9 Reasons Why Planned Mentoring Flounders
by Linda Phillips-Jones, Ph.D.
While many planned mentoring efforts are very or at least partly successful, a greater number struggle, and far too many fail. The following nine reasons account for the majority of these negative experiences.
1. The mentoring initiatives lack sufficient structure.
Most mentoring programs fail because they're too loose. People under-plan and don't build in important processes, steps, resources, assignments, deadlines, celebrations and all the other things that go into typical successful programs. Implementers try to low-key their approach, cut corners, and "not make too big of a deal" of the initiative. Before long, people are confused, disappointed, and complaining, and what was once a great idea not only flounders but discourages participants and observers. The erroneous conclusion: "Planned mentoring just doesn't work."
2. Individuals believe that planned mentoring is easy.
Perhaps underlying the first reason, most people aren't aware of the complexity of mentoring relationships and mentoring programs. They assume that because they've mentored others with little difficulty (or were well mentored themselves), the process should be a snap for everyone. They don't realize that intentional mentoring is still greatly misunderstood, and not everyone is a "natural." Most don't know that mentoring is now a professional field with a huge body of research and tested practices. They're shocked to learn that planning, implementing, and evaluating a mentoring initiative requires dozens of steps and hundreds of person-hours per year.
3. Few resources are dedicated to the efforts.
Probably because the initiatives are thought easy to implement, organizations don't dedicate a coordinator or implementation team. The job of implementing mentoring is added on to other equally pressing responsibilities. Organizations don't budget for design work, materials, training, learning events, celebrations, and other strategic activities. As one struggling coordinator mused, "My boss said,
'You don't need a budget; just do it.'"
4. Mentors and mentees are poorly matched.
As a rule, not enough planning goes into mentor recruitment, and the resulting mentor pool is too small. Seldom do potential mentees' have a chance to choose thoughtfully among several mentor candidates. Matching committees struggle for hours and even days as they try to guess who belongs with whom based on applications that don't contain enough information and that all look alike In large organizations, the sheer numbers of applicants can make the task seem overwhelming.
5. The mentoring relationships themselves lack sufficient structure.
Just as many programs lack structure, formal relationships are often too loose. Many partnerships fizzle out after one or two meetings because the mentors and mentees don't know what to talk about or do. They haven't learned how to follow a process that includes a beginning, middle, and appropriate ending. They don't have goals, aren't aware of the latest mentoring etiquette, and don't have at hand the numerous tools and best practices they could use to keep their relationships dynamic, fun, and productive.
6. Mentors receive little or no preparation for their roles.
Most mentors assume they know how to mentor people. In fact, many are surprised and even offended when asked to acquire new mentoring knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Most mentors are extremely busy, and their lack of time often drives decisions about their preparation.
7. Mentees receive even less preparation for their roles.
Most still believe mentees can handle their roles without any preparation. Consequently, mentees, although well intended, expect the wrong things, make blunders, and waste their and their mentors' precious time. They often don't know that they're supposed to at least co-manage the relationships, and they haven't the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to do so. They still expect mentors to do the majority of the work. Most don't know how to pull effective mentoring from less-than-ideal mentors. They wrongly believe one relationship will meet all their development needs and that they need "chemistry" for their partnerships to work.
8. No one monitors ongoing mentor-mentee partnerships.
Usually organizers are so relieved that mentees and mentors are matched that they breathe a sigh of relief and go back to other duties. No one checks to be certain pairs are meeting, determines whether individuals are satisfied with their partners, stands ready to answer practical questions and suggest activities, or offers ideas for resolving conflicts while they're still small. Further, organizers don't schedule periodic activities such as learning events and celebrations to help maintain the initial excitement and momentum of the partnerships and program.
9. Little or no evaluation data are collected or incorporated.
Most formal adult-to-youth mentoring programs such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters do a good job of collecting and using evaluation data to improve themselves. In fact, they're required to do so by their funding sources. However, most adult-to-adult programs require little measurement of process, progress, or long-term impact. At best, participants are asked if they enjoyed the training and subsequent mentoring experiences. Organizers assume that if no one's complaining, things must be okay. Without good data, the same mistakes are repeated and planned mentoring struggles.
Dr. Linda Phillips-Jones is an early pioneer of mentoring and Principal Consultant of The Mentoring Group.
Developed by CCC/The Mentoring Group,
www.mentoringgroup.com, for use by Mentoring Advocates.
Item 2, March 2003
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