Trainism

I once read a book called the “The Science of getting rich”. In this book Wallace says that getting rich is an art of correctly replicating what the rich do. Thus,  It is it not about getting the right environment, talent or being lucky… but it is about “doing things a certain way”.

The need of the hour is to be a learner throughout life. At the same time, It is not always possible to go to a professional school or college to acquire certain skill sets or knowledge.  With the continuously changing job descriptions and time, one of the best ways of acquiring skills is to have a MENTOR, learn from him and correctly replicate the learning. This is based on the logic that one should not reinvent the wheel because it would waste time, make new and more uses of the already invented wheel or invent something else. The partnership of mentors and proteges is proving fruitful for all kinds of industries and organizations.

Mentors are considered to be change agents that play a very important role in today’s dynamic working environment. Mentoring can help employees acquire the correct knowledge and skill-set that is required to complete a specific task or job in hand.

Mentors-proteges programs are catching up great pace because of their success stories. Big organizations are paying dearth of money to external vendors and training houses for conducting such workshops in-order to reap maximum benefit.It is always honest to face the reality that organization need practical skills and applied knowledge from employees to get assured outcomes in a desired span of time. Mentors guide employees with OJT called On The Job training.

The type of Mentor-Protege program entirely depends on the skill sets that is to be acquired:

• Sr. Management or leaders as mentors and middle management as protege from different departments, same organization so that leadership styles can be transferred. A typical heterogeneous mix.
• Manager as mentors & team lead as proteges from the same department when on the job knowledge has to be transferred from the same department. This holds good when processes, procedures and working styles have to be transferred.
• Clients as mentors and offshore resources as proteges, this partnership benefits when technical knowledge has to be transitioned.
• External vendor as mentors and company employees as proteges for specific behavioral trait needs inculcation.

Benefits of having Mentors in an organization :

• Mentoring helps in meeting organizational goals: Once the training needs and the methods of training a protege are identified. Mentors get in the process of training. At regular intervals they assess & re-train proteges so that organizational needs are met.
• Mentoring supports career advancement: Having a mentor is like having a personal tutor, coach or a guide, who helps you meet your professional goals. You acquire latest skill set that have demand in the market.
• Mentoring Increases the retention possibilities: We all are aware that recruitment is a very time consuming and a costly affair for an organization. One of the reason why a technically qualified employee with a high pay  package would stick to an organization would be because of the emotional ties with his mentor.
• It enhances better communication and personal relationship: A good mentor is like a wise men who is ready to transfer knowledge, skill and  attitude that would help employee transition from the learning phase to the implementation phase. The partners are likely to develop rapport, trust in each other . The mentor understands the needs, strengths and weakness of the Protege and the protege without hesitation speak his mind with the mentor and mentally gets ready to learn. Both are always ready to share some positive or negative feedback about each other.
• It brings in Commitment:Employees contribute more when they have been trained right from the beginning. Their aim is clear and are much more focused on the outcome. the best part is that they know how to do it the right way.

In order to get optimum results from Mentor programs it is advised that they must be fully initiated and supported by the top management of any organization. At periodic intervals follow up sessions within the organization and outside campus must be kept & this culture should be promoted.