, as well as retain superior staff.

What makes employees content, however? Is it money? Is it training and career development programs? Is it work/life balance?

CMG maintains staff satisfaction comes down to two factors. One is money, because people won’t work for nothing. And people need to feel that they are being paid at least what they’re worth.

The other imperative is a sense of security through feeling valued, reflecting the hierarchyof-needs theory espoused so famously, and controversially, by US psychologist Abraham Maslow. (See panel image below)

People want to belong.

We often talk about Maslow’s theory and all those needs come into play if you’re going to retain staff.

You need to provide people with a good, safe, comfortable environment where they don’t get exposed to politics and poor management practices. People need to feel they belong that’s a very big part of your business.

A new survey also suggests Australian employees are not overly happy, with lawyers and bankers topping the list of malcontents.

The CMG research reveals that 55 per cent of people working in the legal sector and 52 per cent in the banking and financial sector are either “unhappy” or “very unhappy” with their current job. 45 per cent of staff across all employment sectors and wage brackets are unhappy.

Therefore money is not the only solution. People earning more than $150,000 a year are most likely to be unhappy at work, with 49 per cent of such respondents confirming their career frustrations.

The risk, of course, is that dissatisfied staff will walk out of the office one afternoon and not come back.

Bosses and senior managers must provide employees with a sense of purpose. Executives should be determined to create a positive environment for staff – that way they stay longer.

[diagram]

Often people get to the point where they think ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I heading in this direction? What am I seeking to get from all of this?’

It is essential that companies provide some of the answers.

If employees have a deeper sense of purpose, then often they’re more motivated. You can find in organisations very talented people who at times in their career get lost, stuck and confused. Often in those times they think the solution is to leave the company. But if you look at the career options available to employees, there are actually 10 options and option number 10 is to leave the company. A lot of people miss one to nine and go straight to number 10.

Companies should double their efforts to retain employees who are undergoing extra training or studying for a degree such as an MBA.

A natural reaction is ‘Once I’ve got an MBA, I’ll look for a job’. And sometimes there’s a lot of opportunity right under their nose in their current organisation.”

Paying for the privilege

There is little doubt that the hunt for good staff is heating up. The 2007 Sensis Business Index found that a chief concern for small and medium-sized businesses is finding good staff.

One option is simply to pay valued staff more money. A 2007 salary survey shows that Australian firms are paying about $1500 more on average for office workers this year compared with 12 months ago, representing an increase in average wages of 3.81 per cent. More significant salary rises are expected over the next 12 months.

For small businesses, matching the salary packages of larger corporations is difficult. SMEs have to overcome salary limits and offer staff alternative, non-monetary rewards such as training, fresh challenges, social and community connections and a family-friendly environment.

Most people don’t think about how much they are being paid when they open their eyes in the morning. The majority of staff departures are the result of an emotional or cultural misfit. It’s almost never about money.

However, on balance, not all agree. Recruitment specialists will always argue that pay will be the deciding factor when people choose a job. Work/life balance, job location and career prospects may be important, but they say, a great salary will seal the deal in most instances. A survey from one recruiting firm of more than 1500 workers shows that 84.7 per cent of respondents say they would take a high-paying job even if they had doubts about the boss or other staff in the workplace.

We would add here it is in their interests to promote this view.

CMG, devoting much time to workforce alignment and retention, contends too little attention has been paid to the issue of retention. Partly the reason for that is until recently the whole issue of retention has been a fairly grey one and there hasn’t necessarily been the tools and the metrics to provide a more scientific approach or diagnosis.

On this issue we have developed diagnostics called Executive Team/Self Assessments. A questionnaire based on a model of the psychological contract that examines the employer-employee relationship and can quantify retention risk. Our studies indicate that staff leave an organisation for three reasons:

• because it is dysfunctional
• they get a better offer
• or for personal reasons divorce from the company.

Employee engagement and satisfaction are two critical drivers of retention. In other words, if you’ve got more engaged and more satisfied employees, then you’re more likely to have higher retention rates. But not only that – you’ll have higher levels of performance, less stress and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Professional relationships with senior management are also a key factor in retaining staff. Some organisations boast that there are no personal assistants for managers. The door is always open. Or for many companies the barriers to senior executives are too high.

When you try to speak to the chief executive you get the PA, and when you say you’d like to speak to the chief executive you get almost a blank look of horror that the CEO would even deign to speak to you.

