Mentoring Helps Believing in Self
Mentoring: Investing in Young People, Investing in the Future.
[Mentoring is a powerful tool that works on a number of levels that not only help the mentee, but the mentor as well. The mentors gain from the personal satisfaction of giving back, but they also gain by being exposed to new ideas and new perspectives from members of the younger generation. The younger generation tends to be more tech savvy and can help upper-level management leverage new tools and recognize new opportunities. Some corporations have implemented what they’ve called reverse mentoring, but even without the official title this can and should happen even in classical mentoring situations. It reinforces the relationship and keeps it more informal, while boosting the mentee’s confidence.]
While tremendous progress has been made, a significant mentoring gap still exists for young people.
Students coming from families and communities enduring economic hardship are less likely to grow up with adult mentors outside their family.
Mentoring helps young people succeed, especially those youth at-risk of becoming disconnected from culture and the community. Through consistent guidance, support and encouragement, mentors help young people set goals and achieve them. When done well, the stability and security of a mentoring relationship can be the very thing a young person needs most. It’s a gateway to the kind of skill development, goal setting, and belief in one’s self that leads to a fulfilling future.
Mentoring is not a new concept; it has its roots in the early Islamic periods as well as in the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). Throughout the centuries, mentoring provided guidance and counsel to younger persons, ensuring steady but stable transition to adulthood. Mentoring can influence youth to improve their attitudes and behaviours and help them to make something meaningful of their lives. It is a noble role of igniting the dreams of the youngsters and helping them to achieve their goals.
Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become a responsible person. Mentorship is a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person (the mentor) helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person (the mentee). However, true mentoring is more than answering occasional questions or providing ad hoc help. It is about an ongoing relationship of learning, dialogue and challenge. A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee to find the right direction and who can help him/her to develop solutions to career issue. The relationship between the mentor and mentee is based on trust and respect. At its most basic level, mentoring assures a young person that there is someone who cares about him/her.
In today's world, there is a tendency to abandon the youth at critical times when they badly need support, with the excuse that they must learn to become independent. While it is a good idea to make the youth become self-reliant and be able to manage their difficulties on their own, one must be cautious that they do not tread a path that is disconnected with the public reality and which binds them into a culture of "everyone for oneself". Side by side with the notion of self-reliance and independence, the youth need the help and guidance of elders throughout their lives.
Though parents are better placed to provide mentorship, the children often have a tendency to look for a third party advice. Parents are generally emotional, subjective and judgemental and very often insistent upon imposing their own wishes on their children. In most cases the parents do not have the overall knowledge to guide on career pathways or simply do not have a proper understanding of the developmental issues that their children are experiencing. The mentoring process should be down-to-earth with realistic expectations.
Some young persons may be lucky to have one or multiple informal mentors who provide them with support, guidance, encouragement and friendship at pivotal moments in their life. These informal mentors could be the neighbours next door who keep a close watch on them after school hours when their parents are not at home and offer them a listening ear. They could also be the grandparents, uncles or inspiring teachers who take special interest in them. But many of the youth may not have the privilege of having caring advocates who can help them develop their competence and character.
It is, therefore, important to design formal mentorship programmes to address the needs of the youth. Such programmes should enlist the support of positive role models who can serve as mentors on a regular and structured basis. These mentors can include professionals, experienced adults and even post-secondary students. These programmes must be volunteer-driven and community-based.
The socio-cultural associations, charitable institutions and NGOs can be instrumental in empowering the youth through their networking support and professional advice and awareness campaigns. Mentoring programmes can help produce role models who can project the image of contemporary Muslim youth who command respect and qualify for leadership positions. Our society today has a lack of "positive" role models and there is a dire need for effective initiatives to provide proper mentoring to guide our young professionals and youth in general in their careers and ensure a more prosperous future for our people. Community-based mentoring programmes must produce caring adults who can become role model volunteers, capable of inspiring young persons achieve academic excellence, set ambitious goals for their future and ultimately enable them to become contributing citizens.
Mentoring should not be confused with coaching or tuition-giving. Mentoring is "relational", while coaching is "functional". Coaching is limited to a specific subject matter and ends as soon as the course or training is over. Mentoring is more than the role of an adviser and it goes beyond. A mentor is a trusted adult friend with a long-term and consistent commitment to provide guidance and support to a young person.
