Mentoring

Since 2002 I have always maintained a mentoring role with at least one manager. The reasons for my dedication to providing mentoring are because:-

Many people have helped me in my career and I feel honoured to be able to help others
People’s development can be tailored to suit them
Developments needs can be discussed and tackled as they emerge, keeping the discussions grounded in reality

Style

My mentoring approach is task-focused, based on what the mentee brings to sessions. Together we use key theoretical frameworks to bring understanding about causation and potential solutions. These include considerations of personal management, organisational design and power and influence.

Early stages of the relationship are used to help diagnose the areas in the mentees mentee’s professional life where development is most needed.

I believe in ethical management. This means that I do not support underhand practices or the falsifying of performance to maintain apparent achievement. I do believe however that individuals must be intelligent about how they articulate their strengths and consider their areas for development as transitory. With effort most if not all managers can close their performance gaps- or they can move to a role where there is a greater match between their interests, strengths and potential.

Examples of mentoring targets

Improve political functioning

A manager is competent in running teams that provide services to people who use services but does not like the politics that are evident in inter-agency relationships. The aim of the relationship was to help the manager see that their inability to handle the tensions inherent in interagency politics meant that front line services did not benefit from their voice at powerful decision making contexts. The aim was for the mentee to provide a voice at the table where major decisions were made, contributing a salient service user focus without being disregarded for being naive.

Manage personal traits and tendencies

A manager was always overloaded with work to the extent that performance had become a concern of bosses. The aim of the mentoring relationship was to identify the manager’s own needs that were being met by agreeing to do more than was possible. These included a need to show indefatigability as a signifier for managerial resilience. I helped the individual see that they damaged their reputation by failing to deliver and that it was better to be clear about what was possible.

The aim of the mentoring relationship was to identify patterns of management behaviour and to draw the links to personal traits. Plans were put in place to enable early identification of declines into ‘default behaviours’. Plans also focused on the tools to avoid these.

On offer

Mentoring on diagnosing and correcting development needs
Frameworks for organisational analysis
Analysing and overcoming challenges in partnership working
Tools for overcoming the problems caused by personality and personal traits
Positive reflections from my perspective as a black manager in a senior position