Effective Managers Use Mentoring to Elevate Learning

Three people look at a computer together

Source: Mimi Thian / Unsplash

Each January, National Mentoring Month provides an opportunity to put explicit attention on the role and value of mentoring relationships. Mentoring is a tool individuals can use to grow their career paths, build their networks, and gather feedback on growth opportunities (Blickle, Witzki, & Schneider, 2009; Murphy & Ensher, 2001). Mentoring provides momentum for growth, transforming experiences into unique developmental opportunities. And that makes it a great tool that you as a manager can use to develop deeper connections and engagement with your employees, especially those just beginning their professional journeys. Mentoring creates opportunities to take seemingly routine work tasks and turn them into experiential learning.

What Is Experiential Learning?

Put simply, experiential learning is learning that happens through direct experience. In school settings, where this term is most frequently applied, this includes internships, group projects, research, or other activities that happen outside of a traditional classroom. But the important part is that actual learning must happen. In other words, this isn’t passive experience but active engagement.

David A. Kolb is attributed with developing experiential learning theory and the associated four-step cycle:

1. Experiencing (Concrete Experience): Learning begins when an individual uses senses and perceptions to engage in what is happening.
2. Reflecting (Reflective Observation): After the experience, the individual reflects on what happened and connects feelings with ideas about the experience.
3. Thinking (Abstract Conceptualization): The individual engages in thinking to reach conclusions and form theories, concepts, or general principles that can be tested.
4. Acting (Active Experimentation): The individual tests the theory and applies what was learned to get feedback and create the next experience.

The cycle is iterative in nature, with each new application of learning leading to a new experience.

So, for example, a college student embarks on a summer internship (Experiencing). Throughout the internship they perform tasks that require them to reflect on the skills, interests, and abilities they are developing, and how well these are aligned with future roles (Reflecting and Thinking). At the conclusion of the internship, through reflection and feedback conversations, they identify how to incorporate this newly acquired knowledge into their job search and make adjustments as appropriate (Acting).

What Does It Look Like at Work?

The past few years of upheaval have shined a light on many aspects of what has been working, and what hasn’t, within the workplace. And what’s become quite clear is that today’s young professionals are seeking very specific opportunities from work, which include flexibility, meaning, purpose, and balance. But they also seek opportunities to learn, grow, and progress within their career. Indeed, one of the best ways that today’s manager can support their people and make them feel valued is to identify specific learning opportunities that connect to their individual strengths and interests and provide structure to elevate the learning.

What this looks like will differ based on the organization or industry. In a sense, any work task can be turned into experiential learning with the right structure in place. Don’t ask someone to sit on a committee just to fill a seat. Have an intentional conversation about how that work connects to the employee’s learning goals. And then have ongoing conversations about what the employee is learning and how they can use that knowledge in the future as they continue to develop and build their career.

Use Mentoring Tools to Do This Work

Mentoring, when done well, deepens the learning that takes place through intentional experiences. And management, when done well, uses the strategies of effective mentorship to help employees elevate both their learning and their work.

These tools won’t ensure that every employee is engaged and committed, nor will they prevent employees from leaving your organization. But without them, you can expect your people to be disengaged, lack commitment, and quickly look to find a more supportive and growth-oriented environment elsewhere. Put simply, the investment of time and resources to develop the people you have far outweighs the investment it will take to replace them.

Start here:

• Spend time getting to know your people as people. Remote work or not, you cannot manage nor can you mentor from a distance. Your people show up to work every day with individual motivations, needs, strengths, and interests, and the only way you are going to find out what those are is to talk to them. Get to know your people as people, first.
• Create individual learning goals. Once you have a better understanding of strengths and interests, work with your people to create learning goals that connect their strengths and interests to the work. Just because someone wants something, doesn’t mean they get to have it. But as much as possible, look for ways to connect the work to the individual’s learning goals. This will make the work more meaningful, which in turn will increase engagement.
• Establish clear accountability and success measures and schedule regular time for feedback. Part of being a great manager is upholding accountability, giving objective feedback, and communicating clear measures for success. A learning goal is no different than a purely task-oriented goal. What will success look like and how will it be measured? When will you check in on progress and provide feedback?
• Privilege the learning, always. Finally, when it comes to experiential learning, be sure to lean heavily on the learning side of the equation. The intention is to develop skills, knowledge, or abilities that furthers the individual’s career journey. Be the person to ask, “What did you learn from that experience?”; “What could you have done differently?”; “What helped you to be successful and what challenged you?”; and, “What do you do with this new knowledge moving forward?” Thus, the learning cycle begins again.