Plotting a career path

People’s personal and career values change with time. So as people get into their 30s and 40s, things like altruism come into play as a core value. That, in itself, creates some challenges in the workplace. Companies need to map out a framework of customised and sustainable solutions for highly valued employees so they can aspire to different experiences and gain a sense of purpose.

The previously mentioned CMG (ongoing) study identified a work aspect preference scale, of some 1000 executives. It identifies key drivers for staff: the first is self development, the second is creativity and the third is money.

At one level it’s surprising, but, increasingly, money – and even Maslow talked about this – is only a motivator until it’s become accepted. If a boss gives an employee an extra $10,000, they are motivated only until they get used to having that amount and are thereafter driven by other factors. So money is not a sustainable motivator – it’s a short-term motivator.

The key is to get the package or the “deal” right, including the tangibles and intangibles.

The challenge for companies will be to meet an increasingly diverse range of employee needs. Work/life balance will be important for some, while money, roster flexibility, training and development will be the focus for others.

The often-ignored difficulty for companies is that low staff turnover does not guarantee that they are retaining the right people. In some government departments, for instance, staff may be staying on for superannuation payouts or long-service leave and become dead wood.

Therefore you’ve really got a workforce that’s disengaged and dissatisfied and they’re hanging in there for different reasons. So one needs to be careful in looking at turnover in isolation. On the other hand, some turnover can be desirable in terms of refreshing the gene pool.

Accordingly many say going to work should be fun. The atmosphere is conducive to making friends, so Monday-itis is less of an affliction. There’s great interaction and that should be encouraged. It’s important that their esteem is looked after – that other people think well of them. Spend a lot of time coaching and training to make sure that people are more than capable of doing the work so they can do well at their jobs, so they’re not under pressure or stress all the time or living in an environment of failure.

However dispute the notion that workplace cultures cannot be sustained in fast-growing businesses. If it’s entrenched in your culture from day one and if you really believe in one attitude, one team, one set of rules, one set of values and that flows from the top right down to the bottom, then it’s much easier to sustain a positive workplace culture and high levels of staff engagement.

In Summary

If you agree that people as employees are your greatest strength, then how do you manage them to deliver a great return – for all?

Remember these basic tips to get you where you want to be –

• Ask – ask your employees lots of questions
• Listen – listen carefully to their responses
• Help – help your difficult employees as much as possible
• Be Informal – strong relationships are not built across a boardroom table – get out to their workplace
• Be Personal – stop talking about work all the time
• Respect – an environment of respect should be upheld at all times
• Therefore Engage People – to increase people’s discretionary willingness to go “the extra mile”
• Create a Trusting Environment – through open and frank communication and dissemination of information based on integrity and the need to confront tough issues
• Coach and Mentor – instil this practice throughout the whole organisation

A Postscript

The claim that Australian workers switch off too quickly after work is also challenged by the recent study.

The survey revealed that 79 per cent of employees lose sleep thinking about work or find themselves obsessing about work during their personal time.

A total of 55 per cent said they find it difficult not to work on weekends and evenings and 68 per cent reveal that they work unnecessarily long hours at their job.

35 per cent of respondents actually classified themselves as workaholics. Further, 54 per cent said they found it hard not to check their emails or other communication devices for information whilst they are not working.

The information age has created the 24/7 worker and demands from employers mean there is little rest from the office. This needs to be constantly in the forefront of people management for the business owner and executive.

These were not Paul’s employees, bosses or friends. They included corporate or government leaders, business owners and executives who engage him as a business mentor (and coach) and who felt free in a one-to-one setting, to confess how they were really feeling about their jobs. Big pay packets and titles are no buffer to human needs and emotions.

It’s a cliché, but life at the top really can be lonely or isolating, says Paul, because few employees can imagine that their “superiors” might sometimes feel vulnerable and bewildered. He’s been there too!

Few employees realise that they might lock their bosses into a projection in which they become a figment of someone else’s imagination, he says. “Leaders can be ascribed all sorts of motives and circumstances that they just don’t want to have.”

As an executive goalkeeper™ and Chief Executive of the Carnegie Management Group, the Sydney-born Smith, 55, is hired by leaders to be the “deep, tough friend”, with whom they can develop enough trust and rapport to allow them to navigate the issues of leadership – both personally and professionally -hired by both the organisation and the individual alike.

