Recently I was asked if sponsorship was the new mentoring. My answer is an emphatic NO!

In my experience mentorship and sponsorship are very distinct. And I believe the most powerful mentoring includes sponsorship. While sponsorship can be a very successful stand alone strategy, it cannot and will never replace mentoring.

Effective mentoring is an interactive, dynamic and empowering relationship that improves the thinking of both partners. This allows them to grow, develop and advance together. They become fully accountable for the actions they take and learn from their mistakes, their triumphs and everything in-between. In successful partnerships both people understand their roles, trust each other, are willing to listen and try new things.

An effective mentor always remembers who you are when the going gets tough. They ask the hard questions that make you think more deeply and clearly. They cheer the loudest when you experience a breakthrough, take a step that seems impossible, or reach a goal so challenging there could be no certainty of accomplishment until it was achieved. Mentoring is all about helping you develop the skills and the kind of strategic thinking that experience teaches.

Sponsorship is all about opening doors to new opportunities. It is one of the greatest gifts a mentor can give. Mentors who sponsor their mentees share access to their own network, to people at different levels in the organization and to resources. Sponsorship when done well can lead to bigger assignments, honors and recognition, and at times, promotions. It lets your mentee know they are growing and learning, and just as importantly that you recognize their progress and value.

You may be more familiar with sponsorship as an on-boarding strategy for new hires. This is a very successful way of acculturating people into the organization so they become productive more quickly. Successful sponsorship relationships can also blossom to become life-long professional friendships. Casey Powell, former President and CEO Sequent, shared with me about how effective sponsorship for on-boarding new hires can be. It helped build a workforce of team players who genuinely cared about each other and the organization. Though Sequent was acquired by IBM in 1999, more than 1500 former Sequent employees have maintained professional relationships that were nurtured by their sponsorship program. They stay in touch via a LinkedIn Group.

When we provide staff training in the essential skills you need to succeed as an effective mentor and leader, we include sponsorship strategies and how to appropriately share your network.

If you’ve identified a need for strengthened leadership development programs for your employees or members, you could be considering a formal mentoring program. You know you have people who want mentors and you  have a group of more experienced people interested in being mentors. But, you also know being a mentor is not for everyone. Though your mentor candidates are willing – are they ready? Just because a person knows how to do something well and has years of experience doing it, doesn’t mean they have the skills to teach what they know.

For many people a mentoring session can become a game of Monkey See/Monkey Do: “This is the way I do this , it has always worked for me,  and this is how you should do it from now on.”

For others it becomes a trip down memory lane:  “Why, when I started in this industry, the computers still had green diode screens…”

Still others take on a Dear Abbey quality: “Now that I understand your problem, here is what you ought to do…”

These approaches do work in some instances, but they don’t  foster a culture of learning and open communication.  They don’t lead to the majority of people becoming proficient in breakthrough thinking and, ultimately causing increased productivity.  Rather, they can alienate the protégé/mentee, take too long to get to the point, and fail to produce lasting results.

What we have found to be useful in our programs, is to teach prospective mentors how to become keen observers, enhance their listening and emotional intelligence skills and for them to practice asking reflective questions that allow their protégés to dance with them toward insight and breakthrough.  These conversations can be so effective, that complex issues can be dealt with in just five to 15 minutes. Once learned in the context of the mentoring program, these skills will be useful for managers to use with all of their direct reports. Now that’s productive mentoring that leads a high return on investment.

The United States Senate recently passed a resolution designating January 2010 as National Mentoring Month (http://www.nationalmentoringmonth.org/news_events/pressreleases/senateresolution2010/). It was intended to cast a spotlight on the need for youth mentors throughout the United States. Though Odyssey Mentoring is dedicated to professional mentoring, our roots are in youth mentoring.

Throughout the 1990′s I was a founder, volunteer and later executive director for the New Mexico Youth at Risk Foundation. My passion was bringing quality mentoring programs to at-risk middle school students.  Our programs allowed hundreds of young people to transform their lives with the guidance and commitment of amazing adults who volunteered their time. My job included enrolling the adults, youth and other volunteers, providing the mentor training for the adults and leading the weekly workshops for them. I also served as a mentor in several of our programs.  These programs were my training ground.

The most important thing I learned about mentoring is that it is not a “monkey see, monkey do” process. It is a powerful relationship between two people who are both committed to the mentee’s goals for his or her life. The best mentors learn how to ask questions that make their protege think about what they are doing or facing in new ways that support positive choices and creative problem-solving.

One of my mentee’s, Claudia, was an 7th grader with failing grades. She was bright, energetic and from a family that was in shambles. Her parents fought with each other constantly and she fought bitterly with her older sister just as frequently. They lived in a Habitat for Humanity house, but didn’t have the resources to maintain it. The middle school she attended was a recruiting ground for the local gangs. And Claudia was a chatterbox who could not sit still or be quiet in class. Her sister had been in our program the previous year.

After I made my presentation to 300 students, 25 applied for our mentoring program, Claudia included. She was one of the most courageous young people I have ever met. She was willing to work on her problems with the course leader, in front of everyone. Her sister was volunteering that day and when the seriousness of their sibling rivalry came to light, he brought them both to the front of the room. They literally transformed before our eyes. Later, after their mother’s suicide attempt, they were able to rely on each other and survive the trauma together.

