We as leaders must reproduce ourselves. One of the ways we can do this is through mentor-ship. We must mentor the newer members of our organization. It seems some people are threatened when new people come on board. We treat them like they're trying to take our jobs. We outcast them until we get to know them. This can make people feel unwelcomed and create tension in the organization between the new and the old.
I will usually try to make it a point to build a rapport with new people as soon as possible. I do what I can to make them feel at ease, because I know what it's like to be the new person. I know what it's like to receive poor training or being out-casted because I'm not a part of the governing clique. We should never have to "warm up" to the new people or get them to earn our respect. We should just welcome them with open arms and start the process of getting them acclimated to the way we do things in the organization. It's also important during the mentoring process to not complain about where you work, or other coworkers. Because here this person is in a new environment trying to learn what they have to do to fit in to their new position and here you come telling them about how crappy the company is, who is sleeping with who, what people to stay away from, how they can get way with scamming on the job...etc. This is not mentoring or helpful. But this is common. I have experienced this everywhere I've been, both in the military and outside the military.
We can't turn people off of the job before they even start working. You should always be as professional as possible with new people and let them come to their own conclusions about whats going on around them. As a mentor your primary concern should be in helping them adjust and teaching them the ways that they can succeed in the organization. Teach them the things that you wish people would have taught you.
I remember when I became a Deacon at my church, one of the Ministers there was always correcting things I would do wrong, and point out areas that I should be monitoring that I didn't know. He would show me how to make sure the church was ready for service every service. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes for every church service, and by him mentoring me he gave me the insight that I needed know at my level so nothing would be dropped. This is what a mentor does, they show you the ropes in a way. There's so much that I know because somebody was willing to mentor me, and there's so much that I had to learn on my own because nobody was willing to take the time to show me what I needed to know.
We live in a time when so many people lack the understand they should have in order to be a quality worker. Instead we teach people just enough to know their job and nothing else, this isn't mentoring. A mentor should get as in depth as they possibly can to teach the importance of why you do what you do. This way when it's time for this person to mentor somebody else they can teach them the same, instead of this is what I was taught and this is the way we always do it. Its like we don't want to know more then we have to and don't want to train more then what's needed. It's amazing that there hasn't be some devastating economical crash because of the all the mismanagement that's been happening in the recent years and the lack of general knowledge and understanding of the people... oh wait.
By people not willing to mentor anybody anymore we start seeing bad things happening at all levels of leadership, not just at the bottom. The recent recession is proof of this. The lack of proper training, and mentoring, and just all around good judgment and ethical behavior caused a crash across a variety of businesses in a variety of markets. There's a saying, it's the small fox that spoils the vine. The meaning of this is fox's that are too small to be able to reach up and grab the grapes will nibble on the base of the vine which will cut off the flow of important nutrients to the rest of the vine. Just be cause we at lower levels think that our job is insignificant, doesn't me it is. Our job is more important than we might know. But since we're too small minded to see the big picture, we're not concerned with what our actions do to the rest of the organization.
Mentoring is crucial because it's through mentoring that we pass on the knowledge of a generation. If this knowledge isn't passed on then little by little the reason for why we do what we do will be lost, and the mindset of excellence will fade away leaving people doing a job that they have no idea the importance of. As I said in a previous chapter people want to feel like what their doing is important, but if we as leaders stop mentoring, and teaching people the importance of their job then the quality of work will deteriorate because the people will just not be motivated enough to do a good job.
Mentoring is also good for job retention. If you take the time to work with somebody one on one it can cause them to be more loyal to your company. People just need a reason to either stay or leave. If they feel they're being mistreated or even ignored then they have no loyalties working for you. Mentoring can offset this mindset. It'll make people feel like you as a manager has them earmarked for something greater then where they're at. The people you're leading might not understand the importance of them being mentored, but we as leaders need to let them know how important it is by doing it. The more time and effort we put into mentoring, the more it will get in their minds that mentoring is important.
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