More Managers with Mentoring Skills Needed

More Managers with Mentoring Skills Needed

Enterprises need mentoring as a managerial skill. Because it is a key contributor to human and business productivity. The HR function must stress the need for this and assist the managers to cultivate this trait by education through the company’s programs.

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In my professional experience spanning nearly two decades, I learned that there is a need for a manager to be a mentor. Most managers that I worked with were professionals directing the business by CONTROLLING the resources, expenditure and even their people. Doing so resulted in GOOD REVENUES for the companies they work for. However their professionals are showing PROBLEMATIC CAREERS going through a zig zag motion while working with these managers.

The key reason being these managers were "TASK MANAGERS" rather than "PROBLEM SOLVERS". As a task master my managers used to begin a meeting with "what’s the project status?..." and the presentations used to be often interrupted with- “I don't need that... No excuses please..." and the kind. The meeting would popularly conclude something like - “I don't want to know how you do it... But I need it by next week.." I must admit we did complete the work within time lines. However, the question is at what cost? Personal stress, little family time. Often I turned away from my daughter when she came with a math book in her hand to be taught and finally on a annual checkup I was told that my blood sugar levels were higher than normal due to improper health maintenance, besides high stress. This may be a in a “one off” case but probably research could indicate larger numbers on this state of professionals.

After my long career in IT companies I pulled myself off and parked under the shade of a ' wisdom tree' and now work as a business consultant spending more time in coaching and mentoring mid level and upper management. I also spend -like most consultants - researching on concepts and in most ways have been a student all over again or so I feel. The dearest learning for me is the role of a manager and the management in the contemporary professional environment. One of the basic qualifications, among other already existing ones should be PEOPLE MANAGEMENT SKILLS.

This would not only drive the company's revenue curve linear but also avoid a hyperbolic health curve for the personnel associated with the company. Physical health is just one of the element I pointed out but there are family, personal, emotional and lot more to consider when we talk about why we need the presence of a mentoring element along with other abilities of a manager. I am sure this is not a utopian practice and we earthlings can cultivate this if we need and we need it and when we do the business to progresses 360 degrees.

When we have mentors in our managers we will experience project status meetings something like this: “Where are we on this project? How can I help you to catch up(on the timeline)?”
Probably presentations will be interrupted less… or even with a pat on the back for what is accomplished thus far and stretching our expectation a little further - a helping hand for what needs to be done. Thus the manager and the management will seriously practice seeing a glass half full glass rather than a half empty glass.

Thanks to all those managers who have mentors in them and if you are a professional who has experienced this – treasure this experience for this breed of managers is still not commonly found on this planet.

		Bernardo Gamboa Analyst, Peru
	Managers Need Mentoring Skills I agree. Mentoring is key in the development of new talent. Managers need to understand his role in order to narrow the ...

		M.B. Mphahlele Consultant, South Africa
	Mentoring by Managers Leads to Organisational Excellence Good leaders always multiply themselves through people development. They - Identify talented individuals, - Design a g...

		Paul D Giammalvo Professor and Consultant, Indonesia
	Mentoring is a Key Role/Responsibility of a Professional I came up through the construction trades (carpentry) and the tradition of "apprentices" goes back literally hundreds if...

		Emilio Gonzalez Manager, United States
	Managers Should be Mentors, not Dictators Unfortunately lately there are to many "Manager" that think that being dictators and spreading fear is the best way to a...

		J A Hegarty Business School Marketer, Ireland
	Mentoring is like Regular Maintenance of the Staff Organisations have equipment, premises and staff. Regular maintenance must be carried out on the physical structure of t...

		Winand Kissels Interim Manager, Netherlands
	The Need for Managers to Take up Mentoring Completely right... Over the year I have learned to value mentorship. As consultant I do recommend mentorship especiall...

		Hermanson Business Consultant, United States
	Manager as Mentor Right on target. This is particularly acute in small technology firms. Project teams are generally self-motivated to app...

		Saeed Fahim Manager, United Arab Emirates
	No Managers without Mentoring Skills I read with great interest all the comments and wonder whether the term manger has been loosely defined and used? Over t...

		Doug Lawrence Entrepreneur, Canada
	Train Managers in Mentoring Skills For managers to be successful the organization's leadership development program needs to have mentoring as a key element...

		Cesar Teacher, Mexico
	Mentoring is a Tool Managers Use to Reach Company Success I agree with all of you. A good manager must be a good mentor, a coach, and lead through business processes. A good man...

		William Stadler Manager, United States
	Mentoring is Key to Development of Others I agree with all of these posts, which to me, indicate that the business culture has lost sight of the appreciation for ...

