SuperMentoring™
SuperMentoring™ is a corporate coaching system developed by Presentation Excellence for improving the individual and group performance within companies committed to the professional development of employees and creating a performance culture. (We also deliver individualized Executive Coaching, click here for details.)
Over the past decade, many companies have adopted a wide variety of training, coaching and mentoring programs designed to improve the performance of individuals directly within the organization, and indirectly within the corporate culture. Presentation Excellence's team members, with advanced degrees in psychology and business, and substantial hands-on experience as business leaders, have developed an advance model.
The SuperMentoring program trains Mentors and Mentees to understand the mentoring process, the importance of developing goals and strategies for implementing them, and being held accountable for progress. Using specially designed forms to identify short, intermediate, and long-term goals and strategies for achieving them, each team meets weekly to monitor progress on the specific objectives set for that week, and the person's goals in general, and set new ones for and the following week. The length of time for each program varies, generally from 3-6 months in duration.
A special effort is made to creatively develop innovative, out-of-the-box solutions to career challenges, and to monitor success achieved the desired goals. Mentors never are Mentees' supervisors; they are more experienced staff from similar departments through which they can appreciate many of the work challenges of the Mentees.
Unique to the SuperMentoring model is the recognition that Mentors may not be effective coaches, and that as part of the Mentoring process, they can enhance their own executive career development, through career goal clarity and acquisition of new skills. Key is the involvement of the Supervising-Mentor who guides Mentors and provides creative solutions to help Mentor and Mentee.
SuperMentoring has been applied in contexts as diverse as improving the effectiveness of junior sales people for a Fortune 1000 to enabling an association serving over 65,000 members to provide career and professional guidance to newer employees and at the same time providing executive development coaching to the Mentors. Confidentiality is strictly maintained between all parties to ensure candor and trust.
Below are some of the SuperMentoring approaches we've already implemented; in some cases, we've combined them. To discuss how your organization could benefit from an application of this technology, please contact info@presentationexcellence.com.
As we plan for the 4th Cycle of the SuperMentoring program, I want to thank you for the time and dedication you've invested to structure the program to meet our staff's work needs and expand the program to meet new challenges posted by ICSC's increasingly global focus.
Initially, the Mentoring program focused on training middle managers to provide career guidance to newer staff members to increase their ability to grow with the company. As the program has continued, you've helped us expand the program to provide executive development coaching for the Mentors. The feedback from the Mento rs and Mentees has been favorable, as both groups experience your creative efforts to enable each to get the most of mentoring and make a larger contribution to the growth of ICSC. As we see professional growth and development by both groups, it's obvious the program is succeeding.
Keep up the good work!
FM, ICSC
SuperMentoring for Sales People
The focus of this program is to pair an experienced sales person (Mentor) with a junior sales person (Mentee), and help the Mentee learn sales strategies, tactics and techniques more rapidly than he/she ordinarily would by only relying on his/her supervisor. It works because supervisors generally are focused on immediate performance related issues, while the Mentor/Mentee can focus on strategic issues. For instance, in one program a Mentee was complaining about the quality of the leads being used for the system he was using; the Mentor laughed, remembering that he had the same problem years ago, and introduced the Mentee to another source of (free) highly qualified leads that he had discovered and now used. The Mentor-Mentee dyad meet weekly as does the Mentor-SuperMentor.
SuperMentoring for New Hires
The focus on this program is to help relatively new hires (usually in the company at least 3-6 months) fully understand the corporate direction and culture, in order to map out a career path within the company which will lead to accelerated growth and commitment. Mentees identify career goals they want to achieve and work on. Sometimes, Mentees will discover that the new position or company is really not a good fit; we view this is a positive outcome, since it facilitates long-term growth by employees who stay. The Mentor-Mentee dyad meet weekly as does the Mentor-SuperMentor.
SuperMentoring for Executive Development
The focus of this program is on developing the management and leadership skills of middle and senior managers. Here the SuperMentor serves as a coach/mentor for the executive, addressing specific concerns established by his/her supervisor and the executive. This program can be implemented in parallel with the one for new hires, since the executives are able to practice keep leadership, communication and other skills while they are mentoring someone else. The Mentor & SuperMentor generally meet each week.
SuperMentoring for Winning Sales Teams
Today, it's sales teams, rather than isolated individuals who sell financial and other services. As a result, peers can provide mentoring - in the sense of making sure everyone establishes performance goals, provide inspiration and encourage creative problem-solving to address challenges, and hold them accountable for achieving the desired results.Mentors and Mentees in this program are peers from other sales teams (within the same or similar industries) who interact daily for 15-30 minutes through conference calls. The SuperMentor guides the process by launching the program and monitoring the process (initially every day and later a few times a week). The SuperMentor also coaches some of the members individually, when the nature of their challenge is one which will not be addressed as easily through Winning Sales Team conference calls.
"I no longer feel part of a "silo", I truly apprecite the value of the team. Moreover, I found a new friend that I would be glad to work with in the future." A.M.