An effective mentorship programme today can be a powerful force for positive change in the future. With the support of modern technology tools, it is possible to use Internet and peer-to-peer media communication to enhance the effectiveness of the mentorship programmes. Concrete youth mentoring programmes must encourage youngsters to become family-oriented and take active part in community upliftment. Such programmes must spare them from being carried away by the lifestyle of film-stars and glamorous celebrities'.
Mentoring sessions should involve structured activities and consistent monitoring. Social and academic activities, such as going to seminars, organizing career events, hosting lunch-cum-debates and teaching in the real life environment require organizational back-up and funding. It is not easy to find funding to support activities that are voluntary-oriented. There are several ways to support a mentorship programme : either by volunteering to become a mentor, or by becoming a partner/supporter of the programme or by being a host of the programme.
Mentoring programmes should screen volunteers thoroughly, both in terms of safety and suitability for mentoring. The programmes should check that the mentor does not have a doubtful or criminal record. Volunteers should receive a training before they begin mentoring. A mentor should be experienced, have a good character and moral standing, share similar goals of the mentee, and must be readily available for regular interaction with his/her mentee. He/she must be open-minded, caring, positive and honest.
Mentoring is an investment in the future. At the outset, there may not be immediate tangible benefits to the mentors for all the efforts exerted. But his sustained actions will pay the dividends in future by creating a better and peaceful society where his children and loved ones will be surrounded by good and responsible citizens. The mentors can build a legacy that can last by passing on their experiences, wisdom, talent and hard-earned life lessons to the next generation.
Does mentoring really live up to the hype? Mentoring has been formalized into programs, policies and initiatives; repackaged as one of many silver bullets. While there are no silver bullets, mentoring really is crucial for individuals and organizations. It’s been put into place to deal with a multitude of issues, but it’s not new, it’s just been lost for a while. Mentoring was something that used to be done informally. Upper management or an older, more experienced employee would take a young and promising new hire under his/her wing. These mentors were paying it forward, showing the next generation the ropes and advocating for their success.
In recent times this informal process has fallen by the way side for a number of reasons such as busier schedules, higher turnover and people becoming more isolated. Also, without organizationally implemented mentoring programs not everyone was mentored, which meant not every employee was realizing their full potential and talent was slipping through the cracks. While I don’t believe that a formal mentoring plan needs to be put into place in every situation, a mentoring culture can be cultivated and often a formal program is a great way to get things started.
With the younger generation becoming the dominant force in the workplace by 2020, mentoring is more important now than ever before. There’s a talent shortage coming as the older generation leaves the workforce taking their years of experience with them. On the other hand, the younger generation is coming of age in what’s becoming a ‘gig economy’ with high turnover rates. This means they’re not afraid to leave a company for greener pastures.
What is Mentoring?
The benefits are clear, but what is mentoring? The mentor plays a variety of different roles that help the mentee develop personally and professionally, while also being critical for the health of the organization.
Mentoring speaks directly to the two main issues of the looming talent shortage:
1. It’s a means to download knowledge and perspective that has been gained over a successful career and
2. It keeps the younger generation around and engaged because they are hungry for that knowledge and development opportunity.
In addition, when a company invests in its employees it not only develops the talent pool, but it also makes the employees more likely to engage, making them more productive and efficient. Mentoring also helps upper management identify rising stars that can be groomed from an early age to be the future leaders of the company.
Mentoring Roles
Relational – Mentoring is first and foremost a relationship built on a deep level of trust. Your boss or immediate supervisor may not be the most suitable mentor because the relationship would either hinder work or the mentoring. The mentoring relationship is far closer to a personal relationship than a professional one, where the trust built allows the mentors to challenge and critique their mentees in ways that help them grow. This is a relationship where mentors get to pay it forward and give back.
Coach – A mentor isn’t a coach, but he or she does need to wear that hat at times. Coaches deal with technical skills and while this isn’t their main concern, a mentor can help. Coaching can be especially helpful for mentees from the younger generation who are new to the field and their mentors can help them learn how to channel their academic knowledge into practical results.