		RiaRoy Student (University), United States
	Mentoring is Key, But there are Requirements From my perspective, a good mentoring can only happen when the mentor is completely confident in his/ her abilities, the...

		Doug Lawrence Entrepreneur, Canada
	Requirements to make Mentoring a Success Some great contributions to this topic! The success of a mentoring program in an organization is hinged on four key ele...

		Richard Teo CEO, Papua New Guinea
	Mentoring Requires a Learning Organisation Mentoring" is an overused word. We expect managers to know what it means and to practice it! Not so if he/she doesn't ha...

		K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Characteristics of Managers to be Good Mentors Totally agreed - a Manager has to be a Mentor. To find good candidates for managers being able to mentor well, organizat...

		ANGSHUMAN Manager, India
	Mentoring by Managers of New Generations I agree with the concept, but the first thing is that the Manager should know that there is nothing to lose for him, and...

		Helen Strong Business Consultant, South Africa
	Managers and Mentees Totally agree that people need constructive leadership and a learning environment to reach their full potential. Howeve...

		K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Mentoring Skills for Managers @K.Narayana Moorthy: Here are some further typical mentoring skills: - Building rapport and establishing trust; - Sett...

		Raza Consultant, United States
	Mentoring Must Start at the Top Level Thanks for this interesting article. However, from my experience working in four continents I have learned that no matt...

		K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Key People of the Company Should Show Interest in Mentoring Organizations are often interested in establishing a mentoring program as they see good reasons in its principles to men...

		RiaRoy Student (University), United States
	Exemplary Mentor / Mentoring Program: A Chimera? @Doug Lawrence: And, this is where I believe the rabbit hole starts getting deeper: Reflective individuals are a spars...

		K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Managers (also as Mentors ) and Appreciative Inquiry Managers (also as mentors) are certainly in an advantageous position if they acquire Appreciative Inquiry skills. These ...

		Richard Teo CEO, Papua New Guinea
	Mentoring is also a Team-based Approach All good comments but seem to be top-down as the operative function. Mentoring should be also team-based. Assuming that...

		SYMON E. ENYAPU Student (University), Kenya
	As a Manager, Mentoring Others Should Be a Task It is a good idea to mentor others, especially in this impersonal digital world. I like mentoring both outside and insid...

		Jacob Tokame Student (University), Ghana
	Managers Mentoring Young Employees This is timely. l believe if the good managers today can mentor the young ones, the world of business has a good future....

		Habtamu Kelemework, Ethiopia
	Managers as Mentors? Yes, But Do It Professionally I agree with Mr. Sridhar Gopal's idea and all the comments given above. Managers should have to mentor their workers. Ho...

		Doug Lawrence Entrepreneur, Canada
	Exemplary Mentor / Mentoring Program: NOT a Chimera @RiaRoy: I am happy to say that the majority of the folks that I have worked with reinforce that this is not a c...

		Sridhar Gopal Management Consultant, India
	Good to Hear That ... @Doug Lawrence: That's good to hear Doug. There are a number of them, including me who had a chance to get mentors as ma...

		Sridhar Gopal Management Consultant, India
	Thanks for your Thoughts Thanks very much to all here and those who cared to read this post.This has been a very good learning session for me. I...

		Gacheru Mwangi Lecturer, Kenya
	Mentoring Managers Should Create an Environment for Knowledge Transfer Mentoring/coaching creates an organizational culture that allows tacit knowledge to flow from one generation of managers...

		Daniel Marin Professor, Mexico
	Mentoring is the Main Task for Successful Management Successful management has as it's main task the development of people, that I learned early in my industrial carrier. M...

		Titus Muzvuwe, Zimbabwe
	Mentoring at the Workplace is Vital I believe everyone can be a mentor regardless of qualifications and education level. The problem with mentoring nowaday...

		owako Manager, Kenya
	Wrong Practices of Managers Mentoring Young Professionals Every manager can be a mentor. But the practice of managing through psychological intimidation among established and exp...

		K.Narayana Moorthy HR Consultant, India
	Managers Should Commit to Mentoring Young Professionals Young professionals, in to-day's business context revolve around professional growth, community and technical developmen...

		subramanian Business Consultant, India
	No Subordinate/Supervisor Relationship in Mentoring I think for mentoring to succeed, the mentor and the mentee should not be in a subordinate / supervisor reporting relati...

		Nelson Hernandez Manso, Spain
	Corporative and Personal Culture on Mentoring Your first school is at your home, the second one the streets, the third your education, and among them are your persona...