Who Mentors the Mentors?

It’s a question often asked during a launch, workshop, mid-point review or final event of a mentoring program and it’s a valid point: who mentors the mentor?

We expect mentors to facilitate conversations, manage the relationship and solve any problems that arise. It’s pretty ironic that we don’t give them mentoring for their role, don’t you think?

Without ongoing support, there’s always the risk that:

• People get busy and mentoring slips as a priority;
• As the fanfare of the initial training fades, enthusiasm wanes and relationships fizzle out;
• The strategic value and personal benefits of mentoring may be forgotten;
• They don’t realise the value they themselves get from being a mentor;
• They wonder if they are doing a good job and their confidence is undermined;
• Some that think they’re doing OK but they don’t know how to mentor for better outcomes;
• Others continue unchecked, unproductive styles of mentoring that destroy relationships;
• They feel isolated when they have problems and it becomes easier to let mentoring slide;
• Without feedback and support, they don’t have a way of improving their skills;
• Mentors feel undervalued and even resent their service to others because no one mentors them.

With more and more organizations expecting mentoring to achieve strategic outcomes, it’s never been more important to make sure you get it right. If you train mentors and those they mentor, you are off to a good start. If you give mentors the opportunity to network with each other, keep learning and be mentored you are ahead of the game.

What can you do?

Provide a forum for mentors to ask questions, interact with their peers and get feedback;
Continue their education and development as mentors by giving them tips, tools and techniques; and
Ensure that mentors experience expert mentoring for themselves.

Without ongoing support there is a real risk that a mentoring program will fail to produce. Mentor your mentors, develop their capabilities, keep them engaged and your program will thrive because that’s how mentoring works.