MORE MENTORING
BEST PRACTICES
by Dr. Linda
Phillips-Jones
We're excited that so many of you are visiting our Web site every month. We greatly appreciate your visits, suggestions, questions, and orders for mentoring products.
In a previous column, we listed several best practices used by successful mentoring programs. Here are some additional strategies other winners use:
- Brown University's Mentoring
Program for Managers features a "3-D" model: active
involvement of mentors, mentees, and the mentee's immediate
supervisors. All three groups receive training and materials,
and all three attend "mentoring touch points,"
facilitated meetings held midway and near the end of their six-month
partnerships. The touch points include candid exchanges
in separate meetings of the three groups about what's working
and what could be improved. This is followed by a fourth session
in which all the findings are shared and the groups figure out
how they can help each other succeed. Although relationships
between mentors and mentees remain confidential, supervisors
learn how to support these relationships and how to use mentoring
with all of their employees.
- American Family Insurance's
mentoring program uses the video package, "Mentoring
that Makes a Difference," as part of training for mentors
and mentees (they use proteges). The training facilitators
use segments of the video to illustrate points and to demonstrate
effective mentoring in action. During program evaluations, supervisors
of mentees and supervisors of mentors are asked for their impressions
(of aspects of the program and whether or not they have noticed
development on the part of their employees).
- Unemployment Agency, State of Michigan, has a formal program to train managers at all levels of the Agency. Because of the geographical distance between many mentors and mentees, pairs schedule numerous phone meetings and always meet before or after the Agency's customer service meetings, which occur quarterly. Several pairs claim their best interactions are while playing 18 holes of golf! In addition, all pairs get together periodically to compare notes and attend a workshop facilitated by an invited speaker.
- For additional ideas and best
practices on planning, implementing, and evaluating a mentoring
program, see The Mentoring Program Coordinator’s
Guide.
CCC/THE MENTORING GROUP
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Phone: 530.268.1146 Fax: 530.268.3636 e-mail: info@mentoringgroup.com
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