Your People Professionals on LinkedIn

Sign Up for Free
Employer's Newsletter

Leadership Mentoring for Managers & Supervisors

Manager's Mentor provides coaching services to assist in the development of interpersonal skills managers must use to create a competitive advantage for your business. Our highly skilled HR professionals coach your managers on the complexities of leading a diverse workforce. An effective mentoring program will help develop managers that will lead your business into the future. A manager's job is to increase productivity by leading others and building an effective team. Understanding and managing a diverse workforce is one of the most challenging skills for managers to acquire.

For generations, leaders have developed and honed these skills through a combination of practical experience and mentors. The challenge is: how do you bring a top quality mentor program to your organization at an affordable cost?

Manager's Mentor' is a coaching service designed for today's manager or supervisor that has three or more direct reports. Our process is based on decades of experience in Human Resources and utilization of state-of-the-art assessments and processes. The communication process between the mentor and manager are supported by advanced remote technologies allowing desktop sharing and other collaborative tools. Manager's Mentor services are designed to assist front-line managers on the complexities of managing the diverse personality types within the workforce.

Phase 1 - Manager Know thy self

The quality of the relationship between Manager and employee significantly impacts employee performance. Managers and employees who understand and work effectively with each other's style are more productive and engaged. However, Managers who are out of sync with their employees cause low productivity, dwindling morale, and excessive employee turnover.

Within our Manager's Mentor Services we utilize Profiles Workforce Compatibility, which provides a scientifically validated insight into the unique working characteristics that impact the employee/manager relationship. This tool provides measurement of the manager and employee in:

The Mentor and the Manager will explore the results of the assessment and discuss how these attributes influence workplace relationships. Within this coaching session they will develop an implementation plan for the evaluation of entire team. In most situations this plan will cover all employees to avoid creating an environment where a specific employee feels unfairly scrutinized.

Phase 2: The Manager & Employee Combinations

Based on the work plan created in Phase 1, the employees will be scheduled for assessment. These assessments will be matched with the manager and both conflict and opportunity combinations will be discussed with the manager. In most situations the work plan will call for several weeks to a month time gap between employee assessments so the manager can focus on each employee. This is a long-term improvement program, not a quick fix.

The Manager and Mentor will discuss the results of the assessment and create and implement an action plan for addressing issues isolated by the process. The mentor and manager review the implementation of the action plan, and refine it to address changing conditions. By engaging in a candid, supportive feedback process, the manager learns to refine their leadership and management style to effect lasting change. This cycle continues as long as the manager gets value from the coaching.

Phase 3: Performance Reviews

Performance Reviews are a necessary part of the evolving employment relationship. As the Manager prepares for a performance review the Manager and the Mentor will discuss the relationships between the personality attributes and the performance review. The combination of a performance review with goals and objectives linked to a better understanding of personality combination of the manager/employee will improve the value that both parties get from the critical performance review process.

The opportunity to learn, grow, and develop new skills consistently shows up on employee surveys as a strong motivator. A well-designed performance review process ensures that no employee stagnates in their position, and that you are leading a developing workforce. The review process can often be stressful for the managers writing them and the employees receiving them, but an effective program is actually a valuable tool for managers rather than just another job duty.

The review itself, the process of delivery, and the follow-up and accountability with the employee are often not given much thought, and consequently don't carry much weight, except to tell the employee how much of a raise they'll be getting. Unfortunately, this misses the true value of this feedback, so your Mentor will work with you to pick up this valuable tool and start putting it to work in your business.

Phase 4: Recruiting

All organizations experience turnover at some point and this process creates a better understanding of the composite team allowing the manager to focus on the attributes that make the team successful. Great teams have members that are in balance with each other based on the team's mission. Recruiting is the time to consider what would make the team better and knowing the attributes of the key members and the role of the position to be filled improves the selection process.

Great Value - What does it Cost?

Much less than you think. Manager's Mentor services are provided on a monthly retainer so you never get a surprise bill and you know exactly what your costs will be. Monthly costs vary but can be as low as $200 a month for a single manager. For the first month with the first supervisor there is an additional charge for the Mentor to get to know the business culture. Assessment costs vary depending on the number managers and employees that are being served. This is not a one-size-fits-all solution, so call us today so we can prepare a detailed quote for your consideration.