“They benefit by getting stuff off their chest. I often find myself caring for people that others don’t care for. If we can talk about an issue and then isolate the source, we can then work with it”, Paul says.

He also leads workshops on the question of how to bring more meaning, more heart, into a working life. He individually mentors employees who have suddenly been elevated into tough new roles – or help them to get there.

“Not everyone is immediately perfect for a new job, so I help them to get the job under their belt.”

He is well qualified for this role, as he has experienced these dynamics first hand over the earlier part of his career. Graduating from Sydney University as a Bachelor of Economics he rose through the ranks of the Oil Industry with a heavy bias towards Marketing, Corporate Planning and profit centre accountabilities involving “big numbers” he proudly says. These General Management roles were followed by senior executive roles in the Logistics Industry.

Paul therefore understands workplace pressure and the need to perform – particularly in a multifunctional role that requires the leadership of managers.

However then his transition occurred, shifting his passion to work with the “real people”, he says. Hence his drive to assist executives as their third party support base, their work colleague “removed”.

“Sometimes I used to recruit them, so my background, by definition, also involved career transition.” he says. “But then my focus shifted and I became more interested in what was happening to individuals, rather than what was happening to organisations in the first instance. Hence clients also include business owners in their own right. They are no different!”

As an Executive Goalkeeper™ Paul consults with men and women from all walks of life, in those existing leadership roles – including those aspiring to leadership – “by bringing another way of looking at things that should matter.”

The ability to seamlessly transfer from mentor to coach is the cornerstone for him, and for them.

Some of the relationships, conducted in regular two-hour meetings that encourage reflection and feedback, have lasted for years. “Human change doesn’t happen overnight.” This includes empathy, passion for the job, future vision, life balance and vulnerabilities.

The soft stuff is that which allows connection to the client and to the colleagues. It allows connection on the basis of feedback. A simple example: asking a client how they feel.

It allows people to reveal their vulnerability to him and, in some cases, to employees. “It’s a risky phrase nowadays,” he says, “but to get to empathy with employees and clients, a person has to do an awful lot of hard, intimate work on themselves, particularly the leader.

“It sounds benign, but it is necessary for leaders to do the soul searching that brings them back to the specifics and that leads to new insights.”

This then culminates in goal setting, milestones and ongoing review – particularly important in an ever-changing world. However as far as possible, stick to the game plan he says.

“They do have to be willing to fumble and to get to the fuzzy edges where they discover something and create new models and potentials. Also they need to be able to embrace new behaviours perhaps. Followers pick up on the authenticity of the leader.”

Coming from such long experience within corporate Australia, Paul now sees here a rather adolescent working culture that is under-confident and that still emphasises skill-based competency above all else.

“Most people tell me their organisation is only interested in their competencies, when what they really want to feel is some more purpose in their work.”

“Some of the briefs I’ve had from organisations have requested me to help people to bring more of their heart to work. They want to know how to breathe life into their work.”

This can happen if an organisation permits and nurtures whole human beings at work. “When that occurs, and an individual starts to seek more meaning, they become more creative, passionate, engaged and empathetic. They are happier and more fulfilled,” he says.

This is an adult working culture where there is a balance between work and culture and where “love” does play a part. The baby boomers (executives) are moving into adulthood (parenthood) at work and they are beginning to deal with issues of “generativity” and care.

Credibility. A nice word. Sufficiently powerful to unmask the pretentious and unethical who plague our professional lives. Credibility is hard to gain. Easy to lose. Difficult to restore.

With credibility you leverage a successful career, enhance your organisation and engender meaningful relationships. Without credibility you’re left to ponder what went wrong.

Increasingly, the credibility of the burgeoning executive coaching sector is facing scrutiny.

We are witnessing an influx of over-hyped, ill-equipped people calling themselves coaches -yet often bereft of business acumen, empathy, analytical skills and interpersonal qualities.

Much of what’s being offered is drawn from the heavily hyped US coaching market with a seemingly endless variation of coaching specialisations like life coaching, personal coaching, leadership, experiential, executive, success, corporate, relationship and career coaching. Then there’s remedial coaching, retention, change, mentor, developmental and situational coaching.

Let’s be clear, good executive coaching is a value-adding contributor to contemporary senior management, but identifying a credible coach is difficult. Not to mention a mentor!

