Mentoring and how it can further diversity aims

Mentoring has long been a brilliant way for mentees to develop and progress in their career, for mentors to grow and improve their soft skills and for organisations to nurture talent. But experts believe it’s also key to transforming into a diverse, inclusive organisation. We asked three diversity and inclusion experts why and how it can be leveraged to further diversity aims.

1. Mentoring facilitates empathy, trust, and understanding

Mentoring is key to diversity when it is across racial divides and barriers. Organisational leaders looking to proactively enable diversity of people and thinking should look at ensuring mentoring opportunities are in place for the most underrepresented demographics among their employees.

Mentoring provides a mutually beneficial and cost-effective opportunity for the professional and personal development of both parties. It demonstrates a genuine interest in the development and advancement of another human being.

It provides a safe and trusting space for both parties – entering into the social and psychological contract of the relationship to learn about the values, real-life experiences, and challenges, good and bad, that both parties have experienced to date and how they overcame them. It, therefore, facilitates a diversity of thinking and perspective. It also facilitates the development of empathy.

When this translates into achieving more diversity within the leadership of your organisation and within your decision-making forums – which must be one outcome of a successful mentoring programme – the benefits for the organisation, the team, and the individual will be significant.

Yetunde Hofmann, executive leadership coach and mentor, founder of pioneering new leadership development programme for black women SOLARIS, and author of Beyond Engagement.

2. Mentoring can work against diversity if we don’t consciously include

Mentors tend to mentor people they already know, like, or who remind them of themselves. This means mentoring can actually work against diversity, simply replicating the status quo.

Therefore, if you are a mentor, make a conscious effort to reach out to a mentee who is as different from you as you can handle. The more different, the more you’ll do for inclusion – and the more perspective you’ll gain on yourself.

Mentoring can also be passive – it’s advice only. This can be welcome and useful, but it can also lead to a false sense of security that mentors are helping mentees when they may be deploying very little of their own political capital and not actually advancing a career or removing a barrier (which is what’s really needed).

Sponsorship (active advocacy for under-represented talent) may be what’s called for, above and beyond mentoring.

Overall, mentoring can be useful, but only if it’s conscious and only if it’s part of a more sustained effort to build diversity in an organisation. If we don’t consciously include, we will unconsciously exclude.

Stephen Frost is the founder of global diversity and inclusion consultancy Frost Included and co-author of the new book Building An Inclusive Organisation, published by Kogan Page.

3. Mentoring helps develop a vision of what an inclusive culture should look like

Every employee, whatever their level, will benefit from having someone who will help them grow professionally, and individuals from minority groups even more so.

Mentoring can help individuals better understand the unwritten rules of engagement in an organisation, navigate its culture and relationship dynamics, and decode situations that dominant groups may already be familiar with. It provides invaluable access to information, feedback, and people that can help to develop networks, visibility, and career advancement.

And, it’s a two-way street. Mentees provide mentors with a chance to see beyond their own assumptions. For leaders, this is particularly useful – they’ll gain insights that will help them form a stronger vision of what an inclusive culture should look like.

It facilitates cross-cultural knowledge sharing and helps to promote awareness and sensitivity to different perspectives – key elements for an inclusive organisational culture that drives successful business outcomes.

About the authors: 

Natasha Harvey is a certified transformational coach and founder of Embrace Your Change, specialising in working with young women to build self-awareness, confidence, and resilience.

Stephen Frost is the founder of global diversity and inclusion consultancy Frost Included and co-author of the new book Building An Inclusive Organisation, published by Kogan Page.

Yetunde Hofmann, executive leadership coach and mentor, founder of pioneering new leadership development programme for black women SOLARIS, and author of Beyond Engagement.

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