Bridge – As the old saying goes, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” and especially in the business world that’s true. Networking is incredibly important for gaining clients and promotions. Mentors can be excellent bridges that give their mentees access to networks that would normally be beyond their reach. This can fast track their mentees’ careers by highlighting their talent to others in the field.
Adviser/Counselor – Mentors, along with advising on some of the technical aspects of the job, should also advise on some of the more abstract and personal aspects of their mentee’s career. This can be as simple as helping the mentee adjust to the culture of the company he or she is working in or as complex as career planning. Also, the support of a counselor in stressful and difficult times cannot be underestimated. The younger generation is graduating college into a very uncertain world and facing the very real and stressful difficulties of the workplace for the first time. Having someone they trust who will be honest with them and support them is invaluable for their resilience and success.
Critic – Mentors are not just a shoulder to cry on, the younger generation has plenty of those and they don’t particularly want them. People learn through constructive criticism. Interestingly the younger generation is wary of positive feedback after years of participation trophies. Often they don’t trust positive feedback until they’ve seen that the person is willing to honestly critique their work with negative feedback. The ability to give truly constructive criticism, though, comes out of trust. If a mentee trusts his or her mentor, the mentee might feel ashamed of a mistake because he or she was hoping to impress the mentor, but won’t be mad or upset. Instead, the mentee will likely apologize and thank the mentor for the advice.
Challenger – People also learn what they are capable of and grow through challenges and many of the members of the younger generation are eager for a challenge. Often their issue with work is not being challenged enough. This is also an opportunity for the mentor to help build the mentee’s confidence. The Mentor can show the mentee he or she is capable of through a challenge with something out of his or her comfort zone. When a mentor believes that an employee is capable of meeting a challenge it builds the person’s confidence, which makes the mentee more likely to succeed. This helps the mentee see his or her potential and learn what he or she is truly capable of.
Advocate – One of the most important roles that a mentor can fulfill is that of an advocate. Just like networking, a mentor has connections that the employee doesn’t, and can use those to help with advancements and opportunities that he or she might not otherwise get. That’s not to say undeserving ones, but it means when a top-level manager asks his staff who they think should take on the new client or project, a mentor can be an invaluable advocate to not only put their mentee’s name forward, but really go to bat for the individual too.
The breadth and depth of the role of mentor often leads to a very close life-long relationship. The mentor has to truly have the best interests of the mentee at heart. Mentoring is a way for the mentor to give back in a very philanthropic way. The personal dimensions of this relationship makes it difficult to institutionalize, but even without formal programs there are ways to help mentors and mentees to find each other. Much of it comes down to being intentional both as a mentor and a mentee. If you’re at a meeting or company event and you find yourself naturally looking up to a person, go start a conversation. And in the same context if you see some real potential in a young employee, introduce yourself and see if you can help the person along his or her career path.
Mentoring is a powerful tool that works on a number of levels that not only help the mentee, but the company and mentor as well. The mentors gain from the personal satisfaction of giving back, but they also gain by being exposed to new ideas and new perspectives from members of the younger generation. The younger generation tends to be more tech savvy and can help upper-level management leverage new tools and recognize new opportunities. Some companies have implemented what they’ve called reverse mentoring, but even without the official title this can and should happen even in classical mentoring situations. It reinforces the relationship and keeps it more informal, while boosting the mentee’s confidence.
This is just one more, out of a long list of the benefits of mentoring, which leaves you with the question: What are you going to do to encourage mentoring at your organization? The organization that can create a mentoring culture will be able to weather the coming storm of the looming talent shortage. That organization will be an innovative magnet for up and coming talent, who will be engaged, equipped and motivated to keep your organization at the leading edge of the industry.
The Mentoring Effect: Young People’s Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring
Mentoring: at the crossroads of education, business and community
'I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.' Muhammad Ali Clay
'Meray Allah, meri izzat ke liye yehi kafi hai
ke mein tera banda hun aur meray fakhar ke liye yehi kafi hai ke tu mera parwardigar hai..
Tu waisa he hai jaisa mein chahta houn..
bas tu mujhe waisa banade jaisa tu chahta hai'
~Imam Ali (AS)
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