I just came across a recent example of the mentoring manager cited in Richard Koch’s book the 80/20 Manager. Koch’s basic premise with the mentoring manager is that, “When people take an interest in us, we thrive. The mentoring manager takes an interest in his or her people (page 85).”
In her book Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama discusses the impact of her visit to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in the U.K. “An economist from a British University would later put out a study that looked at the test performances of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson students, finding that their overall scores jumped significantly after I’d started connecting with them- the equivalent of moving from a C average to an A. Any credit for improvement really belonged to the girls, their teachers, and the daily work they did together, but it also affirmed the idea that kids will invest more when they feel they’re being invested in. I understood that there was power in showing children my regard.” (page 608 of large print edition).
The visit to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson school in the U.K. is a good example of a mentoring manager and the positive benefits of taking a genuine interest in supporting people.
Let’s think of ways that we all might be mentoring managers to others.