| A. Selecting and Negotiating with a Mentor What is a Mentor? The Mentor should be a person you trust, because you should
feel comfortable sharing your concerns and needs with that person. Ideally, it’s a person who demonstrates many
of the leadership skills presented in the OCPM. It’s a person in or outside of your organization who: - can help you understand the cultural environment;
- can
kick around ideas with you, work with you to identify and remove barriers;
- can advise you on where to get help developing the leadership
skills you feel you need to work on;
- knows the lay of the land and can help you gain access or exposure
to ideas and people that may help you accomplish your work; develop your skills; achieve your goals.
A mentor is not simply a technical or program consultant,
although there is certainly a place for such a person in many OCPM projects. A mentor is a person who is willing to
devote some amount of time to talking issues through with you, to help clarify your vision for your sphere of influence, and
to assist you in evaluating whether what you propose to do aligns well with agency goals and values.
In the best case, you will be able to find a mentor
within your agency. However, there are some occasions in which this will not be possible. If the culture of the agency
is such that finding a mentor within would only serve to maintain entrenched thinking or if there is no one whose leadership
traits emulate those taught in the OCPM, you should look outside of your agency. Following are some considerations for selecting a mentor, and some steps you may
want to take in establishing this kind of relationship. 1. Begin with the end in mind.
What skills would you like
to develop? Decide in which area of your professional life, as it relates to the OCPM, you would like a mentor.
For example,
· Are you looking for all-around development of a broad range of skills?
· Have you discovered a leadership competency that you want to seriously invest in, such as emotional intelligence
or innovation and risk taking?
· Do you need guidance with the culture of the organization in which you work?
· Is your OCPM project such that the person who is your mentor not only would need to possess leadership skills but
also have a great deal of technical knowledge in order to guide you? Give this some thought as you participate in the OCPM.
Whatever goal you choose, it will help you to work effectively with your mentor if you focus on a main goal.
2. Identify qualities you are seeking. Once you have your focus in mind, make a list of
those qualities, characteristics, traits, and behaviors that you need in a mentor. Use what you’re learning or
have learned in the OCPM to guide your list. If a certain person comes immediately to your mind, and there’s no question that this person would
be a good mentor, by all means skip to step 7. If not, the following actions may help you identify the person you would
like to approach. 3. Identify possible candidates. Make a list of people you think have demonstrated the qualities on your requirements
list or who have accomplished or are on their way to accomplishing goals similar to yours. Whose leadership skills do
you admire? Who within your agency is influential either among colleagues or staff in other agencies? Think about
influence that goes beyond the expected structural influence. Who would people want on their side in a tough situation?
Think within your own agency first where issues such as access to resources, cultural assessment, and establishment of collaborative
relationships may be easier. If there are no suitable candidates from within, some other places to look are:
4. Find out about
your best candidates. Select
two or three of the people that you feel would best meet your needs, and find out about them. Observe how they interact
with others. Find out what their ideas and philosophies are. You need to know about their style of personal interaction,
availability, integrity, ability to maintain confidences, judgment and discretion. Once you’ve made your selection,
think about how you would explain to him or her your reasons for asking for this kind of relationship.
5. Think
about what you bring to the table. The best mentoring relationships benefit both the mentor and the learning partner.
What can you bring to the table that will help the mentor learn better skills? This part of the offering can range
from the fact of the relationship itself, to technical skills, to a partnership in a project, or simply the good feeling from
having helped a willing student. If you’re thinking about an OCPM project that will affect his or her sphere of
influence, be sure to mention this. 6. Make an appointment.
If possible, and definitely
if you don’t know this person, meet with your candidate in person. You may want to talk to the person first to
gain an understanding of whether this could be a good mentoring match for you. Explain your goals and the need for a
mentor and why you selected the person as a candidate. This can be rather tricky. Since you will end by selecting
only one person, you need to be careful not to alienate people through this process. 7.
Make the request. In sales positions, this is
commonly known as closing the sale. After talking in person to the people you’ve selected as candidates and selecting
the person you feel is the best fit for you, ask the person you’ve selected to act as your mentor. This may seem
obvious, but in many cases it’s left as an assumption. You will need to explain to the person what you’re
expecting him or her to do and what the mentoring role generally requires. Don’t forget to offer what you can
bring to the table. This should be set up as a win-win for both parties. If you’ve explicitly talked to more than one person about this, you
will need to let the others know that you’ve asked someone else and be prepared to offer a diplomatic reason why.
Don’t forget to thank everyone for their time. Set up another meeting to finalize the details of your mentoring agreement. This will include mutual expectations,
how you will work together and respect each others time and needs, and the desired outcomes. B. Defining and clarifying expectations The OCPM mentoring relationship is a partnership, one where both parties gain.
To this end, the first step is for you, the learning partner, and your mentor to candidly discuss and define things you would
each like to gain from this relationship and what you can contribute. It’s sometimes helpful (but certainly not
necessary) to commit this to writing. (If you do put your agreement into writing, don’t make it overly burdensome;
a single page with bullets signed by both of you is more than enough. It goes without saying that the learning partner
would be responsible for doing this.) Acknowledging that each of you has needs and being open and honest about them can help make your partnership more
successful. Failing to state your expectations can result in disappointment for either or both of you.
You may want to have an agreement that covers further
issues, such as · How you will communicate
with each other?
· When and how often you will meet?
· What the boundaries are
on time investments?
· Desired outcomes from the partnership;
· Special needs or expectations
that either of you have;
· An evaluation and feedback process. C. The Mentor/Learning Partner Relationship Mentoring is often thought of as a top-down, Master-Apprentice
relationship and, indeed, this certainly can be the case. This model, however, relies heavily on the good will and spare
time (if any) of the mentor. Today more people are viewing mentoring relationships as partnerships. The
mentor may still have greater experience, skills and insight, but both parties can contribute to a successful outcome.
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