So what’s the difference?

For us at CMG a coach is more instructional, more “technically” focused and should primarily fine-tune existing skills – and indeed develop new ones – for the client. The client may either not know where they want to be or be very goal focused. The role of the coach is to develop the requisite skills to get the client achieving goals.

A mentor, on the other hand shares experiences, listens well and asks many questions designed to create options for a client. It is a collaborative “Peer” relationship that is as much based on skills knowledge as the imparting of wisdom accumulated over many years.

Gold dust for a client is to find that 3rd party who can seamlessly transfer between both roles as and when required.

It is a recent phenomenon, for example, with the CMG team, that more and more we are mentoring succeeding generations as opposed to coaching. These clients are exceptionally well developed skill-wise, but engage us more to consider all implementation options, techniques and strategies – particularly on the people issues. Business skill issues invariably follow.

So how do we choose the right person?

Let’s talk initially about Mentors. It is our strong belief that with the plethora of so called coaches (just try a Google search to understand this), it is imperative to find a mentor first who can coach – NOT the other way around.

First up, ignore the puffery, and probe for their credentials, leadership experience and client portfolio. And just because a mentor was once a great CEO, an effective company director or a financial whiz, doesn’t guarantee they’ll be a master mentor – indeed coach. Word of mouth has limited value in the search for a suitable professional, because any person who talks about their clients in detail is no professional at all.

Mentoring therefore is difficult to quantify. I’ve found that the very personal nature of this vital role is what sets it apart from normal professional development or consulting. So competence and qualities are essentially the key factors for a good mentor – and must include subtlety, empathy, curiosity, trust, character and insight. The mentor must be strong on strategy, good at lateral/creative thinking and able to customise individual programs to suit each executive’s particular needs. And there must be mutually agreed objectives.

Top mentors can often be found operating within multi-function teams where the most useful professional backgrounds include organisational development, high-Ievel consulting, and executive management. Everyone’s needs are different, and there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach.

I benefited significantly from informal coaching early in my own career in the Petroleum Industry, but regret the absence of mentoring – someone to share with during my GM years and who could have empathised and analysed. I am now fortunate to have a long standing mentor who has also felt the “blow torch” of leadership.

For the future just as the world itself is becoming more complex, so too is executive mentoring and coaching.

It’s assuming an integral role in the lifelong learning paradigm. But remember that mentoring is not, as some would have us believe, a solution to all of our workplace flaws. Instead, a master mentor is akin to a harbour pilot – being neither ship’s captain nor crew, but helping you avoid the shoals so you can steer your vessel on the right course.

Good mentoring demands complete confidentiality. The empathy and trust required to optimise the outcome must be founded on highly sensitive interpersonal skills and organisational acumen. A professional friend – we call it. He does not catch the fish for you; he guides you on how to fish.

As the coaching industry in Australia matures, it will be those executive coaches and mentors who can differentiate ‘themselves via their credibility and core skills and qualities who will enhance their reputation amidst what will inevitably be a sectoral shake out brought about by an influx of ill-equipped practitioners.

Industry accreditation will only be a partial solution to the problem. Financial planners (many of whom should more accurately be termed “financial brokers”) are in a sector that has recently gone down the accreditation pathway – albeit with mixed success.

Beware of those theorists who market convoluted, irrational coaching systems to camouflage their own inexperience and professional inadequacy, at the same time creating coaching modules that are easier to mark up. And there are plenty of them around!

Finally, why be mentored at all? Perhaps because gazing at yourself in the management mirror can give a distorted reflection. And, in a world where complexity and communication increasingly dominate, the objectivity and subtle guiding hand of a mentor can help attenuate your management blemishes. The coach can then step in to fine tune!

The erosion of the “job-for-Iife” mentality following the advent of globalisation and the knowledge economy has awakened the more alert among you to the reality of on-going career changes – managing transition.

Achieving your goals through the savvy selection of a mentor is likely to prove as value-adding a career move in the years ahead as will the choice of appropriate postgraduate studies. And these days this applies to business owners and families in business just as much to the career-minded.

Beware the hype.

One of the events we remember only too well at Carnegie Management – and we were the first Australian company to specifically brand ourselves as Executive Mentors and Coaches (reference search engines and directory entries in1999) – was being told we had to become members of the International Coaching Federation in 2002. When informed that their membership was predominantly comprised of HR recruiting companies and mature age sole traders, we gracefully declined.

