Mentoring - A selfless Act Like That of a Mother to Bring up Her Child

“What picture do you have on top of your mind when you think about mentoring?”
The question was from a senior leader who was facilitating a workshop for us - voluntary mentors for a mentorship program planned for hearing impaired students of a reputed institute as part of the organization’s inclusivity initiative.

“Steps to go up”, someone said.

“Krishna counselling Arjuna – the “Geetopadesha”, I said.

Each one of us had a different picture about mentoring. But the essence of all pictures was one and the same – the success of the mentee.

“Mentoring is a selfless act, like that of a mother to bring up her child”, our facilitator added.

That analogy was indeed very true. Who else in the world could give you selfless and unconditional love and care than your own mother? Who else could be a better mentor than one’s own mother in the early stages of one’s life?

Every mother encourages her toddler to walk even if she falls many times. She helps her little one to talk with tremendous patience even if she mispronounces it umpteen numbers of times. The little darling does not give up her attempt to walk and talk because her mother taught her to overcome the failures with a laugh. Her mother rewards her with warm hugs and kisses for every attempt made to move forward.
As life goes on, one has to be lucky to have good mentors. In earlier days, teachers in schools used to be great mentors. They were respected not just for their knowledge but for their ability to touch the children’s lives in positive ways. Today, you don’t find many such great teachers because no one has time for any one. The goal of achieving 100% pass rate takes away the time needed to pat the children on their shoulders.

It is no different in organizations too.
I was somewhat lucky to have come across few good mentors in my life- be it personal or professional.
I am not sure whether Generation Y would be lucky to have good mentors.
Today, it is a fact that you don’t find many good mentors in organizations.  It is not just lack of time but the lack of mentoring skills too. Goals of todays' managers are mostly speed and cost and who gets rewarded for mentoring? Team size reduction and mentoring are anyways contradictory objectives :-)

These days, it is also common in organizations to identify some senior leaders specifically with the goal of mentoring , at least for some selected mentees- an act which used to be done by one's own managers earlier.The middle managers need to be mentored not just for their own success but also for equipping themselves to mentor the future leaders. But  the reality is that we have only very few leaders today who are capable of mentoring. Lack of mentoring would definitely have an impact on the leadership skills of future leaders. But who knows Gen Y may even try to solve this problem with robotic mentors :-)

Women do naturally possess the qualities needed for good mentors whether as a mother or as a professional - qualities bestowed on them by the Mother Nature. But it is also true that women need to have good mentors to go up the ladder in their careers. This does not mean that men don’t need mentors to move up. They do need. But they find their mentors more easily than women.

Mentoring is indeed a selfless act – something essential for building good individuals, communities and organizations.