How mentorship makes a huge difference in leadership

Kenya Women Parliamentary Association members (KEWOPA) showcase their dancing prowess at Riokindi Girls High School in Kisii County during the launch of a Mentorship and Menstrual hygiene sensitization program. [Sammy Omingo, Standard]

The story of Moses is undoubtedly as inspiring as it is a lesson in leadership during times of adversity.

He is considered one of the most important prophets in both the Christian and Muslim faiths having led his people, the Israelites, out of bondage in Egypt, across the Red Sea, to the promised land of Israel, while doing so receiving the ten commandments that guide both religions to this day.

While Moses stands tall in history it is important to acknowledge the mentorship role a gentleman called Jethro had in his success as a leader. Jethro, who was also Moses's father-in-law, gave several lessons to Moses, the most notable being on delegation of responsibility, and these lessons contributed to his success as a leader.

While mentorship is not necessarily a pre-requisite to good leadership (and indeed several leaders go through their reigns without mentors), it has been known to make the difference between good and great leadership by driving numerous benefits to its recipients starting with the first leadership challenge, loneliness.

Leadership is said to be lonely. Mentorship plays a big role in relieving that feeling. A mentee benefits from the presence of a willing sound board against which to bounce ideas and generate constructive challenge.

Great mentorship conversations take place when trust is cultivated between the mentor and mentee and before long the mentor becomes a great ally, and this relationship goes a long way in filling the leadership void. The mentee benefits from words and actions of encouragement and a shoulder to lean on when things are not going too well, as well as the shoulder pats of a cheer leader when they are.

Furthermore, most corporate structures have built in checks and balances which they use to keep their leaders accountable, but many don't. In those cases, the leaders will need accountability partners to protect them from going astray and here again the relationship between mentor and mentee comes to bear good fruit.

Because of this trust relationship, the mentee is happy to seek the advice of the mentor when it comes to setting both growth and performance goals. The growth goals will derive from what the mentor sees as the development needs of his mentee, and because he has won over his confidence, they are more likely to be more relevant than if they were derived from any other source.

Similarly, the performance goals will benefit from an 'outside looking in' view that the mentor has and will therefore be less likely to carry with them a 'performance history' bias.

Mentors are generally selected because of their wide experience and knowledge base, and their ability to transfer that knowledge down to those they mentor.

A mentee seeking a mentor will therefore need to look out not just for the 'bonding' potential he sees in him but also for the experience he has built for himself. In that way a mentee having selected a good mentor will benefit enormously in the sense that he is exposed to a well of knowledge from which to fill his own vase.

The same applies to the networks that the mentor will put available for the use of the mentee who will use them to bolster his own network.

For the reasons above, it is worth the while of any leader wishing to go the distance to invest in finding and building a great relationship with a good mentor. Potential mentors need not worry though that the benefit of the relationship is one way.

Besides the satisfaction of 'giving back' that they receive from successfully carrying out their mentoring duty, they benefit from the opportunity to build their leadership competencies as well as add onto their own networks through tapping into the mentee's networks, though not always quite as literally as Jethro did when Moses took one of his daughters in marriage.

I would therefore encourage all leaders to seek out at least one good mentor if you don't already have one, while at the same time offering yourselves out to mentor others if not already doing so.

The writer is the Managing Director, Kenya Breweries Limited