IN GREEK
mythology, Mentor
was mentioned as a friend of the cunning hero Odysseus who left his island
kingdom to join the Greek army in the Trojan War. Before leaving, he asked Mentor to keep an eye on
his young son Telemachus.
If you follow what old Mentor
did, you would realise mentoring is not
coaching or supervision by an older authoritative figure over a novice or
recruit. Rather, it is a gentle process of listening, and offering moral
support, advice and suggestions to young people like Telemachus as they start
out on their career path.
To have a Mentor
is a rare privilege. He provides you with a moral
compass and some nudges here and there, but he doesn’t order you to follow
his direction or propose that you take a certain course of action. It is up to
you to choose your options, make mistakes, acquire knowledge, and resolve
issues in your career and relationship. The Mentor relies on having had similar
experiences in his past, to provide the sound advice that you are free to
accept or ignore.
Mentoring in the workplace
Many companies
appoint official “Mentors” for new employees (known by the horrid word
“mentees” which sounds like baby sea cows). Strictly speaking, such senior
people are not Mentors but career guides and counsellors who also evaluate and
write reports about the new employee’s attitude, behaviour and competence. As a
result, the employee faces a double burden: in addition to sucking up to their
own direct supervisor, they also need to curry favour with the official “Mentor ” to ensure they
get a favourable report.
Of course if you are skilled in office politicking, you can play your
supervisor against the Mentor ,
but this is a dangerous game and you usually end up the ultimate loser.
The genuine Mentor
in your workplace is in an unofficial, voluntary role. Both of you choose each
other through an informal, invisible process (hence many people go through
their entire career without ever being mentored).
The Mentor
would thus be someone in your company who has much longer experience than you,
who is wise in the working world, but not necessarily someone of higher
seniority. He is not directly involved in your work; so he helps you evaluate
your progress and performance without bias or obligation.
He prods you to believe in yourself and to develop your own
self-confidence. He challenges you to explore new ideas and options, but he
leaves you to find your own answers.
In a word, the Mentor
is more than a friendly colleague, but he is not a teacher, supervisor or coach.
You as Mentor
If you want to
be someone’s Mentor ,
you would need to check if you have the patience, sensitivity and understanding
for this role. You refrain from lecturing or telling them what to do in their
career advancement. But you challenge them to explore new ideas, to seek out
difficult tasks and options, and to believe they can achieve far more than they
think they can.
Look at in another way, mentoring is a form of giving back to society.
Someone has once helped you along life’s journey, now you are paying back to
the community by being a Mentor
yourself. It can be frustrating and tiring at times because the pupil can be
dull and unresponsive, and yet the Mentor
is in no position to enforce his advice. Ultimately, however, it is rewarding
when the Mentor
sees the transformation he has wrought in another’s life.
Moral Compass
The Mentor is guided by his
inner Moral Compass, a set of safety precepts on clear thinking, right speech
and blameless conduct. Like the magnetic needle that always points north no matter
how you rotate the casing, the Moral Compass always points to the moral north
no matter what excuse you may give, to justify a certain deviant behaviour.
The Moral Compass covers five precepts or prohibitions – no lying, no
stealing or taking of anything that doesn’t belong to you (including someone’s
spouse!), no consumption of alcohol or intoxicating substance (to maintain mental
clarity at all times), no killing or hurting any living creature, and no
promiscuous sex. While you won’t get rich by sticking to these precepts, you
will always sleep soundly each night, and your quiet hours will not be haunted
by self-recrimination or pre-dawn visits by the police.
Su Shih 蘇軾 the brilliant scholar, poet and administrator (died August
24, 1101) in the Song Dynasty was once thrown into jail on a trump-up charge by
enemies at court. The next day, however, the Emperor ordered his immediate
release. The Emperor said he asked the warden to observe Su Shih in his sleep.
The warden reported back that Su slept
and snored like thunder!
For a man who could snore in prison, it was obvious he had a blameless
conscience, His Majesty noted wryly.