There is one often missing piece of the performance puzzle that is tied directly to your leadership abilities and that is mentoring. I doubt very seriously that I could have ever gotten to where I am now if it weren’t for the efforts of my mentors. All of them guided me as I progressed and taught me management, leadership, organizational culture, process improvement, performance management, etc., and were with me every step of the way helping me craft the kind of performance evaluations that got me noticed by the promotion panel.
If you are at least a first-line supervisor and you are not mentoring those below you, then I must ask why not? It is not just something that the promotion panels want to see to demonstrate your long-term leadership commitment, but because it is imperative that we train and prepare the next generation of IT leadership.
In some organizations there are formally established mentoring programs that are there to cover the above bases, but I can tell you flat out that neither of them gave me the kind of benefit that informal mentoring gave me. Why? Human nature. It just seems to me that when someone is told to mentor someone and/or assigned someone at random, the human connection isn’t there and they don’t put in the kind of effort to mentor the person like they do when they seek someone out or are sought out by those looking for the right mentor. A few years ago, I participated in a formal mentoring program. I was assigned a mentee and had a nice chat with them. They went off to their posting and after at least a dozen emails checking in with them went ignored, I gave up and moved on to helping the mentees that were actively engaged because they wanted my assistance. Both people in the mentor-mentee relationship need to be invested for it to be successful. I now mentor over fifty people and none of them are are actively engaged with the formal mentoring program mentor that they were assigned to when they were new hires.
How do you informally mentor? It is incredibly simple. Actively seek out those who are demonstrating that they have what it takes and get them under your wing. It could be someone that works directly for you and you see their potential (you can and should mentor all your staff, but again, not all of them will want it); it could be someone you meet at a professional gathering (e.g. job fair, vendor conference, college recruiting function, etc.) Alternatively, some hard-charging folks will come to you for advice and mentoring, so give it to them! For those I mentor regularly, I have happily given career advice, critiqued performance evaluations, or just lent an ear. It takes as much or as little effort as is needed, depending on the person. Make the time if you can.
There are many things you can impart to your mentees to make them better technicians, managers, leaders, and even better people. Some of the things you can do to expand their horizons are to teach them the importance of:
How to take calculated risks that result in outcomes that benefit the organization. Knowing when to take risks is as important as taking them. Learning how to weigh risk vs. benefit is an important skill that every leader must know. For example, you don’t take a multi-million-dollar risk without senior leadership buy-in, but a lower cost risk that can pay larger dividends would be an easier pill for them to swallow. There are even risks that cost nothing more than time and a little effort if you are willing to take the leap.
That is the most important point of mentoring…getting your mentee(s) to start taking that leap, knowing that there is someone behind them to catch them if they fall and who will give them the latitude they need to be willing to do it again.
Becoming better writers and orators. With a long-term focus on learning how to reach the “senior eyes” audience. This is also effective in crafting performance evaluation narratives that make an employee competitive for promotion.
The critical importance of strategic thinking. Your mentee(s) need to understand the bigger organizational picture and its vision, goals, and objectives for the long term.
Understanding the business process. Everything we do in the IT field is not technical, no matter how much some want to think that it is. We need to understand how things work from a business perspective. Everything we do costs money and we need to understand where it comes from, how we use it wisely, and how to improve processes and create process and cost efficiencies.
Becoming more skilled at Change Management. How many projects, upgrades, updates, etc. have failed because customers did not want to embrace new technologies, applications, or processes? Change Management shows you how to address this and get buy-in from all stakeholders involved. Get your mentee(s) involved in the Change Management process and to learn to embrace it.
Getting out of your comfort zone. By honestly assessing what is necessary for your mentee(s) to truly grow in their career and to expand their leadership and managerial horizons.
There are myriad things that a
mentor can impart to their mentee(s). Think
of all the ways your mentors helped you get to where you are today and remember
to pass that knowledge on. If you didn’t
have a mentor, think of all the successes and failures (you learn from both) that
helped to shape who you are today and use that as a mentoring vehicle. The next generation of IT leaders truly are
depending on it.