Mentoring Across RacialCultural Divides

Mentoring Across Racial/Cultural Divides

Mentoring between races requires equally sensitive handling. The potential for stereotyping to reduce the effectiveness of the relationship is high - as too is the potential to identify and overcome stereotypes. In experiments across cultures I have found it is important to begin the relationship with an extra dose of clarity about expectations. On one occasion, in Brunei, managers being trained as mentors were asked to plot the shape of the relationship in terms of where the emphasis of behaviours should rest. Figure 15 shows what the expatriate (English and Dutch) mentors concluded.

Figure 15: Mentor-mentee relationship as perceived by expatriate mentors

Figure 16 shows what the mentees, who were mostly local people in their mid-twenties, were expecting.

Figure 16: Mentor-mentee relationship as perceived by mentees abroad

On seeing these diagrams and after nearly two minutes of silence, one manager exclaimed, ‘Now I see why I have such difficulty getting through to my direct reports!' Mentors and mentees used this information to discuss what behaviours and expectations on both sides would be appropriate, and to build a compromise acceptable to both parties.

Like mentoring across genders, mentoring across cultures is an excellent developmental experience for the mentor. Some companies now encourage such relationships as an integral part of globalising their cultures.

Case Study
London Borough of Brent - Mentoring for a diverse workforce

Sue Gover and Marianne Ecker

During 2001, the London Borough of Brent launched a series of initiatives under the banner of an ‘Improving Brent' programme. This focused on both personal and service improvement while at the same time converging with the requirements of the Campaign for Racial Equality's Action Plan.

One initiative introduced under the ‘Improving Brent' umbrella was a 12-month mentoring scheme aimed initially at black and Asian staff. The stated aims of the scheme were:

• to encourage a more proactive approach to learning and move further towards becoming a learning organisation

• to enable individuals to be more self-reliant through improved career and personal/professional development that would encourage them actively to take responsibility for their actions

• to provide a development opportunity for individuals who had not been able to take part in other development initiatives

• to enable individuals to have a greater understanding of the work pressures and priorities outside their own area, providing them with a Council-wide view

• to support the new Council-wide appraisal process, where there was now an opportunity to discuss training and learning in general

• to ensure that the management structure reflected the makeup of the whole population at the Council.

  The scheme began with a manageable 25 pairs, all of whom attended a one-day formal training programme. During training, personal portfolios were filled out and then used, in conjunction with the initial application forms, to do the matching.

  Uniquely, the scheme was actively supported by a steering group of four people, based in different locations around the Borough and thus well-placed to help participants. Besides providing support to individuals, the role of the group was to oversee implementation of the scheme, and particularly the matching and evaluation processes.

  Feedback was obtained twice during the course of the year and also at the conclusion of the formal relationships. A creditable 79 per cent of participants felt that their expectations had been met. This and other feedback was shared at an open day run by the steering group and supported by the Borough directorate. Comments made by mentees included: ‘My mentor makes me think and see things through', ‘Beliefs and differences were accepted, and I was able to speak openly', ‘It made me feel special and that someone was listening', ‘It removed preconceived barriers', ‘You get what you put in', and ‘My mentor's insights helped me acquire the knowledge I wanted about the unit I wanted to work in. '

  For each of the three different stakeholder groups, the perceived benefits of mentoring were that:

  mentors

• gained insights into the work of parts of the organisation with which they did not come into direct contact - assisting in organisational integration and communication

• experienced more closely the challenges facing employees and the impact of senior management decisions on the organisation

• were able to change their own mindsets and share learning with others

• gained an opportunity to examine their own style and improve management of their own employees

  mentees

• gained an opportunity to discuss career and development aspirations with a more senior member of staff from another service area

• had a confidant(e) with whom to explore current work problems and resolutions

• were able to see a range of management styles and techniques

• Brent, the organisation

• improved the development and progression of black and Asian staff

• assisted in identifying potential, particularly for management roles

• increased the identification and development of key competencies

• promoted the transfer of skills, leading to motivation and productivity

• became a source of feedback on how key organisational processes were working, such as recruitment and selection.

  The steering group's purpose in holding an open day was twofold: firstly, to share with participants and others the outcomes from the first year of mentoring, and secondly, to provide a forum for prospective new participants to hear at first hand what mentoring was about and how it worked in Brent.

  The success of the first year's scheme was such that a second phase was launched towards the end of 2002. This was open to all staff, a percentage of places being held for positive-action candidates. Built into this next phase were the key learning points drawn out by the steering group from Phase 1:

  Initial application phase:

• Improve communication about the programme by using the intranet and attending team meetings; launch the next programme with an open seminar, celebrating success of this programme.

• Involve the line managers - ask them to sign mentees' application forms and arrange a briefing session specifically for them.

• Extend the opportunity to all staff, while retaining a number of positive-action places.

  Training:

• Spend more time on clarifying roles, expectations and the level of commitment required; explain the evaluation process; emphasise that building rapport is key and can take time; focus on building/achieving medium-term objectives (v short-term).

• Matching:

• It takes a lot of time; the more information you can get from participants, the better; limit the number of hierarchical levels between mentor and mentee.

  Implementation:

• Some people need help and support in getting started.

• Give good practice guidelines - eg on how often and how long to meet for.

• Offer occasional workshops to support mentees, such as on interview skills.

• Now give more emphasis to mentor development during the year, to help them move mentees to consider medium-term objectives.

  Organisational learning:

• To illustrate the relationship between mentoring and improved performance, change over time must be tracked.

• There are strong links between mentor skills and general management skills.

• There is a need to build on the gains for individuals.

• We must offer more than just access to mentoring to help BME staff progress - they need practical management experience to make them credible candidates for their first management posts - we should be looking now to provide shadowing and other tools to facilitate this.

  Mentoring is now perceived as an important building-block in the ‘Improving Brent' programme, and it continues to thrive and be supported by the steering group.