“We are witnessing an influx of over-hyped, ill-equipped people calling themselves coaches”

Accordingly we at CMG decided that with this plethora of coaches and mentors, we needed to define ourselves with a “tag” that aptly describes who we are and what we do – THE GOALKEEPER TM -who works with Business people to re-focus and then keeps them on track to achieve their goals. Totally consistent as well with our logo – our brand.

Therefore we now ask you to ask yourself the question – whether you may be a CEO, a senior executive, CEO, SME business owner or family in business…

What Can an Executive Mentor Do for Me?

Is Executive Coaching and Mentoring in Australian companies destined to play a role occupied by psychoanalysis in some movie: a virtual prerequisite for anyone who aspires to be anyone?

It might seem that way at some organizations, at least to the untrained eye. IBM has more than sixty certified mentors (they call them coaches) among its ranks. Scores of other major companies have made coaching, indeed mentoring, a core part of executive development. The belief is that, under the right circumstances, one-on-one interaction with an objective third party can provide a focus that other forms of organizational support simply cannot.

And whereas mentoring was once viewed by many as a tool to help correct underperformance, today it is becoming much more widely used in supporting top producers. In fact, in a 2005 survey by CMG, 86 percent of companies said they used coaching (read mentoring!) to sharpen the skills of individuals who have been identified as future organizational leaders.

Mentoring has evolved into the mainstream fast. This is because there is a great demand in the workplace for immediate results, and mentoring can help provide that. How? By providing feedback and guidance in real time. Mentoring develops leaders in the context of their current jobs, without removing them from their day-to-day responsibilities. And it does not necessarily have to be one-off.

At an even more basic level, many executives simply benefit from receiving any feedback at all. As individuals advance to the executive level, development feedback can become increasingly important, more infrequent, and more unreliable. As a result, many executives plateau in critical interpersonal and leadership skills.

So, should you have a mentor? And which managers in your sphere of responsibility might benefit from working with an outsider to help sharpen skills and overcome hurdles to better performance?

The right approach to answering these questions still varies a great deal depending on whom you ask, but input from several dozen mentors and coaches, and executives who have undertaken that relationship, does provide a useful framework on how to think about the role of mentoring.

The Road to Mentoring Runs Two Ways

Although both the organization and the executive must be committed to mentoring for it to be successful, the idea to engage a mentor can originate from either HR or leadership development professionals or from executives themselves. In the past, it has more often sprung from the organizational side. But given the growing track record of mentoring as a tool for fast movers, we see more executives choosing it as a proactive component of their professional life.

Executive Mentoring is not an End in itself

In spite of its apparently robust potential, the very act of taking on a mentor will not help advance your career. In other words, don’t seek mentoring just because other fast movers in the firm seem to be benefiting from it.

Mentoring is effective for executives who can say, “I want to get over there, but I’m not sure how to do it.” Mentoring works best when you know what you want to get done. Perhaps, in spite of your outstanding track record, you haven’t yet gained the full interpersonal dexterity required of senior managers—for example, you’re not yet a black belt in the art of influence, which is so important in the modern networked organization. Honing such a skill might be an appropriate goal for a mentoring assignment.

But simply having a clear purpose won’t guarantee mentoring value. You have to be open to feedback and willing to create positive change. If not, mentoring may not be the answer.

There are certain times when executives are most likely to benefit from mentoring. Executives should seek mentoring when they feel that a change in behavior—either for themselves or their team members—can make a significant difference in the long-term success of the organization.

More specifically, the experts say, mentoring can be particularly effective in times of change for an executive. That includes promotions, stretch assignments, and other new challenges. While you may be confident in your abilities to take on new tasks, you may feel that an independent sounding board would be beneficial in helping you achieve a new level of performance, especially if close confidants are now reporting to you. More so, you may recognize that succeeding in a new role requires skills that you have not needed to rely on in the past; a mentor may help sharpen those skills, particularly when you need to do so on the fly.

But mentoring is not just for tackling new assignments. It can also play an invigorating role.

Mentors can help executives develop new ways to attack old problems. When efforts to change yourself, your team, or your company have failed—you are frustrated or burned out — a mentor can be the outside expert to help you get to the root cause and make fundamental changes.

