What Kind of Mentoring Really Works?

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“The management of the organization coaches organizational members to achieve better results in a High Performing Organization.” 

This is a nice statement, but what does that really look like? Most of the literature on the subject of mentoring or coaching is written by HR people for the HR community. One would thus surmise that this is an HR problem.

Other questions also come to mind, such as:  

• Is mentoring mostly for managers?
• Can this be trained into management through leadership programs? 
• Is this a system or process that really needs to be instituted?
•  Does this mean we should hire only extroverts who naturally want to help others?
• What part does mentoring or coaching play in culture? (Maybe it doesn’t!)
• Should we get outside resources to institute training programs for this?
• Is this a big deal?

In doing some research I wondered about in effectiveness of formal, instituted mentoring programs vs. informal mentoring. According to the research of Clutterbuck Associates, the definitions, goals, processes, and structures of business in mentoring are so ill-defined that there is no conclusive evidence one way or another. Add to that the cultural differences between countries, nationalities, and global companies, then it is no wonder that mentoring/ coaching is a mysterious gray space without conclusive data.

But André deWaal has been able to define the difference between companies where active coaching by the managers takes place as a part of everyday business and those companies where managers neglect this form of communication. André’s research shows everyday coaching is part of the high performance profile of companies who enjoy a double digit advantage in business results over those companies who don’t fit the profile.

This type of behavior can be hired, it can also be trained, but if it is not part of everyday life in the business, the behavior adds no value.

Toyota is a well-known example of making coaching a part of everyday life. But are there other companies where coaching is part of their daily routine?

The Morning Star Company 

We all know it is much easier to start from scratch to develop a culture that is transparent, open, innovative, and continually coaches one another.  In 1990 founder Chris Rufer built the Morning Star Company, now the largest tomato processor in the Untied States, delivering 40% of the tomato paste and diced tomatoes to the industrial market. The company has no managers, a rigorous hiring process, and 4,000 seasonal employees who make minimum wage and have a 95-100% return rate every year. The company has exacting standards for customer service, product quality, and consistency. It is a flat organization where the employees initiate their own communication and coordination of activities.

Consider Morning Star’s Colleague Principle #3 as it relates to mentoring and coaching: 3. Personal Responsibility and Initiative. We agree to take full responsibility for our actions as well as those of fellow Colleagues and our overall Mission. We are personally responsible for our training, time commitments, performance and participating in and contributing toward achieving the Mission and practicing the Principles. We commit to manage ourselves, to be principally responsible for the planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling functions with respect to our Mission. To personally take the initiative to coordinate our responsibilities and activities with other Colleagues, to develop opportunities for improvement and for making things happen. In coordinating with our fellow Colleagues, we commit to (a) communicate and consult with other parties who are likely to be meaningfully affected when initiating a change of any sort, (b) seek the input of others who we believe have additional and substantive expertise related to the proposal. 

In short, all Morning Star employees promise to seek out their own mentors to improve themselves and their work and to mentor/coach others to do the same. How simple is that? No big fancy training programs, no flavor of the month HR initiatives, no “lets try this and see if it works.”

If you are a part of an organization that is steeped in bureaucracy, tradition, levels of hierarchy, and speed slower than melted butter in a freezer, start your mentoring initiative first with yourself. Change takes time and trust, and trust needs to be firmly in place first. Toyota always starts small and slowly works toward the bigger organization.   If you want change, then start with yourself. Seek out someone to coach you in an area you need to improve.  Find others that you can help. Your results will improve and as they do, your influence will increase. With increased influence you will be able to affect more change in your team, unit, and function. Slowly the bigger goal may be reached. 

The management of the organization coaches organizational members to achieve better results in a High Performing Organization. Become an “organization of one” and test this premise for yourself.