The Hindu Business Line : The fine art of mentoring

Campus recruitments have almost become de rigueur these days with most institutions in the public as well as the private sector preferring to take fresh graduates. This is an idea that has been working well though one fails to grasp the justification behind offering unheard of pay packets to MBAs and the like based merely on their academic achievements and little else.

How do these young men and women learn the ropes and pick up the nuances of the work that they are expected to perform? This is where mentoring comes into the picture.

The institutions that recruit freshers usually do not throw them at the deep end straightaway. They start with the basics and, more often than not, someone who has served the company for long takes them under his wing. This, however, has nothing to do with the gurukula principle or the guru-shishya parampara, that is, a teacher-student relationship.

It is more of a mature arrangement where the newcomer is allowed enough elbow room, is not straitjacketed nor bombarded with instructions. The mentor often concentrates only on correcting the ward whenever he or she takes a false step and in laying down the fundamental guidelines as to how he or she should proceed on the job, what the organisation expects of them, and the rules and regulations of the game. This is mentoring at its best though there are mentors who go to the extent of dinning their own ideas into the minds of the novices, in the process, stifling their growth and perhaps doing more harm than good both for the employee and the organisation.

Mentoring, therefore, is not without its defects and too much of hand-holding could well be counter-productive. A mentor should always keep in mind that he is dealing with grown-ups who have their own ideas and thoughts and are keen to make their mark.

He would also do well to share success with his proteges and, if need be, take the flak for any reverses. The latter especially would go a long way in cementing a bond between the two and thereafter the mentor's job could well become all the more easy. After a certain stage, however, the mentoring should stop as it would no longer be needed anymore.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer.)

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