Rulers For Mentoring Implementation

  

Competency Element	MINIMAL (1)	MODERATE (2)	GOOD (3)	EXCELLENT (4)
EXECUTION/ IMPLEMENTATION Take up responsibility; execute until completion and produces results desired..	Developing. This level is marked by a serious weakness that ultimately prevents a person from succeeding. This weakness may be in a faulty assumption about the roles and responsibility, leadership or customer, poor communication skill, serious limiting attitude and behaviour etc.	Competent. This level is marked by ability to complete task with supervision. Demonstrate good attitude during completion of difficult task.	Mature. This level is marked by the significant achievement in a single task, able to translate goal into actions and skillful in cascading objectives to activities and tasks. Able to utilize resource efficient and effectively. Remain calm and collective during shortage or unforeseen circumstances. Sound in making last minute decision and responsible for each decision made.	Exemplary.This level is marked by multiple result achievement in a period of time. The ability to manage and control while completing prioritized tasks and still deliver quality output with minimal resource. When combined with others, it synergizes to produce outperforming results. Planning, delegating, integrating, monitoring results and motivating team members is a second nature.
Observable Behaviour (meet most of descriptions)	·         Highly depending on carrot/stick motivation, ·         Unable to understand quality or quantity expected, ·         Partial execution, seldom complete a task, ·         Need very high supervision (or no work progress)	·         Depending on others to complete a task, motivated by carrot or stick approach. ·         Doubt self strengths and/or use weaknesses to excuse incomplete task. ·         Wait for instruction and minimal initiative taken to complete tasks.	·         A finisher, need minimum supervision to score goal, high self-stewardship and take initiatives, ·         Able to provide alternative based on experience or emulate solutions from best practice, ·         Very high sportsmanship, able to accept failure, ·         Able to lead for short term goal.	·         A finisher, always strive to score goals, ·         Hardly pass the bug to others, ·         Seek to understand a mission first before voicing out alternative solution, ·         Scorer and very high sportsmanship, ·         Able to balance short gain and long term goal, ·         Very practical, straight to the point.

The Role of Mentors in Effective Implementation of Mentoring Programs

Mentors are of two types: role model mentors and facilitative mentors. Role model mentors provide the protégé with new information sources and specific learning resources, and tell the person by dint of their experience what will work and what will not work. Facilitative mentors on the other hand, adopt a more focused approach and help protégés explore their own issues, build their own awareness, and develop their own unique way of handling things.

While transferring knowledge from the incumbent to the successor remains a key requirement of the succession planning exercise, effective mentoring for succession planning requires focusing on developing the protégé's skills to achieve performance goals based on anticipated future challenges facing the industry. This requires the facilitative type of mentors.Having set out the mentoring program and the process of implementation, there should be an assigned role of monitoring to ensure that the whole program is a success. The mentor’s role in the whole process of program implementation is a participatory one and not that of a spectator. He has been with the protégés and have got a personal touch with them, bearing in mind their personalities and individual differences.

The mentor should look at the fundamentals. (Randy Pausch, 2008: The Last Lecture). He should try to make the protégés to be self reflective. The protégé should have a sense of their flaws. Are they realistic of about how others view them? Each protégé responds to the change mechanism based on their personalities. Hence, the mentor should observe closely their performance and attitude towards these changes.”Employees will alter their mind-sets only if they see the point of the change and agree with it—at least enough to give it a try. The surrounding structures (reward and recognition systems, for example) must be in tune with the new behavior. Employees must have the skills to do what it requires. Finally, they must see people they respect modeling it actively’’

Inculcate the winning big spirit within protégés. Efficient team meetings should be part of the implementation process so that the mentor evaluates the improvement pattern and its sustenance tempo. There should be behavioural expectations, behavioural matrix and implementation checklist. Look at benchmark of quality to begin to understand the use of the tool in self evaluation.

Identify new knowledge needs as you do the monitoring without alienating the protégés. Knowledge acquisition is all about people. New knowledge requires them to change the way they have always done things or behaved preciously. This entails leaving the comfort zone. The mentor should be careful in doing this because people do not like change. They tend to resist, complain and often leave the organisation. Unless protégés are involved from the onset, a new knowledge acquisition poses a threat to their values and mindset. The mentor should be very collaborative with the protégés and the management as well to ensure that the whole process is still aligned to organisation’s missions and goals for employees. Success of the whole program means-everybody succeeds.

