Art of Mentoring corporate logo, flying geese colored version
Contact Us
Menu
Art of Mentoring corporate logo, flying geese colored version

Team Coaching Virtual Teams

Team coaching virtual teams

Virtual teams have a number of differences compared with co-located teams. On the plus side, their geographical dispersion means that they can draw upon a wider and more diverse pool of talent. It is also easier to maintain 24-hour oversight of issues, if people are in multiple time zones. There is also some evidence that power distance (people’s inclination to defer to someone with greater rank or authority) reduces when using distance media.

On the downside:

  • There is more likely to be conflict within the team – and this may be exacerbated if the team is culturally diverse
  • There are more difficulties in sharing information. “Out of sight, out of mind” means that it doesn’t occur to us to include a colleague unless we communicate with them very regularly on different levels. Virtual teams need string and effective mechanisms to remind everyone to appraise virtual colleagues about technical, tactical and customer information – indeed to put more effort into communicating with them than with co-located colleagues, because the latter pick up a great amount of information through informal conversations. One of the immediate impacts of team coaching is to raise team members’ awareness of the interests and strengths of each of their virtual colleagues.
  • People are more likely to feel isolated. This sense of being left out can be reinforced in virtual meetings, when not everyone shares experiences, or relates to metaphors and mental models, which other members of the team use as conversational shorthand.
  • If some of the team are located at HQ, others may feel that these people’s opinion counts for more than their own and that they are less likely to be listened to – so are less likely to voice opinions.

Preparing a virtual team for coaching

All the normal aspects of contracting with the team, which apply to co-located teams, also apply to virtual team coaching – plus a few more. These include:

  • It’s important to have ground-rules about being fully present in the team coaching sessions. Being on mute is useful to preserve sound quality for those who are speaking, but it allows people to carry on distracting tasks, which would not normally be possible in a face-to-face meeting. The contract should reinforce understanding that listening is more than just politeness to colleagues – it is essential in maintaining the pace and depth of the reflective conversation.
  • Gain agreement on how contrarian ideas will be surfaced and engaged with. The mechanisms, by which constructive dissent is stifled, may differ between co-located teams and virtual teams. In many cultures, for example, it is inappropriate to be the one who usually gets their ideas in first. If a consensus appears to be developing, cultural inhibitors may make people reluctant to push back against it. The technology may promote groupthink, if people are swayed by the first comments in the chat room, so the team and the team coach need to establish clear methods to challenge emerging consensus.
  • Help the team manage the tendency to avoid emotional data, because it is too time consuming and often more difficult to recognise emotional subtexts in a virtual environment. It’s important to establish the expectation that everyone will be open with their emotions as well as their rational analysis. One of the reasons for this is the significant role our emotional brain takes in “rational decisions”.
  • Initiate open discussion about where reflection takes place. In co-located teams, it is generally easier to engage in reflection together, not least because these coaching sessions will have a fair amount of time allocated to them. In virtual team coaching, every minute counts, so most of the reflection has to take place before and after team coaching. This is a fundamental difference in the structure of the team coaching process and the team needs to become comfortable with reflecting on their own then combining their thoughts either during team coaching or in online discussions outside the team coaching session.
  • Encourage the team to agree when would be an equitable time to hold meetings, to avoid some people always having to attend at unsocial hours
  • Newcomers to a virtual team need to feel valued from day one. One-to-one virtual meetings with the rest of the team members, before team coaching, are an essential part of their induction.

Managing the virtual team coaching session

While it is possible to run a virtual team coaching session using email only, it is extremely difficult to make it work! The only plus point is that it can be asynchronous – people can contribute at different times, dipping in and out over a day or more, at their convenience and to fit in with their time zones.  There have been no significant studies comparing this approach with having people together at the same time, but the consensus amongst team coaches is overwhelmingly that the whole team needs to be present and interacting in real time.

