A Situational Approach to Mentoring in an Association
Associations must rely on their members and volunteers if they are to build and maintain any form of a mentoring program. Often an association's approach is to establish a committee and support their efforts by assigning a junior staff as a liaison. A better organized approach that some associations use is to assign a manager or director level staff to actively support the committee or mentor program advisory team. Then they build a traditional approach of pairing mentors and mentees is the typical format.
The foundation to situational mentoring is built upon the management concept of situational leadership, developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. A successful mentoring program requires that a mentor is able to share, convey, teach and/or impart their knowledge or skills to the mentee. The core of the Blanchard model, Situational Leadership II, highlights four primary leadership delivery styles: directive, coaching, supportive, and delegating. Like any good leader, the mentor is likely to be most effective in one or two delivery styles and less so in the others. A practical strength of situational leadership is that it also takes into consideration the development level of the subordinate, or in this case the mentee. Using a four step sliding scale the mentee is rated on competence and commitment.
To build a situational mentoring program I recommend assigning a manager at the operationally level with a director involved in a supportive and strategic level. Using a social networking format structure think in terms of pairing the best or most knowledgeable mentor at the right time and in the right situation when the mentee has the most need or desire to learn. This is not an easy assignment but it is critical to the programâs success. A manager is likely to have the required technical, conceptual and personal skills that will be necessary to correctly match mentors with mentees at the appropriate times and under the right situations. While it is important to get input, recommendations and involvement from the committee or advisory council, the operations and scheduling process should the managers responsibility and not be left up to the volunteers. Remember, the win â win of situational mentoring comes when the mentor uses his or her most effective delivery style matched correctly to the level of development of the mentee at the time of need.
The director may occasionally be required to support the managerâs scheduling should a situation need a specific infusion or a change of players. Politics is a reality in associations and can become very sensitive when relying on the use of volunteers. The director is generally in a better position to handle those particular situations. The director will generally have more senior level contacts among the volunteers so they should also be involved in the continual recruitment of skilled and positioned mentors.
We welcome those of you who participate in or manage a mentoring program as part of your association to share your experiences. Simply send a your rely message and share your story.