The performance of protégés should be measured against each deliverables. Performance measures should adopt the right FABRIC:

§  Focused on your department’s/organisation’s aims and objectives,  relevant to what you are aiming to achieve and the scale and complexity of the particular measure or package of measures;

§  Appropriate and useful for those who will use these measures.  The mentor’s performance measures should clearly link outcomes to organisation’s work (establishing intermediate outcomes if final outcomes are subject to too many factors that are not directly in the control of the organisation);

§  Balanced in their reflection of priorities and total effort;

§  Robust - data should be clearly defined and collected consistently, measures should be easy to understand and use, data should be collected frequently enough to track progress, and quickly enough for the data to still be useful, measures should be reliable, comparable and verifiable;

§  Integrated in existing performance management processes; and

§  Cost-effective

Finally, the mentor should beware of the various obstacles that may impede the whole implementation program such as:

§  Obstacles to decision

§  Board resistance

§  Competing big priorities

§  Management opposition or inertia

§  Lack of awareness of the issue

§  No existing code of conduct

§  Cost concerns

§  No clearly assigned responsibility for the implementation process

References:     
 1. http://blink.ucsd.edu/HR/supervising/succession/index.html#, 2010
 2. "Mentoring and Succession Management: An Evaluative Approach to the Strategic     Collaboration    Model(Haynes, Ray K. & Ghosh, Rajashi:2008)
 3. The psychology of change management( Emily Lawson and Colin Price:2006)

Mentoring Implementation Process

By implementation, we mean the action that must follow any preliminary thinking in order for something to actually happen. The first step in implementing a mentoring process is to specify the objective of the intervention. Before you embark on your program, you therefore need to give careful thought to what it is that you want to achieve. In other words, you should clearly specify the aims of your program as well as its objectives. Mentoring must be implemented in a carefully planned manner, both in terms of the process and content of the intervention. Mentoring support structures are needed to steer the implementation of the mentoring strategy and can assume different platforms, depending on the uniqueness of the organisation. Some of these include: The formulation of a mentoring strategy Appointing mentoring co-ordinators Allocation of people resources for mentoring Ensuring that a communication and marketing plan for mentoring is in place Mentor co-ordinators need to be appointed to ensure that the process is implemented and maintained to the advantage of the mentors, protégés as well as the organisation.

Typically these individuals would also assess the process to ensure its continued effectiveness. They could also provide the necessary information and feedback to the organisation’s employment equity committee. Training of mentoring co-ordinators is also necessary even though they might be positively inclined towards the process and its implementation. They need knowledge and skills to effectively implement the mentoring program. Selection of mentors and matching them with the protégés is another vital process to undergo in the mentoring implementation process. The personalities of mentors are to be assessed to match their skills with the objective of the program and the protégés’ individual differences. Before agreeing to participate, potential mentors need to be fully informed about the program and about their role in it. Training the mentors and protégés is the next important process. Broadly speaking, mentor training needs to address two sets of issues, namely, Generic, interpersonal communication skills (associated with the facilitation or conduct of the mentoring sessions). Discipline-specific knowledge(involved in the mentoring program in which they are to participate) The greater the level of skill and knowledge, the higher the chances of having an effective mentoring program.

The induction program should not fail to address the following: Establishing the mentor relationship (rapport and empathy) Clarifying expectations Setting clear parameters, and goals Phases of mentoring relationships Giving feedback Ethical issues such as confidentiality Establishing timelines and meetings Evaluation requirements The following skills should never be neglected-Listening skills, Feedback, Questioning skills, Coaching skills, Goal setting skills, Interpersonal and conflict handling skills as well as Negotiation skills. Matching of Mentors and Protégés is absolutely critical. The right match gives optimum results. This can either follow the law of natural selection, where the protégé identifies their own mentors; or they are matched by the mentor coordinators. Where there was already a mentoring aspect of some sort between manager and employee, this must be encouraged to strengthen the relationship. In other instances try to find out as much information about what the potential participants consider important so that one has a strong foundation on which the matching can be based. One may also generate a dossier for the participants to make their choice. A useful mechanism in formulating developmental goals is the use of some form of diagnostic instrument such as Questionnaires. Implementation of the program schedules and guidelines should be done with strictness bearing in mind the objectives of the mentoring program. It is essential that both mentors and protégés realise that they have a responsibility to keep to the deadlines and action plans decided upon by both parties.

The relationship should be subject to re-negotiation in order to accommodate new issues and address needs as they arise. There should be regular meetings as well as periodic feedback and discussions to ensure the continued development and support of the protégé. The feedback should be specific and descriptive in the interest of the protégés. Program evaluation is the final step. The aim of any mentoring program evaluation is to determine the extent to which it has been effective. The following should be assessed: How many of the learning objectives were reached? Has the protégé improved key scores on his or her performance appraisal? Does the supervisor feel that mentoring is helping the protégé to make progress? What is the program output e.g. a)      Decrease in protégé labour turnover. b)      Achievement of performance appraisal scores on key competencies. c)       Number of protégés considered suitable for promotion after a set period The final word is to improve over all indices. The long-term objective should be to improve employee performance and development. Conclusively, Mentoring could also be part of a larger initiative to support skills development in an organisation. We should note however, that this is never a mentoring program rather processes of implementing the program proper.

Guidelines for implementing mentoring

The key to successful implementation of mentoring is sound preparation including planning and design, an effective communication strategy and regular feedback with a readiness to adapt as necessary. These guidelines, distilled from experienced sources provide a checklist of key issues and tasks that contribute to successful outcomes.

1. What do mentoring schemes involve?

Mentoring schemes are aimed at raising the performance of a staff member in relation to specific job competencies. Most schemes involve the following phases:

·         Selection or assignment of the protégé/mentor. The mentor or protégé often select each other; but it is also possible to assign partners, given assurance of the commitment of both parties.  

