What is the Role of Mentorship in Career Growth? The word mentorship has become ubiquitous in today’s colloquial parlance. We encounter the word in academics, sports, entrepreneurship, business, government and, not surprisingly, in the corporate world as well. Unfortunately, the extensive usage of the term has caused us to overlook its essence and undermine the value and the ethos that structured and balanced mentorship can provide to the mentee.
What is ‘Good’ Mentorship?
While the barometer for measuring the effectiveness of a mentor-mentee relationship is subjective, there are certain hygiene factors that can contribute towards the efficacy of a mentorship programme.
Successful mentoring relationships are defined by rules of engagement the periodicity of meetings, the long-term goal of the mentee and milestones to be achieved during the course of mentorship. Communication plays a very critical role in the achievement of the objectives set by the mentee the mentee must take the initiative to list out his academic and career objectives, while the mentor should provide objective and unbiased guidance and assessment to the mentee. It also helps to include the mentee’s parents during discussions, especially if the mentee is a student of an impressionable age.
A mentor must encourage his mentee to become independent, ambitious and develop critical thinking capabilities. This could entail the mentee encountering bumps as he pursues his academic or career journey the mentor may do well not to intervene, but only as a last resort.
Mentorship is also not about replicating a manual – it is not a ‘one size fits all’ discourse. To cater to mentees with different personality traits and at varying stages of academic or professional development, the mentor must improvise and innovate to ensure the growth and success of a mentor-mentee association.
Why is Mentorship important?
The outcome of multiple research efforts worldwide have extolled the virtues of mentorship for the recipient-attitudinal, motivational, behavioural, health-related and in furthering the mentee’s career.
A mentor within an organisation can help a new employee acquire skills distinct to his workplace, or align the mentee’s personal and professional goals with those of the organisation. This type of collaboration can help the mentee efficiently progress within the organisation, while simultaneously providing him with a sense of engagement, resulting in an increase in employee satisfaction-consequently, leading to better retention rates for the organisation.
In academics, with the plethora of career options, often, paradoxically, confusing students and their guardians, the importance of a guide and a confidant cannot be emphasised enough. A mentor can help a student structure his thoughts, understand his core competencies and help chart a roadmap of academic and career progression. The mentor can touch upon his personal experiences of learning from failures to guide his apprentice, thereby enabling the latter to circumnavigate potential bottlenecks to him realising his goal. Most importantly, the mentor can ensure that the student remains grounded and focussed on his objective and is not disillusioned by setbacks or distracted by peer or social pressures.
The dynamic and exciting world of entrepreneurship thrives on mentorship. Startup incubation programmes, investments by Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists or Private Equity investors and Networking Events are aimed at connecting entrepreneurs to successful individuals and professionals, apart from helping them raise funds for their venture. Renowned personalities like Ratan Tata, Sachin and Binny Bansal (co-founders of Flipkart) and Nandan Nilekani (co-founder of Infosys) have been exemplary mentors (and investors) in a host of start-ups, providing them with a wealth of wisdom and experience that goes beyond text-book knowledge.
What are the different types of Mentoring?
Broadly classified, mentorship may be categorised into Face-to-Face Mentoring or Distance Mentoring (also called Virtual Mentoring or E-Mentoring).
As the term suggests, a Face-to-Face Mentoring is one where the mentor schedules periodic mentoring sessions with the mentee (and his parents, should the need arise). Such a process of mentorship provides an environment where meaningful connections can be fostered. The physical interface enables the relationship between the two parties to be built on trust and prevents misunderstandings arising out of non-verbal communication. The mentee also benefits by way of greater engagement and undistracted attention from his mentor.
With globalisation and increased connectivity, Distance Mentoring has helped further mentorship to geographies where the availability of mentors or a structured mentorship programme is scarce or under-developed. Distance Mentoring leverages digital and telephonic technologies to enable students and professionals connect to talented and successful individuals who may be situated on the other side of the world. A plethora of online platforms, as well as virtual incubation programmes for startups, lend credence to the growing popularity and convenience of Distance Mentoring.
What should Mentorship not be?
Mentorship cannot be a passive endeavour as it requires time, effort and commitment from both the mentor and the mentee. One must also remember that mentorship is a two-way process, with equal participation and involvement of the advisor and the benefactor. A hierarchical setup to the process of mentorship runs the risk of it leading to failure and bad-blood-needless to say, such a structure must be avoided.
It is important for a mentor to tread the fine line of providing objective feedback to his mentee and being emotionally invested in the mentee’s progress. The mentor-mentee relationship often suffers if the mentor attempts to mould the mentee to mirror him completely – personally, professionally and behaviourally. The mentor should also be amenable to receiving critical feedback from his apprentice, and be malleable to alter the mentorship framework or course-correct, when necessary.
Mentorship should also not be a scenario where the mentor is the protagonist-the mentor’s role is constricted to guiding his mentee and complementing the mentee’s strengths and competencies. A fair degree of independence and providing the mentee with room for improvisation is essential for a healthy mentor-mentee relationship to flourish.
Mentorship in Northeast India
Digital technology, economic development, empowerment of marginalised individuals and greater awareness amongst parents, teachers, students and professionals have contributed to the culture of mentorship taking roots in Guwahati and other major cities in Northeast India.
Formal and informal enterprises have established themselves with the aim of providing quality assessment and guidance to mentorship seekers. Schools, mandated by government guidelines, now prioritise quality pedagogy and invest time and resources to train teachers and counsellors in understanding student psyche and providing them with academic and emotional counselling. Incubation programmes provided by Assam Startup-The Nest, IIT Guwahati and IIM Shillong, among others, provide Physical and Virtual Mentoring to entrepreneurs from the region.
It is expected that with greater involvement of public and private stakeholders and a further appreciation of the merits of structured mentorship programmes will encourage more individuals to partake of the benefits of a healthy, mutually conducive mentor-mentee engagement. It goes without saying that the acceleration and deeper geographic penetration of mentorship will be critical to the development of human capital, innovation and social and economic progress of the region.