A Simple Formula
Learning to mentor the people who work for you is the most important skill as a leader. Your mentoring can make an immense impact on productivity as well as a myriad of other benefits.Sometimes when I teach the aspect of Inquiry Management where leaders and management take up to 1 hour each week for mentoring each of their direct reports they often wonder where they will find the time. The hardest leap to understand is how to spend time on mentoring when there are so many things to do.Here is a formula that might help you see it in a different way.Let's assume that mentoring works and that by applying it you get a 10% improvement in productivity (I predict more) with the direct reports you are mentoring.Let's also assume that you have six direct reports and that they work 40 hours a week.At 1 hour a week mentoring for each, this will take you 6 hours.The combined work hours of your six direct reports are 240 hours each week.With a 10% increase in productivity from mentoring, you will see a minimum weekly increase of an extra 24 hours from your reports. 240 hours x 10% = 24 hours.So for your six hours, you get 24 hours of increased productivity, a 4:1 return on your investment that will continue to grow. For each person, you mentor you get back 4 hours of productivity.By establishing a system of Inquiry Management in your organization, you are creating a system of in-house mentoring with significant and far-reaching benefits. Increased productivity is only the tip of the iceberg. Other advantages include accountability, esprit de corps, talent retention, personal and organizational well-being, increased insight into the activities of your company, the establishment of a system that prepares your company for growth, advancing leadership, employee satisfaction, and the great joy of inspiring others to achieve their wants and excellence.Every moment you spend developing productivity gives your time tremendous leverage. Learn to empower your team.