Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization#s Guide

Citation

Zachary, L.J. (2006), "Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization#s Guide", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2006.08120dae.003

Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization#s Guide

Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s GuideLois J. ZacharyJossey-Bass San Francisco CA2005304 pp.ISBN: 0-7879-6401-8$45 (paperback)

Being in academia, I have numerous opportunities to speak to past students about their workplaces. The usual complains I hear include the lack of training opportunities, poor career development and mismatch of expectations. Most of these fresh graduates often seek guidance from a senior person in the organization, but are deeply disappointed with the lack of mentoring relationships. Such disappointments often lead to staff turnover. Zachary’s latest book on mentoring is timely and useful for practitioners who are genuinely interested in creating a positive workplace.

Zachary’s profound knowledge in mentoring is evident in the book. Chapter 1 establishes the importance of mentoring and provides a taste of what mentoring is about through an organizational example. Chapter 2 highlights the importance of creating an organizational culture that supports mentoring. Steps on mapping an organization’s culture are provided. A substantial connection to the concepts of organizational learning and personal learning is made in the second chapter. Further benefits of mentoring are discussed in chapter 3. In addition, the roles of mentoring in enhancing organizational planning are mentioned. In particular, practical steps for creating a mentoring plan that seeks to match mentors and mentees are outlined. Chapter 4 discusses the importance of infrastructure on mentoring. A number of important issues are covered under infrastructure, namely leadership, succession planning, time to allow the mentoring relationship to develop, adequate financial resources, the right technology, right human resources and knowledge management processes. In chapter 5 the importance of proper alignment of various areas in an organization in relation to mentoring is presented. Chapter 6 presents the steps for creating an accountability process that would promote mentoring. Chapter 7 focuses on the role played by communication in the mentoring relationship and process.

Chapter 8 discusses the individual values and values espoused by the organization that are important for promoting mentoring. These values are linked to recognition in terms of setting the rewards and recognition to encourage successes in mentoring. Chapter 9 argues that for mentoring to work, people at lower levels need to be motivated to want to engage in the process. Chapter 10 helps the readers to identify opportunities for mentoring to occur and the types of mentoring that could happen in an organization. The importance of education and training is discussed in chapter 11. Chapter 12 explains the need for organizations to ensure that a psychologically safe environment is provided where people are able to improve themselves.

The author also provides a “mentoring culture audit” check sheet to help practitioners to assess their organization’s current position, and this check sheet can be used to monitor progress. Thus, the author is not only writing about mentoring but is also providing tools for practitioners to use in their organizations. A salient point that readers should bear in mind is mentoring is an intricate process. Some organizations may be able to develop a mentoring culture more easily than others because of the right “ingredients” such as the right people, organizational climate, reward and recognition, and so forth. As such, practitioners need to bear in mind that as the mentoring function is being implemented and when the results are not apparent immediately, a review of the “ingredients” and process need to be examined closely. This book is highly recommended for people who are genuinely interested in creating a mentoring culture in their organizations.

This review, by Christopher C.A. Chan, was published in Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Volume 27 Number 2, 2006.