Some ground-rules include:

  • Keep sessions short and focused – 90 minutes absolute maximum. This makes it even more important than with co-located teams to dispense with standard meeting formalities, such as minutes of the last meeting, or matters arising. Everything that can be done by email beforehand should be, along with any matter that concerns only some of the team. Given that you have such a short time, it is essential that everyone should feel engaged all through.
  • Encourage social sharing before the coaching session. A short email from everyone, sharing personal highlights at work and outside work, is all it takes.
  • Use the technology to its full. Make sure everyone is visually present, unless bandwidth problems prevent this. Encourage chat room conversations alongside spoken conversations. Run quick, impromptu polls to support the conversation. For example:
    • How energised are we today?
    • How positive do we feel about this?
    • How confident are we in these forecasts?
    • What should be said that no-one has yet said?
    • What are our priorities with regard to this issue?
    • What do you think are the top three risks?
  • Set clear norms about preparation, promptness, interrupting, being in a quiet place, where background noise won’t intrude and so on.
  • Don’t get trapped into Powerpoint presentations that take up valuable time.
  • Do have a clear protocol for decision-making. Check through a poll or the chat room that everyone agrees:
    • That a decision has been made
    • Precisely what it is
    • Who is responsible for what
    • When it is to be implemented
    • When and how it is to be reviewed
  • People who waffle can be a nuisance. Agree with the team how they will manage this. If you try to control this person, you will find that the team keeps looking to you to take charge – exactly the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. An effective intervention, if no-one in the team takes responsibility, is to say “Can I just remind you what you contracted to each other about trying to be succinct?” This emphasises the team’s responsibility for managing the situation, while dropping an obvious hint to the offending team member!
  • Agree a clear protocol for other issues that arise in the coaching session. Put these in a “parking lot” and take a few minutes at the end of the session to discuss how they can start the process of thinking about some or all of them before the next session. Ask them “What is the critical question you want to reflect upon with regard to this issue?” (You can always suggest a question at this stage, if they struggle – or perhaps the homework is to identify that question.)

© David Clutterbuck, 2017

 

Virtual Mentoring Webinar

Social distancing rules have forced many mentoring program managers to convert their mentoring initiatives to virtual formats. We have been managing virtual programs for over a decade. When mentors and mentees cannot meet face-to-face or attend classroom-style training, there are some tricks of the trade to ensure that mentoring relationships are still successful, which they can be.

The Critical Art of Reflection

Reflection is a critical part of the process for mentoring pairs and for people who manage mentoring programs. A skilled mentor offers the mentee a quiet space in which to reflect on issues, on self, on interactions with others, and on systemic issues at play.

As mentors become more experienced, they develop the ability to critically reflect on their own practice and further develop their skills. Reflection can be done alone, or with the help of a supervisor – a highly skilled person who acts as a “mentor’s mentor”. According to Merrick & Stokes[1] the reflective mentor (as opposed to a novice or developing mentor) uses reflection to improve and also starts to employ different mentoring approaches, drawing on other mentors and supervisors.

The reflexive mentor not only critically reflects after mentoring conversations but has the ability to detect and use their own feelings and thoughts in the moment, whilst in a mentoring conversation. This requires a high level of presence and mindfulness. Really masterful mentors can unconsciously pick up on finely nuanced signals from the mentee – reflection in the moment allows those signals to be brought into the conversation and explored.

One helpful habit I’ve developed is to make notes after a mentoring conversation about key points of discussion, to which I add some personal reflection, answering these questions:

  • What came up in the meeting with my mentee that was of consequence?
  • What are my thoughts, insights and reflections about what we discussed.
  • What are my thoughts, insights or reflections about our mentoring relationship?
  • What ideas do I want to raise in the next meeting?

Professor David Clutterbuck offers these further ideas for mentor reflection after a conversation:

  • What questions and comments worked well in helping the mentee’s thinking or building their motivation? What didn’t? Is there a pattern here?
  • How did this session compare with my ideal of myself as a mentor?
  • What do I think the mentee gained from the session?
  • How well did I:
    • Build and maintain rapport?
    • Challenge the mentee’s thinking?
    • Stick to the mentee’s agenda?
    • Exercise my duty of care?

Other useful tools for reflection include models such as Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle which provide a framework mentors can use for self-reflection or to assist  their mentees with their reflection.

 

© Melissa Richardson, 2020

[1] Merrick, L and Stokes, P. (2003). Mentor Development & Supervision: “A Passionate Joint Enquiry”, The International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching

Volume I Issue 1, 09/2003

 

 

Webinar – Government Case Studies

12pm to 1pm, 10 July 2020 AEST

 

AHRI and Art of Mentoring Present: Government Case Studies – Pushing Boundaries in Mentoring Programs Webinar

Mentoring can help achieve organisational goals in performance, engagement, cultural shift, diversity, inclusion, succession planning, leadership, change management and much more.