One increasingly common use of mentoring for senior executives focuses on the challenges of managing younger workers, and on helping executives better understand and lead a new generation of employees whose work ethics and values are different.

Mentoring Engagements should be part of a larger Initiative

Mentoring works when it’s systematic. Many organizations use it as an integrated part of a larger leadership development program. Increasingly, firms incorporate “360-degree” feedback, using the results to indicate areas in which an executive might benefit from working with a mentor. Has your feedback revealed an area in which you would like to improve? Is it a skill you need to refine in order to advance through the organization? Would you benefit from an outside perspective? The answers to these questions help gauge the potential value of mentoring.

Mentoring can provide Benefits not available Elsewhere

One of the big benefits of a mentor is that they aren’t tied to the organization, your friends, or anyone else. They are tied to you only, so they support what you want and where you want to go.

Even our families, who want the best for us, can’t be unbiased or totally objective. What you do or do not do impacts them, whether it’s positive or negative. A mentor is not impacted by your decisions, your wins or losses, or anything else.

This doesn’t mean that company goals aren’t supported by mentor — indeed, the mentor was most likely hired by the company to support the executive’s efforts to achieve those goals. Even so, the role of the mentor is not to represent specific company needs or interests. The perspectives they provide, the alternatives discussed, and everything else has no agenda except to support the mentoree.

For better or worse, many executives can’t find this type of conversation partner – a “truth speaker”— elsewhere in their companies. That “professional friend”.

And to reinforce this view we are trying to convey this message to an overwhelmed marketplace with a strong point of focused difference to the newcomers. A recently run article in the national print and magazine media helps us to convey our message to those we believe we can lend assistance.

So Let’s Summarize

A lot of organizations and executives jump into mentoring programs seeing them as a “quick fix”, and something quite inexpensive to implement. Many jump into it but don’t provide the necessary planning to their programming, nor the necessary support and resources to make it really work. So a lot of organizations may have mentoring programs in theory rather than in practice.

Mentoring programs vary, and depending on the organization the mentoring initiative, can be as short as a one-hour briefing before the “mentoring journey” occurs.

There are many different interpretations of mentoring. Some people see it more like a coach, or an adviser, or even a counsellor. In our opinion, it’s like those things, but it isn’t those things at all. You really need someone who can help someone think through their issues and their problems and their concerns, and come up with a good decision – rather than someone who is going to tell you what to do.

It is vital therefore that mentees have a good understanding of the agreed process and structure to ensure successful outcomes – to become fully engaged and aware of the skills, attributes and techniques for successful mentoring.

So what qualities does it take to be a good mentor and how does mentoring benefit the mentor and the mentee?

There are many qualities required for someone to be a good mentor, which can include significant professional expertise and competence in a particular field – or indeed in overall senior business leadership and management. There are also some key qualities that are necessary.

It’s important to be able to respect the “story” of the person you are mentoring and realise that this person is placing a good deal of trust and faith in you by sharing their career and professional development. Being a mentor is a privilege – and it carries with it a responsibility of confidentiality, trust and respect.

A mentor must listen with intent to understand rather than respond. By this we mean that as a mentor you often undertake the role of a “sounding board”. You can’t be an sounding board if you are doing all the talking! Taking time to listen and then determine how you can assist a mentee is a vital quality and skill.

So therefore the mentor should always be “there” for mentees – one-one, phone and email. Mentees are therefore guided towards things without necessarily being given the answers – people should work through the issues themselves and find out what suits them. Mentors actually guide, encourage and understand where you are at. It’s all about ownership and empowerment for the outcome as much as the added value in the partnership.

Significantly these days it also assists in terms of understanding people. You get a lot of talk about Generations X and Y versus the Baby Boomers. Sometimes it’s a very difficult proposition to understand someone who appears so different to you, so by being in a mentoring situation that requires you to withhold any judgement and really hear another point of view, it can increase your own skills of relating to people, so that’s another advantage as well.

However like any other program or initiative, mentoring programs need milestones, goals and some form of measurement – including that all important human feeling of well being. So when beginning the journey and developing the strategies always include those all important targeted outcomes – and review/monitor progress regularly.

We contend that mentoring for successful transition and to get people to where they really want to be has application in all walks of life – but in particular in organizations – and as much for business owners, the career minded and families in business – if not more so.