Mentoring is perhaps still one of the most unknown and little used actions for the development of organizational talent. It is possible due to a lack of knowledge of it as well as its innumerable benefits. Perhaps it is also because you rely more on external resources than on internal ones or that we simply believe that the simple fact that something can be easy to apply will not give us the expected result. It seems that on many occasions, the more complex and extraordinarily expensive things are, the more effective and efficient they will be.
In this article we want to show the positive side of Mentoring for the development of organizational talent.
Without a doubt, under our experience and that of other professionals in the sector, we consider it to be one of the most powerful, efficient and effective tools for developing talent within organizations. It is a simple tool and relatively easy to apply, with great benefits for the entire organization.
Before, let us make a brief mention of its origins;
The term mentor comes from the work The Odyssey, written by the Greek poet Homer. When Ulysses prepares to go to fight the Trojan War - back then the wars lasted for many years - he realizes that he is going to leave his son Telemachus alone, his only heir. Telemachus was to be groomed to be king and to replace Ulysses, who relies on his loyal friend Mentor to be Telemachus' guardian while he is away. After the war, Ulysses was sentenced to travel uselessly for ten years in his attempt to return home. Telemachus, when he grew up, went in search of his father accompanied by Athena - goddess of war and patron of arts and industry - who assumed the role of Mentor. Finally, father and son got together and together they shot down the usurper of the throne of Ulysses, whose right belonged to Telemachus.From this story it follows that the word mentor is a synonym for counselor, friend, teacher and wise person.
In ancient Greece, it was customary for young (male) citizens to pair up with older people in the hope that each young man would learn and emulate the values of his mentor. Usually he used to be a friend of the father or a relative of the young man. The Greeks based this relationship on the foundations of the human principle of survival. Humans learn skills, culture and values directly from other people whom they respect or admire. These principles of imitation and mentoring have been key elements in the continuity of art, guilds, and commerce since ancient times.
In the current economic context, restructuring and workforce reductions have meant that in many cases the employees who remained in the companies, the so-called empowered, were forced to exercise greater self-sustainability, developing multifunctional skills to fill gaps that others left and fill new needs that a new scenario entails.
In “troubled times”, organizations often neglect all those slow processes, which require time and dedication so that the results can be appreciated in the medium-long term. “Short-placist” actions prevail, the immediate results, completely forgetting that all learning takes time and dedication so that one day it can consolidate and become a reality, a reality that we want to achieve.
Organizational talent development requires a different perspective than today, from rush and short-term results. If we want to grow from resources that we want to optimize through the development of organizational talent, we have no other option than to start leaving aside the current task of the "urgent - important / or not" to give more room to the "important - not urgent ”, which will allow us to reveal our true potential.
On the other hand, mentoring is usually a great attraction for Development and Training departments that trust it and know its great benefits, since such well-carried out programs are able to demonstrate their contribution to the business through perfectly quantifiable objectives.. Likewise, the budget for the implementation of these programs is relatively low for the organization, since in general only prior training of mentors and tutors is required, as well as accompaniment of mentors throughout the sessions they establish. with their mentees or tutors.
The benefits of mentoring do not end in the achievement of the desired objectives, in the development of the established competences, but go further, incorporating new values and new ways of interacting among our collaborators. These meetings between Mentor and Mentee quickly spread throughout the organization, impregnating a climate of collaboration, teamwork, a spirit of continuous improvement, etc… thanks to the fact that the results are often tangible in a very short period of time.
It is also necessary to remember that in this process the mentor also enhances many of his essential skills for the development of his role with the mentee such as listening, communication, results orientation, etc…
Finally, it is worth mentioning the importance of a strong commitment on the part of all those involved, both direct and indirect; Management or General Directorate, Human Resources Department, Development and Training Area, Direct Managers of Mentors and Minds, Mentors and Mentees. This, like any other intervention that any company wishes to promote, requires an environment that welcomes it and allows its staging and development, with the least resistance and the greatest acceptance.
Organizations that want to grow and achieve it are committed to learning and developing their employees, because they understand and know that the growth of their company is directly proportional to their growth.
Evolving companies foster creativity and innovation, creating scenarios that promote responsibility, trust and flexibility, because they understand that control, bureaucracy and procedures are substantially incompatible with creation.
Continuous improvement entails continuous growth and at the same time continuous learning, which can undoubtedly be acquired through Mentoring, one of the most powerful learning tools for both individuals and organizations, a training methodology that It is available to all training managers in all organizations.