Here’s what you will learn:
• How ATO and NSW DPIE implemented mentoring and why they are leading the way
• Different types of programs (intergenerational, women in leadership, Indigenous, regional, etc.)
• How to build highly successful programs and implement for various objectives
• Shifting culture, increasing engagement and building the talent pipeline with mentoring

Presented by:

Alison Stott
Assistant Commissioner
ATO People | Learning & Development
Australian Taxation Office

Mathew Paine
Executive Director
Capability & Inclusion
NSW Department of Planning, Industry & Environment

Melissa Richardson
Managing Director
Art of Mentoring

AHRI Members will receive 1 CPD point for attendance.
Can’t attend? Simply register your details and we will send you a recording instead.

Registrations are open: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3733006210848166672

Helping mentoring pairs stay connected

Helping mentoring pairs stay connected

Across the many programs and thousands of mentors and mentees currently connecting via Art of Mentoring’s platform, we have seen two types of responses to mentoring since COVID-19 started.

The first, and most productive, is when mentee and mentor acknowledge that the goal posts have shifted and agree on new goals. Perhaps the mentee has lost employment or has reduced income. Maybe it’s the opposite problem – for many people, workload has actually increased and it may be hard to cope. Hopes and dreams for career advancement may have to be put on hold. We’ve heard heart-warming stories of mentees being helped to adapt under the most extraordinary circumstances by their wonderful mentors. When a crisis hits, having a mentor with whom to discuss challenges can be a much-needed lifeline. We’ve even heard examples of mentees who have provided support to mentors who have in turn lost their jobs.

The second response is understandable, but unfortunate. Some mentees and mentors have been so overwhelmed with current circumstances that they have dropped everything, including their mentoring relationships, for lack of time (or energy perhaps?). Luckily, this group is in the minority.

So how can you keep a mentoring relationship on track when there are a thousand reasons to let it go? This advice is for mentors, mentees and mentoring program managers.

Reach for the oxygen mask
In times of great and continuing change, self-care is so important so that sensible decisions can be made, including whether to continue with mentoring.  Routines and rituals, like a regular body scan or daily walk, can help, so can keeping a journal to record not just what’s happening but how you feel about it. A mentee journal can be useful for later conversations with a mentor. If you’re a mentor, make sure you look after yourself first before you try to help a mentee (remember what they tell you on an aircraft about fitting your oxygen mask before helping another?). If you are a program manager, it might be time to look for some new resources to support the mentors and mentees in your program. If you’re not sure what would be helpful, ask.

Use a compass
We find the Bridges Transition Model incredibly helpful when thinking about how to navigate change. When home isolation was first introduced, most of us would have struggled with having to adapt to working from home and not seeing family and friends. There was a sense of loss that we had to work through. Having come through the Endings phases, the next phase, the Neutral Zone, can be a disorienting time between acceptance that things need to change, and successfully navigating to the third phase, New Beginnings. As we start to transition back to the office, an ‘adapt back to work’ process may well land people right back in phase 1. Ask yourself where you are in this model, and if you are a mentor, consider how you can help a mentee who is back in phase 1 or 2.

It’s OK to change goals
Just because you set a particular goal for a mentoring program, doesn’t mean you have to hang onto it. If priorities have changed, so can your goals. Mentees who decide they don’t have time for mentoring are missing a golden opportunity for support, encouragement and perhaps, dare we suggest, some gentle challenge about how they are dealing with the cards played to them. Program managers and mentors – make sure mentees know they have permission to switch goals.

It’s also OK to reciprocate
Mentoring often becomes a reciprocal arrangement towards the end of a structured mentoring program. With COVID-19 we are just seeing more of this, and earlier in the relationship, especially when circumstances really change for the mentor.

Virtual works, (really!)
We’ve been running virtual programs for over a decade so we’ve seen them succeed, but in fact, virtual mentoring is well researched and proven to be effective. Even though some people prefer face-to-face contact, we know many virtual mentoring relationships can really flourish. Rather than drop out of touch with a mentoring partner, continue the relationship by Zoom, Skype, chat, email, phone. You may need slightly more frequent check-ins to keep momentum, and you may need to experiment with which medium you both prefer. Program managers may also need to check in a bit more frequently when there are no face-to-face all group meet-ups.