But her grades continued to flounder. One day we were working on what goals she could have for the rest of the program and she said she wanted to make B’s instead of D’s and F’s. When I asked her what she thought it would take, she offered that perhaps her teachers might allow her to make up all of the failing work since the beginning of the year. It was December. When I asked her what would have to happen for her teachers to allow that, she asked if I would meet with them. For a moment I thought about doing that and then a light went off and I said, “What do you think would happen if you asked them?”

It was quite a conversation. She was unsure and afraid. Ultimately she agreed to meet with her teachers by herself, apologize for her behavior in class and for not completing her assignments. Her teachers were amazing. They agreed, but only if she would sign a contract that said this was her last chance. If she did not complete the work, she could never again expect her teachers to make an allowance or accommodation for her. She signed it. Then I took on a project to raise the most money I had ever raised for the foundation and we supported each other.

Claudia completed every assignment, the do-overs and her current work on time and on her own. She never had another behavioral referral. She raised her GPA to a 3.2. She went out for the basketball team and performed in the school talent show. And I met my fund-raising target. We  stretched each other, we laughed a lot and cried some. There were days when neither one of us knew what our next step should be. We struggled, we made mistakes, and we succeeded. It was worth every minute of it.

In a professional setting, the issues that a mentee/protege address may be very different than those of an at-risk youth. But the principles are the same and the transformation is the same. The only difference is the starting point.

The Original Mentor

Have you ever wondered where the word “mentor” comes from?

In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, left home to join the Trojan War. He left his son, Telemachus, with his trusted friend Mentor. For 20 years Odysseus’ military campaign and protracted journey home kept him away from his son, beloved wife, and country. Then in The Odyssey, the king returns and finds his son a grown and mature man he can be proud to call his son and the next king. Mentor’s wise and careful tutelage made that possible.

Screeeeech!!! Stop the presses! Here’s the part of the story that rarely gets retold.

It turns out, writes Homer, that Mentor was not a very good guide at all. He was so deficient, that Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who loved Odysseus, his family and kingdom, was moved to intercede. She went to her father, Zeus, received permission to inhabit Mentor’s body, and guide Telemachus herself.

And THAT is why Homer’s Mentor has become synonymous with teaching, guiding, and coaching. What we learn from this parable is that mentoring does not come naturally, just because someone knows how to do something. We also learn that for a mentoring program to be successful buy-in from upper management (Zeus…it doesn’t get much higher) is essential.

A mentor is a person who serves as a role model for leadership, personal growth and professional development. An effective mentor works with his or her protégé to develop and nurture new ways of thinking and acting that lead to breakthrough performance.

Anyone who wants to can become a great mentor.

At Odyssey Mentoring, we lead our clients on a journey where mentors and protégés are partners. Each dedicated to giving and getting the most out of their mentoring program. Each committed to making it work and becoming the person they are meant to be. No divine intervention needed, just good solid program design and training to set a solid foundation.

We help mentoring partners develop the skills they need to nurture breakthrough thinking and productivity. These skills include understanding how people think, learning to ask reflective questions, becoming a keen observer of patterns, and learning to share your network.

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Developing Leaders With Professional Mentoring

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without
brightening our own.”– Ben Sweetland

More than ever before organizations need to develop future leaders, managers and workers who can adapt to constant changes in the marketplace, competitive and environmental threats, and rapid advances in technology. Overloaded managers and flattened organizations mean there is no career ladder for young people to climb. An effective mentoring program provides the experience that climbing that ladder used to provide.

Mentoring is one of the most effective ways to ensure that once you’ve hired the best and the brightest, you retain them long past the training period. Mentoring enhances loyalty by placing high potential employees on the fast track with the extraordinary benefit of senior level guidance. Solid training ensures your mentoring program’s participants will be able to make the most of the relationship producing the highest possible level of results.

Professional associations that offer mentoring programs are providing a member benefit that sets them apart. Regardless of where members are employed, they can take advantage of this opportunity to grow and develop within their profession. Their mentors will be leaders in their respective fields, people they might never get to work with under any other circumstances.

“…we must become more capable of handling change than ever before if we are to survive and thrive in the twenty-first century.”– Alvin Toffler

Mentoring programs deliver three proven outcomes:

1. Research has shown that training improves productivity by an average of 22.3%. Training combined with effective professional mentoring improves productivity by 88% or more.

2. Protégés form stronger bonds with you and your company. That means you will be able to count on them during tough times.

3. Costly employee turnover will be reduced because employees will themselves as and integral part of the organization’s future. They will feel appreciated while they enhance their skills, develop their ability to step into senior roles and responsibilities and increase their confidence and sense of satisfaction with their job or career.

Unfortunately, nationwide, more than 90 percent of professional mentorship program participants when asked rated their programs to be ineffective. The primary reasons are a lack of training for mentors and a lack of structure for the overall program. Just because a person knows how to do something, doesn’t mean they know how to pass that knowledge along. In the most effective mentoring programs, mentors learn how to develop high-level thinking skills in another, how to overcome generational and cultural differences and how to effectively share their network with their protégé.