Using Mentors to Close Leadership Gaps
By: Lynn Miller-Learning, Content Marketing Writer
Tags: Leadership, Mentorship, Mentoring

Using Mentors to Close Leadership Gaps

Mentors serve a different purpose from leaders. People who mentor aspiring leaders often guide mentees to discover new unknown strengths.

Research shows mentors benefit from mentoring as much as mentees. Even though 76% of working professionals believe a mentor is important to growth, more than 54% do not have such a relationship.

What do you learn when working with a mentor? In many cases, there are many untold stories and experiences no leadership program offers.

Global leaders often share lessons learned from leadership experiences. There are other lessons they don’t share that result from mentor or mentee experience. This is what McKinsey refers to as intentional learning.

“Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why Great Leaders Benefit from Being Both Mentors and Mentees

Studies show, people with mentors perform better, advance in their careers faster, and even experience more work-life satisfaction. Being a mentor requires slightly different abilities from some leaders, yet leaders who want to guide and contribute to the growth of aspiring leaders, make great mentors.

I recently interviewed Greg Wade, who shared stories from over 10 years of mentoring experience. Early in our conversation I asked Greg, “What makes a great mentor? He said,

“Mentors want mentees to tap into something bigger for themselves — an opportunity to be a great leader.”

Next, I asked Greg to share details about his first experience as a mentee at AT&T.

“I had the good fortune of engaging with an individual (at AT&T Canada) who provided me with guidance and challenged me. That experience taught me so much that when I became a Global Leader at BlackBerry, I was compelled to “pay it forward” to people who aspire to have a similar kind of experience.” — Greg Wade

Greg was fortunate to be a mentee while working as a senior manager at AT&T in Canada. At the time, Bill Catucci was brought in as the CEO in 1996. The company was losing a $1 million a day and had undergone a massive restructuring.

Catucci’s expertise working on the Malcom Baldridge Awards and process management made him uniquely qualified for this specific role. Bill balanced his commitment to process with a recognized need to establish an openness and connection with the employee base. Catucci was not a formal mentor to Greg, though his strength as a leader resulted in many teachable moments.

Greg’s Story About Being a Mentee at AT&T

Bill brought amazing leadership and communication skills to the table. On the occasions when I had the opportunity to interact with Bill, he had the ability to listen, absorb and communicate in a way that made me feel important, even as a senior manager.

The opportunity to observe Bill in action made a long-lasting impact. It was especially important to witness Bill’s ability to take action swiftly yet wisely.

Cynthia Young who I reported to at the time, was also an informal mentor and a member of the executive team. She taught me about the importance of understanding the differences between strategy and tactics. What made this experience memorable, were values she instilled around the importance of equal opportunity for women and men.

Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels

“Paying it Forward”-Becoming a Mentor to Aspiring Leaders

Fast forward to 2009 when Greg became a Global Leader at a leading technology company. This was Greg’s opportunity to use everything he learned as a mentee.

“I was given the keys to the car” , said Greg.

After assembling a strong and diverse team of leaders responsible for 200 people, Greg felt pulled to mentor aspiring leaders. For the past 10 years, Greg allocated a portion of his time to mentoring aspiring leaders from companies such as UPS, Mattel, Twitter, OpenTable and dozens of others.

The Future of Mentoring in Organizations

When Greg and I talked about the future of mentoring and leadership, he emphasized the importance of mentoring as a core competency organizations need to develop.

Here are 5 habits leaders interested in becoming a mentor should develop:

· Encourage aspiring leaders to surround themselves with individuals who possess complimentary skills.

· Exercise empathy while encouraging aspiring leaders to learn from experiences and through the listening process.

· Continuously develop a leader’s ability to challenge, to question, and then the ability to provide an opinion or perspective.

· Keep reminding leaders the importance of recognizing decisions need to be made based on an informed position with a broad base of inputs and perspectives.

· Recognize you can actually have an impact many organizations and people, and the economy, if you look at leadership through a broader lens.

How to Seek a Mentor

My interview with Greg concluded by asking him to offer advice to aspiring leaders seeking a mentor. Here are three:

1. Develop the courage to admit you don’t have all the answers.

2. Acknowledge the value of experts in particular areas who challenge and help you grow as an individual leader.

3. Seek the input and the insights and perspective of others who may be more senior or more experienced.

Considerations and Questions for Future Mentees:

At some point in your career, you reach a point in a company where you’re unclear how you fit in. This is when you should start asking yourself, “What’s my purpose? Why am I doing this?”

Here’s my challenge to you. Ask yourself, “What improvements would I like to see in my ability to lead? Where in my organization can I isolate an opportunity to apply MORE of my leadership?

Learning by doing seems like an obvious action, but it’s easier said than done. When you identify an opportunity, keep in mind, practicing and failure often go hand-in-hand. You’re bound to make mistakes.

So, make sure the opportunities you identify for practice won’t be catastrophic if you fail. This is when you should seek out a mentor.

Mentors are distinct from leaders — they may even be unsung heroes. Identify someone with enough expertise and real-world experience who wants to help you achieve your individual objectives. When you find someone, be forthright about what you want to achieve.

Find someone who will provide a safe space with no judgement. Someone who demonstrates they have humility and empathy. Someone who knows how to “connect the dots” and look out for the roadblocks and red flags.

Thank you to @Greg Wade for generously sharing your insights and stories.