We have a webinar coming up dedicated to the topic of Virtual Mentoring – Registrations are now open: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8883036211221588237

 

 

 

Government Case Studies Webinar

AHRI and Art of Mentoring Present: Government Case Studies – Pushing Boundaries in Mentoring Programs Webinar

Mentoring can help achieve organisational goals in performance, engagement, cultural shift, diversity, inclusion, succession planning, leadership, change management and much more.

Here’s what you will learn:
• How ATO and NSW DPIE implemented mentoring and why they are leading the way
• Different types of programs (intergenerational, women in leadership, Indigenous, regional, etc.)
• How to build highly successful programs and implement for various objectives
• Shifting culture, increasing engagement and building the talent pipeline with mentoring

Presented by:

Alison Stott
Assistant Commissioner
ATO People | Learning & Development
Australian Taxation Office

Mathew Paine
Executive Director
Capability & Inclusion
NSW Department of Planning, Industry & Environment

Melissa Richardson
Managing Director
Art of Mentoring

Are you mentorable?

In her TED Talk “No one is talking to mentees” Victoria Black describes her research study which examined mentoring program websites across 187 post-secondary institutions. She found that only 19% addressed ‘mentorability’ by defining mentee characteristics and expectations, compared to 37% which defined mentor characteristics and expectations. Her conclusion? That, on the whole, mentoring programs do a pretty poor job of preparing participants, especially mentees, for the mentoring engagement.

We know about this. We advise that training mentees is just as important as program briefing for mentors. It raises the probability that mentees will engage from a ‘mentorable’ stance, and that mentors know what is expected of them.

But what do we mean by ‘mentorability’? There is very little in published research about mentorability. On the other hand, there are studies of what makes someone ‘coachable’ – a very closely related term. Kretzachmar¹ studied ‘coachability’ or ‘readiness for coaching’ and developed a ‘coaching client readiness’ theoretical model which has six themes that influence coaching readiness.

  1. Culture and class. Whilst it may seem politically incorrect to mention this, the researcher argues that the person’s context and background determines whether they have essential skills like reflexivity, self-awareness and the ability to take responsibility.
  2. Knowledge about coaching. Many people don’t really know what coaching (or mentoring) is. How can I be ready for something, if I don’t know what to be ready for?
  3. Access to coaching. Cost and lack of time can make coaching inaccessible to many.
  4. Psychological interpretations. Being ready for coaching is influenced by how people interpret themselves and the world. Lack of confidence and self-esteem is a reported barrier to engagement in the coaching process and indeed, to participating in adult learning. Being psychologically and emotionally stable enables people to deal with feedback and explore deeper issues that allow movement forward.
  5. Feeling safe. A coachee needs to feel safe within the coach-coachee relationship, but also in the organisation offering the coaching.
  6. Commitment to change. It’s more than just turning up. Time and place play an important role in the change process. People who make the most of coaching feel a sense that this is the perfect time for coaching to be happening.

These 6 factors could just as readily be applied to ‘mentorability’ as coachability’. The factors are a combination of knowledge, skills, experiences and attitude. It’s not just a matter of telling potential mentees to have the ‘right’ mindset in order to be mentorable. As mentoring program managers, it is incumbent upon us to:

  • Understand that some people, by virtue of their context, prior knowledge and personality, will be immediately more mentorable than others.
  • Educate potential mentees about what mentoring is, what their roles and responsibilities are, what they can expect of a mentor and the organisation offering mentoring, and what they can achieve if they commit themselves to the process.
  • Suggest that a mentorable mindset includes such characteristics as openness, willingness to be vulnerable and viewing feedback, not at criticism, but a valuable tool for their development.
  • Help provide a safe environment by emphasising confidentiality, making sure mentees and mentors feel well-supported and that mentors are equipped to undertake the role of a mentor.
  • Make mentoring as accessible to as many people as possible, from different backgrounds. It should not be just for an elite few. Suggest ways that mentoring can fit easily into busy schedules, so it remains accessible.

So how mentorable are you? Try this quiz:

  1. What do I know about mentoring, and if not much, how could I find out more?
  2. How will my cultural background and prior experiences affect my openness to mentoring? Do I have the skills for reflection and self-exploration?
  3. Will I make time for mentoring? Being too busy is just an excuse – we make time for the things we find important. Is now the right time?
  4. Do I feel emotionally ready to take feedback and try new things that my mentor might suggest, even though it might scare me?
  5. Am I willing to work hard to build rapport with my mentor so that we can establish a trusting relationship? (sometimes chemistry takes a bit of time and takes a little work)
  6. Will I do more than just turn up and wait for my mentor to ‘do it for me’?

