Breathing the Same Air Is Not Enough

“I’ve had mentoring matches made by a third party based on mentee needs, and they have been spot on. I found I was better able to use my expertise and leverage my knowledge in a more effective manner,” said Michelle Boyea, vice president of talent acquisition in the Atlanta office of McKesson Corp., a pharmaceutical distributor and health care information technology company. Boyea has been a mentor for an external cross-company mentoring program for the past four years, and her mentees have brought insights and practical learning back to their organizations that resulted in roles with greater leadership responsibilities.

Learn to Be a Mentor/Mentee
Training is another critical element in a structured mentoring program. It is most essential at program launch, and mentees and mentors must be educated on roles and responsibilities along with facilitated discussion of the mentee’s program goals, open sharing of expectations and exercises to create connection and begin knowledge transfer. Efforts to convene partnerships for face-to-face launches are worth the investment, though some interactions may need to leverage technology for remote meetings.

An effective mentoring program launch covers the better part of a day. Program managers share key information on the program calendar, the requirements for participating and the resources available to the partners. The roles of the mentees and mentors are clearly delineated — who schedules meetings and who selects discussion topics. Mentees ideally leverage existing tools to share their goals with mentors such as individual development plans or assessment feedback. Frank discussion of partnership ground rules is essential so there is confidentiality and agreement surrounding meeting scheduling, frequency and means of communication. This conversation should be facilitated by program leaders. Efforts also should be made to broker the connection between mentee and mentor via communication exercises or games to share insights on backgrounds. Partners will understand why they’ve been matched once they share information about themselves and have shared experiences.