Mentoring In The Spectrum Of Supporting

In that mentoring - and all other developmental styles - addresses needs for both learning/stretching and support/nurturing, it is not surprising that we can identify a similar hierarchy of supporting roles and behaviours. The most directive or hands-on role is that of sponsor. Figure 6 draws out the main differences between sponsorship and mentoring.

Figure 6: The hierarchy of supporting behaviours

Giving advice is a key supporting role, especially for those occasions when the learner simply does not know what to do or how to move forward on an issue. Sometimes the adviser is simply a sounding-board. Being sought out for one's knowledge or insight is one of the strongest compliments a person can receive - it raises one's self-esteem and encourages future helpfulness.

Being a counsellor is in may ways similar, but the satisfaction comes from the use of one's knowledge and skills to help someone reach his or her own conclusions and solve his or her own problems. The counsellor is also much more likely than the adviser to reflect on how the issues considered relate to himself or herself and his or her own circumstances.

Friendship is the least directive of roles and the one - in its most beneficial manifestations - that demands least from the participants. Friends may sometimes act in the other supporting roles, where circumstances make it appropriate. Critical friends are a valuable source of feedback, which the individual might not otherwise receive.

Mentors might adopt any or all of these roles, depending on the style of mentoring agreed. A traditional US approach would place more emphasis on sponsoring and advising; a developmental mentoring approach would avoid sponsoring and would concentrate on a mixture of advising and counselling behaviours. Either model of mentoring could result in the development of friendship, but friendships tend to be deeper and longer-lasting in developmental mentoring, perhaps because both parties in successful relationships learn to be very open with each other.

There are, however, many similarities between coaching and mentoring in terms of the behaviours applied. The effective mentor has a wider repertoire because he or she also draws on behaviours and techniques shared with counselling, guiding/guardianship and network development. In practice many companies, such as BAT, use mentoring and coaching as mutually reinforcing roles, and this seems to bring out the best in both. In BAT's case, graduate recruits have a series of coaches who are their immediate line managers as they move around the organisation, gathering breadth of experience in their first two years. They also have a mentor who is off-line and has a wider, more pastoral role and with whom they can discuss their progression beyond the current job assignments.

Other organisations have recognised that high-flyers need a portfolio of relationships. In particular, they benefit from having:

• a coach, to focus upon performance issues, especially for the current job role

• a mentor, to challenge them, provide the bigger picture and concentrate on longer-term development

• a sponsor, to ensure that they are placed in the right assignments to develop their potential

• peer learning relationships, both within and across the organisational boundaries

• access to traditional learning resources, such as business school courses, and new media, such as e-learning, at times when they have a specific learning need.

Integrating these roles could present a challenge, but most senior managers in an organisation seem perfectly capable of managing their learning portfolio without problem.