I don’t believe mentorability is a fixed state. I know that there are times when I am not at all coachable or mentorable. It’s a question of being self-aware enough to know how ready you are for mentoring, moment by moment, and working towards having more mentorable moments.

© 2020 Melissa Richardson

  1. Kretzachmar, I. (2010) Exploring Client’s Readiness for Coaching, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Special Issue No. 4, October

 

 

Mentoring Development Needs & Outcomes

12 noon to 1pm, 11 August 2020 AEST

We’ve been collecting data across thousands of mentors and mentees in our programs for the last three years. In this webinar we will share with you the highlights of what we’ve learned about what mentees say they are seeking from their mentoring experience. There may be some surprises.

We explore:
  • What mentees are looking for and how this compares with what mentors think they can offer
  • How mentees and their mentors evaluate their mentoring experience
  • The impact of mentoring for both parties

You can register to attend the webinar here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4526334632273761794

Can’t attend? Simply register your details and we will send you a recording instead.

What makes a great mentoring program manager?

One part match-maker, another part relationship counsellor, mixed with liberal doses of financial controller, communications specialist, trainer and project manager. That’s what makes up the unique characteristics of a great program manager. The role is so broad that it’s actually quite hard to do really well at all aspects.

The European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) administers a Global Coach/Mentor Program Manager Training Quality Award (PMQA). This Award has 12 professional core standards against which program managers are assessed. I’ve grouped them into six:

  1. Program Planning. An effective mentoring program manager designs a program to suit the context and clearly identifies the purpose, scope and goals, making the methodology available to key stakeholders.
  2. Program governance, stakeholder management, risks and issue management. Good program management requires effective reporting to stakeholders, ability to balance and skilfully navigate different agendas of participants, program team and wider stakeholders. Good governance includes maintaining high ethical standards and duty of care. A skilled program manager identifies risk up front and makes timely adjustments to suit a changing context.
  3. Budgeting and ROI. It is the program manager’s role to ensure the program is adequately funded and delivers a return on investment.
  4. Recruit, select, match, train and supervise participants. Great program managers design and implement effective processes for these core activities, ideally informed by evidence. They establish a suitable supervision or reflective practice plan for participants.
  5. Program evaluation and quality assurance. An evaluation strategy and methodology must be identified at the beginning so that program effectiveness can be assessed. The program manager will apply quality assurance processes, enabling individual, training or program accreditation as appropriate.
  6. Focus on self. A great program manager is highly self-aware and invests in continuing professional development for the role.

The best program managers I know have the ability to balance empathy with assertiveness. The role requires outstanding listening and communication skills, so that mentors and mentees will open up and seek assistance when needed. At the same time, an accomplished program manager knows when to push the responsibility back to participants as needed, and how to push back on stakeholders’ (sometimes) unreasonable demands. For programs with large numbers, numeracy and a degree of tech savviness are also needed.

The role requirements are often under-estimated. Whilst there is a degree of administration in the role, a good program manager has wisdom and judgement that junior administrators lack. It is also highly rewarding. There is nothing better than mentor and mentee feedback when the mentoring experience has been life-changing. It is a gift to have the opportunity to enable that for others.

© 2020 Melissa Richardson

Benchmark Report 2020

RESEARCH REPORT:
What mentees need, what mentors offer and benefits derived by both.

Art of Mentoring’s 2020 research project was a benchmarking exercise across our mentoring platform to reveal what mentees want, what mentors think they can and want to offer and what both parties actually get from their mentoring relationship.

We drew on anonymised data from 13,000+ mentoring applications and surveys completed by 1,500+ mentors and mentees. Because many of our clients use our mentoring application and survey templates, we were able to use data from commonly worded questions. The diverse nature of the programs, including graduate, early career, mid-career, late career cohorts, means the mentees and mentors in the sample are of all age groups, generations and gender. In-company and professional membership programs are included, therefore a variety of professions, industries and thousands of employing organisations are represented. There is a bias to white-collar employees in the sample, but it is not exclusively so.

The findings of this report are outlined in our webinar Mentoring Development Needs and Outcomes which can be viewed here: Mentoring Development Needs and Outcomes