Do You Have a Mentorship Programme
Do You Have a Mentorship Programme By Dr Riaan Steenberg A mentorship programme is not a calendar of pleasant conversations.
By Dr Riaan Steenberg
A mentorship programme is not a calendar of pleasant conversations. It is a deliberate system for transferring judgement, confidence, context, and capability.
Define the Purpose
Before matching people, decide what the programme is meant to do: accelerate new managers, support succession, transfer institutional knowledge, or build confidence in emerging leaders.
A vague purpose creates vague conversations.
Mentors Transfer Context
The most valuable mentor helps the mentee read the organisation: where decisions are made, what risks matter, which patterns repeat, and how to act with judgement.
Context turns experience into usable guidance.
The Mentee Must Work
Mentorship is not rescue. The mentee must bring questions, decisions, experiments, and evidence of application.
The mentor opens perspective. The mentee does the development work.
A good mentorship programme leaves people more capable than when they entered it. If it cannot show that, it is conversation rather than development.
Reading Map
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