Mentoring Optimizing The Mentor-Protégé Relationship

1. MentoringOptimizing The Mentor-Protégé Relationship ALIGN STREAMLINE EXECUTE Center for Personal and Professional Development 2008

2. Step One: Learn • Mentoring Defined • What is the Navy policy on mentoring? • What it takes to be a mentor • What does the mentor get out of it? • What are the protégé's responsibilities? • What does the protégé get out of it? • What are the different types of mentoring? • What are the steps to getting started?

3. Mentoring Defined “Mentoring is a relationship in which a person with greater experience and wisdom guides another person to develop both personally and professionally.” (NAVPERSCOMINST 1500.1) • Why bother?….Mentoring has consistently proven to be a top factor affecting an employee’s… • Success • Career satisfaction, • Retention

4. Navy Policy on Mentoring • CNO Guidance 2003 “Create a mentoring culture and assign a mentor for every service member by March 03. (All Echelon II)” • CNO Guidance 2004 “2003 Accomplishments…we increased the availability of vital leadership references, including a Mentoring Handbook, through the Navy Knowledge Online website. Using multiple approaches, we took steps to ensure every Sailor has a mentor to maximize their talents and improve their contribution to combat excellence.” • CNO Guidance 2005 “We built a mentoring culture”….. • CNO Guidance 2006 “Develop and implement a total force mentoring culture.” • CNO Guidance 2007-2008 “Developing 21st Century Leaders…focusing on root cause analysis, training, outreach and mentoring.”

5. What It Takes to Be a Mentor • Possess a sincere desire • Commitment and time • Ability to provide open and honest feedback • Help build an Individual Career Development Plan

6. How Mentoring Benefits The Protégé • Experienced guidance and support • Insight into the pros and cons of various career options and paths • Increased self-awareness and self-discipline • An expanded personal network • Support in the transition to a new role or location • A sounding board for testing ideas and plans • Constructive feedback on personal and professional development areas

7. How Mentoring Benefits The Mentor • Share their expertise with another • Prove themselves as valuable leaders • Expand their professional network • Help the CNO and the MCPON build the desired Navy Mentoring culture • Obtain a fresh perspective on the development process • Enhance experience in their areas of expertise • Extend their role as subject matter experts • Invest in the careers of others

8. How Mentoring Benefits The Navy • An environment that fosters personal and professional growth through the sharing of information, skills, attitudes and aligning behaviors • Increased job satisfaction for mentees and mentors • Sharing and leveraging Navy-relevant knowledge and skill throughout the organization • A means for leaders to align with one another on command direction • Enhanced learning and diversity in the organization

9. Types of Development Relationships • Supervisor / subordinate coaching relationship • Leadership courses cover helping development from the supervisor to subordinate perspective • Mentor and protégé mentoring relationship • Traditional career progression and individual growth and development guidance • Tools available on NKO

10. Different Types of Mentoring • Natural mentoring • Situational mentoring • Supervisory mentoring • Formal facilitated mentoring (Navy Model)

11. Natural Mentoring • Natural mentoring occur all the time and always has • It happens when one person (usually senior) reaches out to another, and a career-helping relationship develops • Research shows this type of mentoring most often occurs between people who have a lot in common • We are usually more comfortable with those who are most like ourselves

12. Situational Mentoring • Situational mentoring is usually short-lived and happens for a specific purpose • An example would be when one worker helps another with a new office computer system, or when someone goes on an “informational interview” with someone who is in a career they are considering

13. Supervisory Mentoring • Very important • All good supervisors mentor their subordinates • Drawbacks • May not be a “subject matter expert” • Heavily tasked • Comfort levels

14. Formal Facilitated Mentoring • Designed to build an entire culture of internal mentoring, support and development • Formal facilitated mentoring programs are structured programs in which an organization facilitates a mentors – protégé relationship • They may target one special segment of the organization where career development may be lagging behind that of others (for example, women) to help that group advance further • They may assign mentors to protégés and monitor the progress of the mentoring connection

15. Step Two: Make a Match • You may be looking for a mentor, a protégé, or both • Seek and yea shall find!

16. Looking for a Mentor • Look outside the chain of command • Try for a two grade level difference • Look for someone at or near your command • Identify Sailors / Officers you admire • Talk with your Career Counselor / Division Officer or your Chief

17. Looking For a Protégé • Look at your location and situation • Senior people should reach out to junior people • Consider those who are quiet, not likely to ask for help, or feel excluded • Volunteer as a mentor

18. Have reasonable expectations of the protégé Be a resource and provide honest and respectful feedback Allocate time and energy Help the mentee develop an appropriate development plan Follow through on commitments or renegotiate appropriately Dominate the relationship Seek out a protégé Do the work for the protégé Manage the protégé as a supervisor would Be a Know-It-All Mentors SHOULD SHOULD NOT

