Leadership and Executive Development for women of all races, cultures and backgrounds
Issue link: https://diversitywoman.epubxp.com/i/343997
Upfront > 12 D I V E R S I T Y W O M A N S u m m e r 2 0 1 4 d i v e r s i t y w o m a n . c o m THINKSTOCKPHOTOS Finding Time to Mentor Dear DW, I am busy full tilt at work. But I am often asked to mentor younger colleagues. If I said yes to everyone, my workload would become unmanageable. How can I handle this? Signed, Overwhelmed Dear Overwhelmed, If you've benefted from the advice and experience of more seasoned colleagues, you know how valuable such help can be. But have you considered the benefts you can gain from being a mentor? "Mentoring skills are highly transfer- able," says Lois J. Zachary, PhD, director of the Center for Mentoring Excellence in Phoenix and author of the forthcom- ing book Starting Strong: A Mentoring Fable. "It's a leadership competency that you add to your tool kit." What's more, you're likely to gain fresh ideas and perspectives from spending time with someone who's just starting out. Tat said, it's worth taking time to think about what you have to ofer as a mentor, why advising others is important to you, and how you can best use the time you have to give. What are the biggest strengths you have to ofer younger colleagues? Which colleagues are likely to make the most of your counsel? "It's important to look for a good learning ft between what the mentee is looking for and what your skills are," says Zachary. If you have your own priorities in mind, you're likely to feel more comfortable saying an enthusiastic yes to some requests—and turning down others that aren't such a good ft. As for adding mentoring to an already tight schedule, you might consider group mentor- ing, if you're often asked for advice on the same topics. And remem- ber that mentoring doesn't always have to happen during ofce hours. You might schedule a lunch with a mentee, or even a walk at the end of the workday. One other suggestion from Zachary: to free up time, fnd some tasks you can delegate to someone else—ideally, duties that provide that person with an oppor- tunity to learn something new. The Office B ack in 2004, women flled at least half the jobs at the fve companies topping Fortune's Best Companies to Work For list. Not so in 2014: Only one among the top fve, Edward Jones, has more than 50 percent female workers. What's more, the 2014 list is far more tech-centric than the 2004 one. Tech companies have been criticized for years for their poor record of hiring both women and minorities. But change may be com- ing: This past spring, under pressure from activists, Google—the #1 company to work for on the 2014 Fortune list—fnally released numbers on the gender and ethnicity of its workforce. Making the numbers public, a company spokesman said, is part of acknowledging that the company—and the industry—needs to be more diverse. Dream Companies Versus 2004 2014 Company % Women Employees % Minority Employees Company % Women Employees % Minority Employees J.M. Smucker 50 25 Google 30* 40** Alston & Bird 58 22 SAS Institute 42 18 Container Store 62 24 The Boston Consulting Group 45 26 Edward Jones 63 6 Edward Jones 64 6 Republic Bancorp 76 11 Quicken Loans 46 23 Adobe Systems 38 28 Genentech 51 44 TDIndustries 8 32 Salesforce.com 30 35 SAS Institute 49 14 Intuit 42 33 Wegmans Food Markets 54 12 Robert W. Baird & Co. 40 7 Xilinx 30 43 DPR Construction 24 21 Source: Great Places to Work Institute/Fortune magazine *Global data; source is Google **U.S.-only data; 75% of the total are Asians; source is Google