These days it seems that far too many organizations have begun to neglect the importance of mentors to the education and advancement of younger more junior employees. Mentoring, however, is a time old system which has proven its worth again and again and can continue to function as a valuable tool by which employees help further train employees while on the job, providing them with opportunities for future promotion, which can serve as great motivation as well as cutting back on the organization’s future executive search and hiring needs. Given the wide range of benefits inherent in adopting and promoting such a system it is difficult to understand why more companies would not have already taken the necessary steps in doing so.
To help give companies some kind of idea about what their goals should be in this process, executive search firms have put together this look at three crucial lessons to be learned that those who are to be mentored must learn if they are to become effective leaders one day worthy of advancement, lessons that which can perhaps only be instilled through the hands on instruction of a mentor. However, to begin with, companies will need to be able to recognize those signs that are representative of a quality mentor, those qualities which are likewise indicative of a good leader, and which would be best passed on.
For starters, one of those most crucial elements that a mentor must possess is the ability to listen. This may be one of the more commonly overlooked traits necessary to a leader, perhaps due to the perception that leaders are the ones who are meant to be speaking and giving orders. However, before they can give orders and make decisions, a good leader must first be willing to listen to their subordinates, take their ideas and feelings into consideration, and be willing to answer questions and give advice. This trait is therefore equally essential to the role of a mentor who must lead by example and be representative of all the qualities that they might hope for those under their tutelage to observer and draw on.
Another important factor that great leaders and mentors will display in the handling of their employees is the method by which actions are carried out between the two. Ideally, a good leader will give their subordinates tasks to accomplish rather as a means of guiding their development, as opposed to carrying out these tasks for them. One of the key purposes of such a step is to help in weeding out those who are unwilling to actually follow through with the duties given to them and set those apart who understand the importance of carrying these tasks for themselves.
Finally, as important as it is for leaders and mentors to contemplate the issues and decisions before them, ultimately, in the end, it all comes down to their ability to take a stand for their decisions and take action. This is a factor that all mentors must successfully instill in those they are mentoring if those individuals are ever to become effective leaders themselves.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
