Built Environment Professions - Part 3 - Mentoring - A Professional Necessity

New members of staff require time and if a mentor does not allocate sufficient time to train and supervise them then the consequences are likely to result in a demotivated member of staff who is not developing and likely to make mistakes. If this is the case an employer should question their selection of mentor or ask themselves if they have made provision to fulfill the role effectively with the mentor’s workload.

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Any successful business will undoubtedly have staff development as one of their core business objectives and understand the importance of the continued professional development of their employees.  Although training and development should occur at all levels of a business, a key part of the process involves training of new and junior members of staff when they are embarking on their new profession/role for the first time.  These are the type of people who will be extremely ‘green’ and have maybe decided on a career change or just left education and think they are now ready to enter the stresses and strains of the professional world.  If we take a second to think back a few years (in some cases, like myself, more than a few years) to the time when this was us, you may remember feeling lost, often alone and generally overwhelmed at times. 

If your experience was anything like mine, you were thrown in at the deep end and allowed to sink or swim and basically learn by your mistakes.  Unfortunately, times have moved on and the litigious nature of the professional world, no longer affords us this luxury.  Nowadays organisations appear to be much more inclined to take the training of their newer employees much more seriously and often attach individuals to mentors.  Mentoring is defined by Eric Parsloe, The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring, as: "Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be’. The role of a mentor is therefore a significant one, usually allocated to an extremely busy individual who will be expected to work closely and oversee the activities of a new member of staff for a defined period of time.

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For mentoring to be effective it requires time and commitment from the mentor. However time is often a commodity in short supply and if the mentor is not aware or does not take account of the time needed to adequately fulfill their role then the results can be disastrous. Employers need to select mentors very carefully and try to ensure they are appropriately trained, they know what is expected of them and importantly the extra time needed to fulfill the role is taken into account in the mentor’s workload.  If an employer does not take account of these things when selecting a mentor then a number of things will happen.  Firstly, the allocated mentor will immediately feel that the employer is allocating them an additional responsibility with no consideration for their current workload.  Secondly, the new member of staff may be seen as a hindrance (which is actually true in the early days!). Finally the new member of staff, will pick up that they are unwanted, which will make them feel disillusioned and unhappy. This is unfair on the mentor and the employee and creates a situation where nobody achieves what they want.

A good mentor however is invaluable and will realise that every minute that they spend with a new member of staff will be repaid tenfold.  Having acted as a mentor on many occasions I soon realised that the first few weeks required some intensive supervision, which meant that I needed to put certain things on hold so that I could make enough time to allow this to happen.  In these first few weeks I would set a weekly timetable, which would also include time slots where I had arranged for members of staff in other parts of the organization to facilitate certain activities.  For example, I would allocate a day with administrators, so that an appreciation of filing, photocopying, incoming and outgoing post and other policies and procedures could be attained.  All of these are fundamentally important activities within the business.  I also arranged for time to be spent in other departments, so that an appreciation of the wider business activities was also attained.  If you do take the time in the early weeks to spend time to train and supervise appropriately, then you will find that your new colleague becomes an asset who you can allocate ‘real work’ too, which will help to develop them and ease the burden on you.  The problem with a lot of people, however is that they focus on the here and now and are too short sighted to see this!

It is also very important to make new people feel welcome and at ease in their new role.  Always remember that one day you had been in this position and that no matter how busy you are politeness and courtesy costs nothing.  As stressful as a work environment may be, there is absolutely no excuse for shouting or being rude to your colleagues.  I say this because in the past I have seen a number of members of staff almost reduced to tears as a result of being inappropriately spoken to by more senior members of staff.  This is totally unacceptable and in most cases was due to the fact that the member of staff had not been given adequate support and supervision from their mentor, which had resulted in a number of mistakes/issues occurring. New members of staff require time and if a mentor does not allocate sufficient time to train and supervise them then the consequences are likely to result in a demotivated member of staff who is not developing and likely to make mistakes. If this is the case an employer should question their selection of mentor or ask themselves if they have made provision to fulfill the role effectively with the mentor’s workload.

If you are currently acting as a mentor, I refer to the definition stated earlier and ask you to consider whether you are encouraging and supporting your colleague to help them manage their own learning in order to help them to develop skills to maximise their potential. Or, do you see them as a burden that has been thrust upon you, where you have no time to help them.  If it is the latter, then I suggest that you speak to your employer and see if they can find someone more suitable, as this is not fair on the person you are mentoring.

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