Successful delivery of key initiatives – Why Mentoring is the right approach

Mentoring provides an alternative approach to successfully deliver on key initiatives, projects or pieces of work. Frequently external resources are allocated to manage key pieces of work or projects. There are times when this is the best option for delivery. However, to build internal capability and retain institutional knowledge, sometimes just having a mentor or critical friend to work alongside the manager/person can deliver better results.

This approach provides flexibility as it can be scaled depending on the complexity, type of project, timeframes and skills/experience of the manager.

The support that can be provided includes

getting the set-up phase right - making sure the initial thinking and planning are robust
navigating the authorising environment – effective internal and external communication, including presenting to senior teams
reviewing documents, providing input and feedback
how to think about the performance lift or change that is required
challenging assumptions and thinking
ensuring the right level of governance is in place
identifying risk and mitigation strategies
developing measures for success
regular support and advice - coaching people on what they need to bring to the work personally - resilience, adjusting their leadership style, etc.

The benefits from this approach are

it’s cost effective – you only pay for what you need rather than full time support
builds internal capability
facilitates learning
retains the knowledge in the agency.

Some examples where this approach works best

development of corporate strategies – people or workforce strategies
organisational development initiatives – such as building the organisation culture, leadership development programmes
organisation design and change leadership – supporting managers to lift performance through change processes
new initiatives or projects that enable a lift in performance – new ways of working.