Few practices in modern business can be traced back to 800 BC in the way that mentoring can. The concept features in Homer’s Odyssey when Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, sets off to fight the Trojan Wars and tasks his friend Mentor to raise his son Telemachus in his absence. Mentor acts as a teacher, role model, trusted adviser and encourager to Telemachus on his journey to become a wise ruler.
The spirit of mentor-mentee relationships lives on in the modern practice. These days, a more experienced and knowledgeable mentor typically works informally with a younger colleague to enhance their development. Although mentoring programmes in engineering often revolve around technical matters, the relationship between mentor and mentee helps to develop interpersonal skills, and the focus is on long-term guidance and career development.
Peter Finegold, head of education at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, describes the mentor as similar to a Sherpa: “It’s using knowledge to lead somebody where they are not familiar by giving them support.” He says that mentoring gives value to the abilities that engineers need to gain throughout their careers, and helps them to develop social and personal skills.
He adds that, while taking part in the process, the mentor and the mentee will consider their work practices, and how and why they do tasks in particular ways. This can help to flag up potential improvements, which can bring benefits to the organisation. “Good mentoring makes a mentor and mentee feel valued, and gives them a warm feeling about the organisation that has put them in that position.
“There is a huge amount of wisdom, acquired knowledge and expertise in any organisation, and mentoring is a mechanism of transferring some of it. It’s valuable in bridging the generation gap.”
This transfer of knowledge from older employees to younger ones is especially valuable in engineering, which is grappling with the challenge of an ageing workforce. Engineering employers will have 2.74 million job openings this decade, according to the latest report by Engineering UK. But the nation is undergoing a demographic shift, which means that the proportion of the population of working age that could fill these positions is falling.
A recent report by specialist recruiter Randstad suggests that 60% of the population will be of working age by 2050, compared with 66% today. Randstad says that engineering is one of the professions that will be worst hit by the retirement of ageing employees, who will take vital skills and knowledge with them. Around 70% of those employed in the nuclear sector will be retired by 2025, for example, which does not bode well for the multibillion-pound investment in the industry that is needed in the years ahead.
Companies can also use mentoring to help young engineers become chartered. At Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, Johann Kastern has been working with his mentor Ed Hatwood to achieve this status. Kastern joined the company on a graduate programme. During his first two years, he worked in nine departments on a variety of projects, including mechanical design, manufacturing and reliability. He is now four years into his career and has been mentored throughout.
Kastern says that the time spent with his mentors has been valuable. During the graduate scheme, he jumped around from one area of the business to another and worked with many different people. “The mentoring helps with a grounding because it’s a single person who you can go to throughout that initial stage, when you are doing a lot of learning and need to develop skills that you hadn’t needed before.”
In 2011 Kastern started working with Hatwood towards becoming chartered. The pair have informal meetings once a month to discuss Kastern’s progress and review the quarterly and annual reports of evidence required to become chartered under the IMechE’s monitored professional development scheme. “He had a different angle on those projects, and his advice and guidance were very helpful,” says Kastern.
For Hatwood, who has been with the company for 13 years, being a mentor is fulfilling. “It helps me to feel I am giving something back,” he says. “Johann gives me information as well, as he is working in a technical area – it’s a two-way process.”
The company sees benefits from mentoring, too. Mike Nash, head of human resources, says: “It helps to cement working relationships. If you are trying to do research and development, it is no use sending an email. It’s much more timely and efficient to have a conversation, and they are more likely to do that if they have a relationship.”
All the graduates and apprentices across the 500-strong business are mentored, as well as more senior technical specialists recruited into the firm when appropriate.
Further north in Leeds, Matthew Jackson, the latest apprentice to join Siemens Mechanical Drives, is being mentored by Mike Peate. Peate finished his own apprenticeship in 2010 and is now a production team leader at the factory, which assembles gearboxes and motors for industry.
As well as running a department and overseeing outgoing orders, Peate works with Jackson to help him learn how to make gearboxes and motors. Jackson moves across several departments in the business, but when in Peate’s area the pair work together on the factory floor.
The relationship extends beyond the technical. Jackson goes to Peate to discuss any issues that he has, including any problems with college work. The pair speak daily, and Peate has contact with Jackson’s training adviser and college. Peate is also developing a training matrix that lists the skills Jackson should learn by specific times. This tool would have been valuable if it had existed when he himself was doing his apprenticeship, says Peate.
“My view of being a mentor for Matt is helping in any way I can,” he says. And the people skills he is developing as part of the scheme will help him to become a better manager in the future, he adds.
Jackson says this early stage of his career would be more challenging without Peate’s support. “I wouldn’t be as clued up or have as much knowledge about what is going to happen.” One day he hopes to mentor a new recruit himself, just as Peate has with him.
Prospective mentors need to be trained
Peter Finegold, head of education at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, says that mentoring is “no trivial task” and that prospective mentors need training to develop the skills for the job.
“Not everybody makes a good mentor,” he says. “It’s easy to end up as a trainer rather than a mentor.” Mentors need to be able to step back from a situation and be non-judgemental, he adds.
Even though the mentoring process is usually informal, it should still be structured. Ground rules should be established, along with the expectations of the mentee and mentor, the scope of the scheme, and how it fits in with other appraisal mechanisms.
“You have to have clear aims and objectives, and identify individual roles and responsibilities,” says Finegold. A personal development plan, and a “red flag” mechanism to identify when the arrangement is not working, can also be helpful.
Pair up for support
The IMechE is to launch a scheme that will pair up mentors and mentees from different companies. It will help engineers working in small firms, which might not have the people or resources to run in-house mentoring schemes, or those looking to move between sectors. Mentoring pairs can meet, talk on the phone or connect online using the IMechE’s career development portal. A pilot scheme is seeking volunteers. The full scheme launches in September.