By Alison Sfreddo
The mentor plays a key role in
designing developmental learning
experiences for the mentoree.
Often, though, a mentor's first
question is, "How do I design a
developmental activity?" The
first step is to identify a need that
offers the greatest opportunity for
improvement and focus an
assignment to address this need.
Secondly, the activity should be one
in which the mentoree will learn
without becoming discouraged or
feel overwhelmed and where the
learning environment will be
"safe." Finally, ensuring an
effective means of feedback from
the activity is vital to achieving and
solidifying the developmental goal
of the activity. The following are a
few ideas for developmental
activities within five specific realms
of employee experience.
Communication
- Style - Encourage mentorees
to solicit feedback after meetings
from trusted colleagues as to how
their communication style is
perceived by others.
- Listening Skills - Practice
listening skills by having the
mentoree listen to someone explain
an issue and then recite the major
points of the argument to that
person in order to see if they have
captured the main purpose of the
discussion.
- Writing - Have the mentoree
draft an internal memorandum and
evaluate the writing style and tone
in terms of company expectations
and effectiveness of the
communiqué. Provide feedback.
- Presentations/Briefing -
Provide feedback after a
presentation has been delivered.
Ask for feedback from others who
also received the brief.
Leadership
- Problem Solving - Encourage
the mentoree to tackle a problem
within the organization from an
analytical perspective incorporating
the views of the major stakeholders
and create a plan to address the
problem.
- A Fresh Look - Have the
mentoree walk through the office
space with "new eyes,"
asking themselves if the
environment reflects the culture and
values that are important to him/her
and then discussing these new
insights with you.
- Unwritten Rules - Have the
mentoree speak with at least three
senior managers about what they
consider to be the
organization's "unwritten" rules and
why they are important.
Teamwork/Team-
Building
- Information Sharing - Have
your mentoree set aside a specific
time monthly (or more often as
required) to share new knowledge
and information with his/her team
members.
- Team Orientation -
Encourage the mentoree to solicit
feedback from team members in
terms of how team oriented he/she
is. Determine if team members feel
that the mentoree pushes his own
ideas rather than listening to the
collective voice of the group or that
he considers or fails to consider
how decisions will affect the other
team members.
- Membership - Have the
mentoree join an "ad hoc"
team or committee assignment as a
team member and monitor his/her
behavior within that role.
- Collaboration - Have the
mentoree serve on a project
requiring collaboration with a variety
of different perspectives and
disciplines to see what barriers
he/she may face.
Technical Expertise
- Shadow an Expert - Ask the
mentoree to follow an expert for a
day and to prepare a paper on what
was learned from this experience.
- Stretch Goals - Encourage
the mentoree to take a project
outside their normal area of
expertise or comfort zone.
- Networking - Encourage the
mentoree to foster a network of
situational "technical"
mentors by spending time with them
on a monthly basis.
- Professional Conferences -
Mentorees should attend at least
one professional conference per
year with the goal of strengthening
their technical skills in at least one
area.
Time Management
- Priorities - The mentoree
should discuss his/her team's top
ten priorities with a senior manager.
- Goals and Deadlines -
Encourage the mentoree to
maintain a work journal, chronicling
their deadlines and daily work goals
to identify time wasters, times when
they are most and least productive,
and means of controlling the use of
their time.
- The Power of Experience -
Have the mentoree interview three
key executives who balance their
time with ease to glean insight into
the techniques and processes for
doing so.
- Efficiency - Have someone
visit the mentoree's office and
provide constructive feedback on its
efficiency.
These are just a few of the
myriad developmental activities that
you can recommend to your
mentoree in order to help them
become a more valuable asset for
the organization. Use these as
guidelines to create your own
developmental activities that focus
on the critical aspects of employee
success. Most of all, try to make the
activities interesting, non-
confrontational, and even fun
whenever possible.
