Mentoring - The way to freedom

Over the years I have found myself often burdened with so many tasks that I couldn't do anything effectively. How did I get in this predicament? In a large part, this was due to my failure to mentor my staff.

A simple definition of mentoring is “One who guides without leading, teaches by example, and is willing to let the mentored one experience the bumps needed for learning and growth to take a place".

What qualities make up a mentor?

• The mentoring relationship is permissive not authoritarian. Mentors need to be good communicators and spend as much time listening as guiding.

• A good mentor can apply theory into practice.

• The mentor protects the mentee, and lets them fail or struggle. A world class athlete reaches there goal by overcoming failure, if we aren't allowed to struggle we don't grow.

• The mentee perceives the world in a new light. The mentor exposes the mentee to the decision process, and helps them see the bigger picture.

Benefits for Mentors

• This process keeps your thinking fresh, you are exposed to new ideas, and you have a finger on the pulse of employee perceptions.

• You develop new leaders who can work on your behalf, and carryout a shared vision.

• You hone your leadership skills, and receive personal satisfaction.

Benefits for Mentees

• Exposure to varying management styles.

• A greater understanding of the corporate vision.

• Access to good advice.

• Growth beyond your comfort zone.

Benefits for Organizations

• A unified vision throughout the management chain.

• Continuity in leadership, resources are developed within and retention is improved.

• Continuity of corporate values.

• A trusting culture is created, increasing effectiveness while motivating staff.

Downtime can mean life or death!

When I was in grade school I read a book about Ernest Shackleton the Antartic explorer. I was fascinated by his story of survival under the most brutal of conditions. Over the years when ever I saw something concerning Shackleton and the race to the south pole it caught my attention immediately.

Shackleton's expedition was a failure, they didn't reach there goal, and nearly lost there lives. It was only through courage and shear determination that they managed to survive. When you study the Shackleton expedition you find that the crew was ill prepared, there ship the Endurance wasn't well suited for the ice and eventually was crushed and sank. The Endurance crew being stranded, was forced to sail to South Georgia Island, hundreds of miles away in open life boats. Shackleton was also probably overly optimistic, and aggressive in his plan, taking on more risk than was necessary.

Often times I think IT projects are like Shackleton's expedition, they fall short of the goal, and a massive heroic effort is required to survive. Many times I have seen a change go into production that was said to be "transparent, no one will notice", twenty four hours later, sleepy eyed technicians finally get things back to normal. The technicians are applauded for there superhuman effort, and no lessons are learned.

The best IT organizations aren't always perceived as doing much, since they don't suffer these catastrophic failures. IT failures don't have the same life and death consequences as an Antartic expedition at the turn of the 20th century, but they can mean life or death to the business.

For a life and death survival give me Shackleton. For IT survival give me good planning and careful execution.