The benefits of informal mentorship in organizations
Mentorship is not a new phenomenon, neither is the chance high that this article will provide you with novel theories or knowledge. Anthropology is known for familiarizing the unfamiliar and defamiliarizing the familiar. The latter is what I hope to achieve with this article; by taking a step back and looking at a familiar phenomenon with a different lens. An ethnographic lens.
In this article, I explore the dynamics of mentorship; more specifically the dynamics of informal mentorship. The main difference between formal and informal mentorship is to be found in the matchmaking process. Formal mentorship programs connect a mentor with a mentee, whereas informal mentorship grows naturally out of informal contact between senior and junior members of an organization (Chao, Walz, and Gardner 1992). After looking into mentorship in general, I look at how managers can stimulate the formation of (informal) mentorship in their organizations.
The road towards becoming an anthropologist is far from clear and straightforward. It is a dusty path full of doubts; with high hills to be climbed, dark forests to be illuminated and rough rivers to be crossed. From the different ways of seeing the world to the staggering growth in personal development: becoming an anthropologist simply changes the perspective on life. It teaches the student that instead of black or white the world consists of infinite shades of grey. It shows the multiple layers of meaning and underlying structures that guide human behavior in society. And ultimately, it changes the way the student approaches life. To overcome these obstacles, anthropological training relies heavily on informal mentorship. The supervisor, coordinator, and peers all help the student navigating through their, often rough, months of fieldwork. Only by experiencing the field yourself, you can become an ethnographer.
Mentorship is important since no book can take away the feelings of doubt, vulnerability, and uncertainty. What helps is a conversation; sharing experiences and hearing that the discomfort is all ‘part of the game’.
When reminiscing about my time as a student, I vividly remember how much I enjoyed inspiring and helping other students. I felt as if the time and effort I put in, was generously compensated with the gratitude I received from my friends and fellow students. I think this feeling of gratitude is something we all inherently cherish in one way or another. During my thesis research for my MA in anthropology, I ended up in Valencia. This time, the tables turned when I met my mentors. I felt a strong sense of support as if I was welcomed to dive into an endless sea of wisdom. Not only did their experience and advice helped me to make the right decisions on a personal and professional level, they also took away the feeling of loneliness that forms when moving into a foreign country.
What is mentorship?
A mentor is a role model; someone with experience and knowledge on a specific professional area, but often also on a personal level. The relationship that forms between a mentor and mentee is built on mutual trust and respect. It is a naturally formed, long-term relationship that can be seen as a two-way-street learning process that promotes personal and professional development (Gibson 2004; Rose, Rukstalis, and Schuckit 2005). In a relationship that is built on trust and respect, it is important to set and maintain boundaries. Honesty about expectations and limits lowers the chance that the relationship develops from a blessing into a curse.
The fact that the relationship is naturally formed is important to me; in my opinion, mentorship should not be impelled upon two individuals. I believe true mentorship only works when the mentor and mentee are connected by mutual feelings of enthusiasm, interest, and willingness to learn. You probably have heard of the saying: “You’re never too old to learn”. This is also the case in mentorship. A senior colleague might have a lot of experience, whereas a freshly graduated new member of the team has learned the newest techniques from the school banks. A senior colleague can help the new team member to understand the written and unwritten company rules. The sooner a new member gets familiarized with these ‘rules’, the sooner it becomes clear whether or not the match between the company and employee has succeeded.
Mentorship in organizations
Mentorship is, as we have seen in the previous paragraph, valuable for mentor and mentee; yet there is another party that benefits; the organization. Mentorship can lower staff retention rates, which saves recruitment and training costs (LaFleur and White 2010). When senior employees feel that they are valuable assets of the company and the right balance is maintained between personal and professional life, the wider society also benefits from fewer pensioners who stay at home. The way we perceive and treat senior members is largely determined by the culture we are part of. According to Williams et al., “Eastern cultures perceive elders as more productive than Western cultures (1997:372)”. It is from the Eastern perspective that we can learn a lot. A lot of wisdom is to be found by listening to the stories and advice of more experienced people.
For mentorship to flourish, it has to be incorporated in the business culture.
