The leader’s job is both dynamic and daunting. The leader must choreograph the corporate vision, purpose, values, strategy, tactics, and goals. The leader must also compose the team through which he executes the business model.
Leaders must influence followers by continually adjusting some 90 material variables validated in a 2006 article by Dr. Bruce Winston and Dr. Kathleen Patterson, “An Integrative Definition of Leadership.” In addition, the leader must continually orchestrate the emphasis among these variables in the context of competitive realities: (i) customers buy on comparative value, (ii) value is a function of price, (iii) price pressure in the marketplace. The market is unforgiving, (iv) ) firms have more control over their costs than over their prices, (v) profitability is a function of price and cost, and (vi) profitability is the prerequisite for career prospects of the employees.
Effective leaders practice something that consultancy Middle Market Methods considers R4: the right people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time. Especially with regards to skills, this alchemy is a mix of discipline and mentoring. Discipline and mentoring can be strongly espoused values. As such, a leader’s corporate legacy may be institutionalizing the discipleship and mentoring processes.
The family relationship between children, parents, and grandparents offers some insight into the organizational principles of discipleship and mentoring between leaders and followers. Grandparents and parents can share similar values. Furthermore, they may have similar motivations and aspirations for the child. However, parenting and parenting tactics may differ.
Parenting by grandparents is akin to mentoring. Grandparents tend to have less face-to-face time with the child. They may approach the child altruistically with influence. They may invite the child to learn in a non-directive or threatening manner. Perhaps the child is more receptive to the proposals of the grandparents because the source that emanates is not the comparatively authoritative father figure. Grandparent mentoring can result in the achievement of the child’s perspective or the development of wisdom. Successful grandparent mentoring can prepare the child to analyze ambiguous situations and make mature decisions.
Parenting is similar to discipline. Parents tend to spend more face time with the child. Parents may wish to indoctrinate the child. The parent’s teaching approach can include both positive and negative reinforcement. Parental discipline can result in the child’s perception of right and wrong. The desired outcome of parental discipline may be the child’s “good” Pavlovian response to situations beyond the parent’s line of sight. Successful parental discipline can result in institutionalized values and character of the child.
from homer Odyssey first introduced the word mentor and positioned the role as a trusted advisor. At Chip Bell’s Managers as Mentors, explains tutoring as the process by which a mentor helps an apprentice to learn. Bell expounds the learning formula by describing its informal, infrequent, and maverick aspects. The idea of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates as bridge opponents comes to mind. Both are corporate icons in their places, yet they advise each other on business and non-business issues.
The root of the word discipline is disciple. Tea Online etymology dictionary it imparts a picture of a student achieving understanding. Students require teachers. Thus, the teaching process, or discipleship, connotes an environment of order, authority and rigor.
The comparison and contrast of discipline with mentoring can be seen as the difference between competence and skill. A leader can disciple his followers to reach levels of experience. For empowered and delegated business cultures, disciplined knowledge includes situations that require confirmation with the chain of command. This is especially important in virtual and global organizations. Leaders can gauge the effectiveness of their discipline by the follower’s ability to apply acquired skills to predictably perform assigned responsibilities.
The concept of discipline enjoys several practical examples. Certified public accountant and bar exams attest to technical competencies for potential employers. Commercial banks routinely put new employees through credit training programs. Even permanent employees receive ongoing education and training in compliance, such as sexual harassment, equal employment opportunity, and conflict management.
The craft goal of mentoring comes with a different game plan than discipline. Mentors do not trump authoritative mentees. True mentoring is offered to the apprentice for personal consideration and voluntary adoption of it. Mentor insights are presented to the mentee as a means to reach a higher level of performance and personal fulfillment. Through effective mentoring, the apprentice can reach the apex of psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs: self-actualization.
While the learner is free to avoid knowledge without immediate consequences, a bad decision can affect the development of his career. This choice provides discernment to the apprentice. Also, since the learning experience includes the mentor, there is an opportunity for the mentor to try stylistic approaches to sharing knowledge with other potential mentees.
Mentoring is a reciprocal opportunity. The mentor can become the mentee (mentee). While the mentor role may involve experienced seniority, the (possibly) junior mentee may impart knowledge to her mentor. For example, the veteran mentor may offer ideas about multicultural virtual teams to the mentee. The trainee can return the favor with technological knowledge to manage projects, such as Microsoft Project Server and Microsoft Share Point.
Discipline and mentoring can be examined through Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory of hygienic and motivating factors. Perhaps hygienic factors align with discipline. Hygienic factors include company politics and administration, supervision, interpersonal relationships, working conditions, salary, status, and safety. Perhaps the motivating factors align with mentoring. Motivating factors include achievement, recognition of achievement, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and growth.
Work teams are increasingly diverse in terms of age, gender, demographics, and geography. Consequently, the leader’s strategy to disciple and mentor his team must be reconciled with the theaters of business model execution. The leader has to be smart enough to select the best script to disciple and guide the followers. Faced with these complexities, the leader may forgo direct discipline and mentoring in favor of an indirect route. These paths can be intra-organizational or extra-organizational.
Leaders must consider cultural variation in their discipleship and mentoring strategy. The Geert-Hofstede Cultural Variation Tool provides comparative information in the categories Power Distance Index, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, and Long-Term Orientation. For example, a wide variation in the power-distance index may indicate that discipling is easier than mentoring. In more egalitarian cultures, mentoring can be easier than discipling.
Dr. John Ivancevich provides generational information in his textbook, Human resources management. The older generation is largely retired from the workforce. While your formal education may be comparatively Spartan for generations to come, your experiences are invaluable. Are they mentors in waiting?
What about Generation X? They are approaching the last scenes of their careers. What do Gen Xers offer as disciples and mentors for Gen Yers to enter the workforce? Can these generations exchange knowledge in the context of mentoring?
The true dividends of discipline and mentoring are the mutual gratification of better employee performance. While the effect of discipline may be apparent, mentoring may not leave traceable causal evidence. Therefore, the leader must be content with favorable performance results, never knowing for sure the portion attributable to mentoring. Such is the waltz of leadership.
