If there is one thing I learned in Public Administration during my time with government organizations, be it City, County, or State is their idea of mentorship is based on a program. The idea of a programmatic mentorship is, dare I say, is a poor mentorship model. It started around 1947 with a with a “I’m the Boss, do what I say” mindset, and over time, it fell out of favor, leading to two other forms of mentorship.
A Brief Overview of the Past Two Mentorship Styles
The two types of historical mentorships are the Transactional model and the Transformational model. Sure, some people develop other models, usually they are simply a mix or bastardization of them in some fashion or another, mainly to sell books and get published. I would like to share a quick overview of the two main historical mentorship styles and finally look at what works in today’s mentorship environment.
The First Past Model of Mentorship was the Transactional Model
The Transactional Model of mentorship was proposed by Alan Sameroff, a Developmental Psychologist in 1975. To explain the development of positive and negative outcomes in children; generally speaking it works like this, give a cookie when they do good, send them to their room when they did bad; my room had all my toys, so it seemed destine for failure.
Soon after Transactional Mentorship fell out of favor, but not entirely; some tried to create a Orthros model, a two-headed model trying to connect the earlier Transactional to the developing Transformational model.
The Second Past Model of Mentorship was the Transformational Model
In the late 1978, James McGregor Burns published his work “Leadership” and in 1985 Kathy Kram added to that work and published her work on “Mentorship at Work.” With that, the birth of the Transformational model was born. The problems soon became obvious, it was underutilized, ineffective, lacked buy-in from transactional leaders, lack of employee engagement, and more. While trying to develop a Transformational model, most leaders and organizations were fans of the Transaction model, and tried to mix the Transactional model Transformational model, leaning heavenly on the Transactions model.
This was the standard model for decades, but something happened that would soon change the direction of mentorship; the emergence of Xennials and Millennials into the workplace, giving birth to the Authentic model.
The Authentic Model of Mentorship.
At the dawn of the 21st Century [2003], we entered a new age in mentorship, the Authentic Mentorship model. in 2023, Forbes called Authentic Mentorship, a Game-Changer, and they are right. With the Silver Tsunami and new staff finding the current model of mentorship was not working, large and small Cities need to rethink their current mentorship style. When a City Official told me, “Our current mentoring centers around books we have on policies and procedures. New Staff just has to read them and learn.” I knew I hit a brick wall.
Many Cities ignore the voices of new staff, and staff who have been there for decades and never received a promotion. Yet they’re the voices you need to hear concerning mentorship. I will guarantee, if asked, they will tell you they stopped offering ideas because anything they said was shut down and made to feel stupid. Authentic Mentorship centers on a true meaningful relationship between mentor and mentee. It is, in and of itself, a game changer. It is a collaborative space of discovery and the wonder of learning. It centers on an authentic connection between all who participate, and shared voices.
Here are some key elements I found that work in developing Authentic Mentorship.
Support Personal Growth: People today seek new skills and new experiences designed to contribute to their personal/professional development. Encourage cross pollination with other departments, let people learn where they fit in naturally based on their gifts and talents.
Support Work-Life Balance: As a mentor, you need to understand, and support, the importance of holding fast to a healthy work-life relationship. One of my Xmen powers is the ability to know who will always say “yes” when asked to anything I need; so I had to ask myself, “do I use my powers for Magneto, or Professor X” – I chose Professor X.
Give Real and Meaningful Work: Work should center on being meaningful and have a purpose. Focus on honest career development, not busy work.
Stand by Open and Honest Communication: People are looking for open and honest feedback. By being open and honest with other, they will become open and honest with you. This will allow others to share their ideas and opinions without fear of being ignored, belittled, or discounted.
Truely Be Authenticity and Adaptability: If you are truly authentic, accessible, and adaptable, and offer personalized honest feedback. People will seek out your opinion and see your response as a welcomed addition to their development.
Develop Flexible Learning Opportunities: Not everyone learns the same way. Develop different leaning opportunities for different people. We do not live in a “one size fits all” world. Adapt your style to include various learning styles and preferences.
Learn to Promote Autonomy: Encourage independent thinking and entrepreneurial spirit, allowing millennials to take ownership of their projects and decisions. Don’t “shoot down” a crazy idea, help them flush it out and see what comes to life.
Accept Reverse Mentoring: Sometimes when we get into Senior Leadership, we think we have all the answers; we don’t. We need to recognize others may have a deeper understanding of things like, emerging trends and technology, other ways of doing things, the audience we are looking to reach, and many others. We need to encourage them to share their insights, without fear or discounting them as “being new.” This will help develop, and foster, an environment of collaboration.
These strategies can help build strong mentoring relationships and support the growth of people under your guidance.
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