19. Initiate and drive the relationship Identify initial learning goals Seek feedback Take an active role in their own learning Initiate monitoring and closure sessions Allocate time and energy Follow through on commitments or renegotiate appropriately Be an expert Know all the questions they should ask Fit all learning into one mentoring relationship Look to the mentor for all answers about their work Be submissive in their relationship Develop a friendship with the mentor Protégés SHOULD SHOULD NOT

20. Questions to consider asking your mentee to help generate discussion: How can we define the limits and boundaries of our relationship? How can we come to closure or terminate our relationship? What should we do if we discover we are not compatible? The feedback provided to a protégé from any formal or informal assessments and their associated Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a great place to start. How are you perceived by your coworkers? Boss? Peers? What to Talk About

21. How do you feel about the goals you’ve set? Are these your goals because you want them to be or because someone else wants them to be? How might you accomplish your goals? What is the most important/least important and why? How can I (as the mentor) help them achieve their goals? Things to Discuss With Protégé During Goal-Setting

22. Step Three: Enter Into a Mentor – Protégé Agreement • Commit to one-year partnership • Discuss “no-fault” termination • Have a periodic check-up – every six months or less

23. Mentoring Feedback Guidelines • Narrow – Break large, general goals into smaller, more specific • Attainable – Guidance needs to be realistic and achievable • Value-Added – Ensure the protégé guidance is appropriately presented and in the protégé’s best interest • Years / months / days? – A timeline and development plan needs to be in place to frame the approach and track progress

24. Characteristics of Effective Feedback • Clear purpose • Specific and descriptive • Relevant • Actionable • Timely • Balanced (equal parts of listening and talking)

25. Steps for Giving Effective Feedback • Set the proper climate Provide ample time without interruption • Consider carefully what you want to communicate What message do you want to give? • Set the context for the feedback Why is this important to the mentee? • Give the feedback to the mentee Check the tone of your feedback • Give the mentee opportunity to respond and listen Be open to new information • Work together to determine the next steps What should the mentee do with the feedback?

26. Managing Mentor-Protégé Conflict • Develop a supportive rather than defensive environment • Explicitly express why you feel there is conflict • Listen openly and accurately to feedback • Understand the meaning behind the messages you are giving and receiving • Seek to identify a common goal through compromise • Discuss the issues (use facts rather than opinions) • Stay solution-focused

27. Conflict-Resolution Best Practices • Withhold Judgments • Keep an open mind during and do not project an attitude of condescension • Be specific and avoid speaking in generalities • Be careful not to speak down to or insult the intelligence of your mentee • Be patient with learning; move at the mentee’s pace in the conversation

28. Fundamentals of a Successful Mentor-Protégé Relationship • Collaboration - Both mentor and protégé must work together to ensure the protégé’s development • Respect - Mutual appreciation of your knowledge and of the mentee’s investment of time and energy • Responsiveness - Both need to be sensitive and responsive to the goals, needs and perspectives of the other • Confidentiality - This supports the ability to be vulnerable, yet safe, in difficult conversations • Joint Accountability - Strengthens trust and helps keep the learning relationship focused and productive. • Free and Honest Expression - Both can present and receive feedback on competencies and strengthening areas of weakness. • Focus - The mentoring relationship needs to be clear in its purpose and goals. The mentoring agreement goals are the focus of learning and development

29. Some Final Thoughts For a Successful Mentor-Protégé Relationship • Mentoring is a relationship • Equal participation in the mentoring relationship is a must • There needs to be an understanding from both parties about what is to be learned, how the transfer of learning will take place, and how the learning will be monitored and evaluated • Through the sharing of resources and time, both mentor and protégé should benefit

30. Step Four: Spread The Word! • The Navy needs everyone’s assistance in developing a culture of mentoring • Please share mentoring success stories….share ways to improve mentoring efforts • Get involved and be a participant

31. Learning More About Mentoring To find the Navy E-Learning courses… • Go to NKO • Then go to Navy E-Learning and click on the Browse categories • Next, click on Skillssoft Courseware Collection, then Business Skills Curricula • Find Management Curriculum and click • There will be a category titled Mentoring Essentials, click • All Catalog Items > Skillsoft Courseware Collections > Business Skills Curricula > Management Curriculum > Mentoring Essentials • The courses under this category should be useful: • Mentoring Essentials Simulation, Effective Mentoring, The Mentoring Manager, Implementing an Organizationwide Mentoring Program, Mentoring Strategies in the 21st Century, Achieving Success with the Help of a Mentor, e-Mentoring