Managers and their mentors

29 October 2005

In days gone by, young men would seek a 'guru' to acquire wisdom and learn the ways of the world. The guru-shishya relationship is now seeing a new high-tech revival in the mentoring system, says Sanjay Matai

Managing businesses -- especially large businesses -- is becoming more complex day by day. New technologies emerge everyday and competition increases as the world turns into a global village. Customer needs and perceptions become more diverse and varied. These are some of the forces have made the business of running businesses more demanding and challenging.

Over time, new management tools have been introduced to meet these new challenges and convert them into opportunities. These include management by objectives (MBO), total quality management (TQM), economic value added (EVA), six sigma, just-in-time, kaizen, 5S lean manufacturing and many others.

Mentoring is one such initiative. It is not a new concept, but in the past it has been practiced at a more informal level. In recent times, it has become more professional and has been institutionalised. The term 'mentor' comes from the Greek epic poem 'The Odyssey', in which Mentor guides and protects Odysseus' son Telemachus, while his father is away fighting.

Essentially a one-to-one relationship between an experienced person (the mentor) and a young and inexperienced person (the mentoree), mentoring goes beyond the normal boss-subordinate relationship. The mentor shares professional skills, expertise and experience with the mentoree. In this way, (s)he is groomed to handle larger responsibilities in the organisation, sooner rather than than later. It helps develop interpersonal relationships and knowledge sharing — two key aspects of organisational success.