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by Rajen Kumar
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Mentoring for Business Success
SME WORLD Bureau
Sep 2010
Sep 2010
Mentoring, which is most commonly defined as developmental dialogues between a more experienced ‘Mentor’ and a less experienced partner referred to as a ‘Mentee’ or ‘Protégé’, creates a space for dialogue that results in reflection, learning and action. Successful people, be they professionals, sports persons, litterateurs or musicians have all had or have mentors to guide them. It is time SME business owners look at mentoring as an important ingredient of their business success.
Small and Medium Business Owners (SME- Owners) are necessarily required to be constantly involved in each and every aspect of their businesses, be it ensuring that day to day operations are running efficiently, that customers are happy, getting new customers and ensuring that there is money at the end of the month to pay salaries and much more. Is it therefore not surprising that a businessman needs not only to do so many different things but also to know a great deal about a plethora of subjects.
In contrast, larger and more established companies employ teams of managers who are specialists in their areas, such as Marketing, Finance, Operations and so on, would carry out the tasks that an SME owner (or a couple of them) has to himself.
One other challenge that SME Owners have to deal with is that, being so caught up with day-to-day activities and issues, they most often just do not get the time to spend thinking about the long term and how they might take their businesses to the next level. In short, SME Owners face both time as well as talent deficits in their firms. It is neither viable nor feasible for SMEs to to hire full time senior management to run the business while they plan for the future.
One way to bridge the talent gap is for the SME to hire one or more consultants to execute specific talks. And here lies the crunch; consultants are mainly assignment-based in their approach, and, if they really have the knowledge and experience required, are very expensive to retain on a long-term basis.
Often SME- Owners turn to friends, relatives or chartered accountants for business advice. While the advice thus received could be well intentioned, often it lacks the depth of experience and knowledge that a successful professional or entrepreneur is able to provide. SME-owners turn to friends and relatives because they do not have access to professional mentors.
While many SMEs do go the consultant or friends and family routes, their best option is to seek business advice from people that they can trust- they seek out Advisers and Mentors.
Mentors are typically senior professionals and Entrepreneurs who, in the course of their own careers, have experienced and successfully dealt with the kind of situations that the SME Owner faces today. By seeking a Mentors Advice the SME Owner can significantly enhance his chances of success and avoid costly mistakes.
A Mentor is not a consultant, but a guide who assists the Mentee (the person being mentored) in identifying, framing and diagnosing business issues and problems, and guiding the Mentee by suggesting approaches to solve them. A relationship between a Mentor and a Mentee is neither short term, nor is it transaction-based- It is a medium to long-term relationship in which the Mentor handholds a Mentee throughout the resolution of the issue or issues identified. The Mentor councils and encourages the Mentee to explore business or other issues with confidence. A good Mentor, having undergone similar experiences in business and life and is well suited to provide guidance with understanding, empathy and objectivity.
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