·         Setting learning objectives, with interim targets.  This entails identifying the personal and professional goals of the protégé, and aligning these with specific job competencies. 

·         Developing an action plan for meeting these goals over an agreed period of time.

·         Dedicating and setting aside a regular amount of time for meetings.  

·         Tracking progress towards the attainment of pre-set interim and medium term objectives. In addition to holding periodic appraisals, both the protégé and the mentor can greatly benefit from keeping a log or journal to record activities, problems and lessons learned. 

·         Maintaining ongoing support. An effective mentoring programme emphasizes and builds in resources for ongoing self-directed learning, such as peer and advisor networks. Given the personal relationship of the mentoring arrangement, it is also common for the mentor and protégé to remain in contact after the formal end of such a programme.

2. Mentoring advice

Practice active listening. This is perhaps the most important skill a mentor needs to master for there to be effective communication. It orients you towards the needs of the protégé, and demonstrates that their views are valued. 

Tips:

·         Give the speaker all of your attention, including watching for non-verbal cues. Always maintain eye contact. In some contexts, taking notes may also show that you’re paying attention.

·         Before responding or questioning, leave time for the speaker to pause for reflection after he has finished talking. 

·         Express interest in the topic. Restate and reflect back what the speaker has said, to show you understand.

·         Ask questions in a positive, non-threatening manner, and invite a response. 

• Be guided by what the protégé needs on that day. Address whatever issue the protégé has in her/his mind, rather than sticking to your pre-set agenda. For example, if the real challenge turns out to be that the mentoring scheme isn't functioning, talk about that rather than whatever else is on your mind.  For mentoring schemes to be successful, the protégé has to feel that he can bring up the issues that are really relevant to him/her, rather than what the protégé might believe that the mentor thinks should be addressed in the session.

MENTORING PROGAM IMPLEMENTATION

Let’s assume that coaching or mentoring program is now well designed. You’ve spent time on the details and the program has taken shape. Don’t jeopardize your success by forgetting to carefully plan the implementation of the program. In this step, you’ll need to look at marketing, selection, training, and scheduling. You may have planned some of this in your design stage, but let’s discuss some general tips in each of these areas to ensure a smooth rollout.

One of the most important pieces of implementation is the marketing of a program. Just as your organization markets its products and services to its clients, you must market your coaching program to your clients. And, as with other developmental programs, the sell is not always easy. First, determine who your target audience will be for both coaches and protégés. If the entire organization makes the cut, focus your marketing on the benefits for the organization, the coaches, and the protégés. Consider a training program rollout as a comparison.

The quickest way to sink a new program is to simply put it out there and tell the organization that it was needed and ordered. Think about your coaching program in the same marketing terms. Why is the organization adopting the program? What can the organization expect to gain from the program? What can coaches, mentors, and protégés gain from taking the time to become a part of the program? Use your mission statement and objectives to frame and develop your marketing.

The marketing may get the attention of prospective coaches and mentors, and even participants. But when they find out the level of commitment they may have to have, a few might fall out. This is a good problem to have, but be sure that your training effectively explains the program and expands on the benefits that are mentioned in the marketing. Your training should not focus solely on the definition of mentoring and the steps to take to become a coach. Your training should, in effect, create a mentoring and coaching environment for mentors and coaches.

It should be interactive, focus on benefits, and truly convince the people involved that they’ve made a good decision both personally and professionally. Choose your instructors wisely, as well. Perhaps now is the time to consider using “guest” instructors, that is, organizational members who are not part of the training and development staff. Successful managers, that is, those that have the respect of peers, direct reports, and cross-functional areas, sometimes make the best coaches. For this reason, these people may make the best coach-instructors.

When you begin your selection process, which is a big part of implementation, be certain that criteria for becoming a coach or mentor as well as that of becoming a protégé are clear, measurable, and non-biased. Just as Human Resources must make these types of selections when choosing job candidates, you must make solid selections of both coaches and protégés. Don’t get caught in the trap of trying to find “warm bodies” or simply selecting popular managers. Use the criteria, goals, and measurements you’ve spent time developing in order to choose the right people for the program. And be certain that any decisions can be backed up factually. When you pay this close attention to your selection process, you’ll be steps ahead of the curve when the program first rolls out.

Finally, think about the scheduling aspect of the coaching or mentoring program. Aside from training coaches or mentors, are you going to require regular meetings of coaches and protégés, as well as separate groups of coaches and protégés? If your program is more informal, decide if business-hours meetings are called for. In cases such as these, you may have to confine meetings of informal mentors and coaches to after- or before-hours times. On the other hand, if the coaching program is formal and expected to be part of an overall development path or curriculum, consider how scheduling meetings should be handled. The key here is to make plans for scheduling before you start doing it. This way, your implementation will be clean from start to finish.

After the implementation, let your program run for a set amount of time. You can decide what time frame is appropriate, as well. After that time frame runs, it will be necessary to go back and measure effectiveness.