Employees have to be intrinsically motivated and must feel comfortable to initiate a mentorship relationship. The atmosphere in a company can either facilitate or inhibit mentor-mentee relationships to form. The management’s task is to lower thresholds that hold back people from engaging in mentorship. Examples of thresholds can be the failure to meet someone, discomfort asking for someone to become a mentor and the limited personal contact between colleagues (Rose, Rukstalis, and Schuckit 2005). Our world has become more diverse throughout the years; the results of this diversification are also felt in business. Markets change at a speedy pace, customer profiles are more heterogeneous, and multicultural teams have become more common. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration the perspectives of the diverse (sub)groups in the workplace. Heterogeneity is a huge asset when colleagues feel comfortable to share their ideas and experiences; after all, they can empathize with new target groups and identify new markets.
To lower the thresholds and stimulate mentorship in a company, I believe it is useful to take on a bottom-up approach. We should start from the environment by creating a space where employees are encouraged to form mentor-mentee relationships. Looking at an organization with fresh eyes, through an ethnographical lens, helps to observe dynamics that can either increase or decrease the chance of healthy mentorship relations.
Every company has a unique culture. A new team member often adapts to this corporate culture without paying much attention to it. We all have some sense of what a corporate culture could be, but for the sake of being on the same line, I want to elaborate a bit further on the definition. The simplest description of corporate culture, according to Fairfield-Sonn, is: “How we do business here” (2001:36). Even though this sounds very elementary, the “how” covers many deep layers of symbols, meanings, values and beliefs that guide people’s behavior in organizations.
As anthropologists, we have a different perspective than professionals from different fields because we pay attention to these previously mentioned layers, where others tend to take them for granted.
We study people by spending time with them; by being close to them we can feel the dynamics between people and gradually learn about the way they interact with each other. In the next paragraph, I offer some tools you can use to stimulate mentorship in your organization.
How can you adjust your company for mentorship to flourish?
To put on our anthropological glasses, we need to take a step back and put on a fresh lens. This sounds easier than it is when you have been working in the organization for a while. Many small details have become so obvious that they are hard to notice. The following questions might help you to gain new insights:
What kind of company do you work in? Is it an industrial company or rather based on knowledge production?
Are the teams composed of heterogeneous members or are they rather homogeneous?
What kind of team dynamics can be seen? How much contact is there between employees? What do colleagues talk about during work?
Do employees have the feeling as if they participate in a rat race, or is the atmosphere more relaxed? Are colleagues/teams competing with each other?
Do colleagues meet up after work? Are they friends or colleagues? How do the breaks look like? What topics are discussed during the breaks?
Which informal roles do colleagues take on? Who is the mother or father figure? How do new colleagues feel in their first week?
When you have gained a rigorous perspective on the type of company, the kinds of people working there and the dynamics between the people, you can start looking for clues that indicate the current state of affairs. Are people happy with the environment and atmosphere? What are the tensions that arise between colleagues? How is the relationship between senior and junior members? Answering these questions is the next step in the process of creating a safe space where mentorship is stimulated. It is important is to stay close to the employees and truly listen to the way they experience working in the company. They have to feel safe to share their concerns to improve the current situation. The next step is to transform this data into actions, which could be done in many different ways. Because I encourage informal mentorship, I cannot offer you a pre-designed program that will fit every company. Every company is unique, and what might work for one is unsuccessful for the next. It, therefore, is important to spend time on the work floor and feel the dynamics to tailor a framework that is perfect for the organization/team.
Relationships take time; make sure there is enough space in the schedules for mentoring relationships to form.
Investing a bit of extra time to care for the employees might have great positive effects on their productivity.
If you want to read more on the topic of mentorship, consider the following literature:
Fairfield-Sonn, J W, and L K Williams 2001 Corporate Culture and the Quality Organization. Quorum Books. https://books.google.be/books?id=OlwuLXFIQf4C.
LaFleur, Ann K., and Bonnie J. White 2010 Appreciating Mentorship: The Benefits of Being a Mentor. Professional Case Management 15(6): 305–311.
Rose, Gail L., Margaret R. Rukstalis, and Marc A. Schuckit 2005 Informal Mentoring between Faculty and Medical Students. Academic Medicine 80(4): 344–348.
WILLIAMS, ANGIE, HIROSHI OTA, HOWARD GILES, et al. 1997 Young People’s Beliefs About Intergenerational Communication: An Initial Cross-Cultural Comparison. Communication Research 24(4). SAGE Publications Inc: 370–393. https://doi.org/10.1177/009365097024004003.
