Five common
mistakes HR Managers make to kill the system of knowledge sharing in the
company.
Mentorship is
a way of sharing skills and experience when employees combine work and learning
with the support of their experienced colleagues. And that’s why Human
Resources specialists strive to implement some mentorship ideas in their
organization. They enthusiastically take up this challenge and ... With the
same sincere enthusiasm kill the mentoring program, not allowing it to be establish.
So, which
actions inevitably lead to a failure? Each stage of mentorship implementation
contains hidden traps and pitfalls. But those that are used at the stage of
development – the most effective ones.
HR Manager doesn’t understand the purpose of mentoring
Mentoring is
a tool that can bring quick results and economic benefits. However, the
all-have-and-we-have approach is completely wrong. It doesn’t explain why mentoring
can help a particular company.
To make any
tool work in a proper way it’s necessary first to set the goal and only after
that choose its format. You need to understand which problems you’re facing.
And only then you should choose the correspondent tool and configure in
accordance with the goal.
A tool’s
effectiveness becomes noticeable if defining the purpose preceded the choice of
format. First, we need to understand what problems we are facing. And only then
choose the appropriate tool and configure it for the task. Otherwise, mentoring
will appear to be a waste of time of those involved, and will bring only side
effects. Do you need “some” result or do you hope to reach a certain goal?
Mentoring can be performed in different ways depending on the means and the purpose.
That’s why a thorough business analysis as well as an investigation of the
company’s climate is a significant argument for the introduction of the tool, while
its effectiveness by itself is not.
A task for an
HR specialist should be made in such a way so he can understand which business
goals mentorship system must be focused on. And that would neutralize the first
danger of mentoring program failure.
HR Manager copies other companies’ experience
When the
goals are defined one would think that the next step is to study best practices
and to implement them in your company. But it won’t work in practice. Even if
the system you like proved to be effective in another organization, it doesn’t
mean that it would work in your company as well. It may not take into account
the features of your organization: structure, culture and individuals.
Let’s take
two companies that operate in the same sphere and which want to implement a mentorship
system for new sales managers. One company is located in a big city and has
numerous branches and business units while the other one works in a small town
and has just a few mentors across the country. Will the same mentorship system
be applicable for both companies? The answer is obvious. Sometimes the system
should be adjusted for the needs of one certain company branch, so can we even talk
about two different companies? Avoid such decisions.
HR Manager prepares a surprise for everyone
Imagine that
an HR specialist does understand the peculiarities of the company, takes them
into consideration when developing a mentorship program and then implements it.
Well, tries to implement. Because people doesn’t want such changes and they can
simply sabotage them.
Employees don’t like sudden updates and changes dictated
by someone from the administrative body. Executives can also say: “If it’s not
broken, don’t fix it!”. As a result, a secretly created system remains a
beautiful but dead document or becomes effective after a long series of changes
and enhancements.
To avoid it,
the designated person should compose a team which would consist of
representatives from different departments. They would easily foresee
stakeholders’ expectations, make necessary agreements and decisions.
HR Manager adapts to the customer
Another trap
HR specialists get into is related to the one-sided approach. An HR Manager
comes to an executive, figures out how he sees the mentoring system and makes
it right in the desired way.
What is the
danger of such approach? The point is that the executive, who understands the
company’s workflow and key performance indicators, may not be so experienced in
mentoring systems and techniques. In such case, there’s little chance of an
effective mentorship program creation. To ensure its viability, everyone should
perform his own business: the executive sets goals while HR specialists develop
the mentoring structure basing on some teaching methods, the executive’s
opinion and the features of the company. This is his direct task.
After the launch of a mentorship program HR specialists are responsible for everything
This option
usually starts as it should: the executive sets goals, the HR Manager coordinates
the process, and then ... he organizes and supervises the mentoring system. And
it’s suffocating. Because those who teach don’t have enough time for it, coordinators
fail to monitor and adjust the process. The one person who tries his best is
the HR Manager.
It happens
because he takes full responsibility of the mentorship program functioning
while he should just support it. HR Department’s engagement rate in
implementing the mentoring system can reach only about 20%. That’s why it’s
important to determine areas of responsibilities at the early stages of the
system development to stick to them in future.
Mentoring is a
dynamic process, and it requires attention and care. If you want the mentorship
program function in a smooth way, do not put it on the HR department. If you’re
a director or an executive take part in the development process; make sure that
everybody is responsible for his area of competence. And only then there are
chances to get a rich harvest of the mature mentorship system.
Original
source: http://www.e-xecutive.ru/career/hr-management/1985039-kak-hr-otdel-ubivaet-nastavnichestvo
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