KMC 1) - CONFIDENTIALITY (Part 3)

Key Mentorship Characteristics (KMC) 

1) CONFIDENTIALITY - An understanding between a limited number of parties regarding the extent to which information shared between them will be kept private or revealed to those outside of the group. Information that has been shared between the parties was communicated in confidence, with the understanding that it’s distribution will be carefully handled.

We had such a great response to our request for comments on the role of “CONFIDENTIALITY” in Mentorship that we felt we had to post these separately in order to keep these special comments intact for your benefit and reading pleasure.

This is a continuation from the first in a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships.

Here's a quick glimpse of the following special posts featured on this BLOG.

* IN THIS POST - Tuulikki Juusela, Womco Ltd (Finland)
 

Previous Post:

Feb. 7, 2013 - John Kuypers, Performance Shift Consulting (Canada)
Feb. 14, 2013 - Prof David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership (United Kingdom)

Please feel free to share your experience with respect to this aspect of mentorship and invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

We asked:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

Here are some comments that we've received from our friends, respected professionals and experts who are familiar with this subject:

Jim Ewing with Tuulikki Juusela

Tuulikki Juusela -Tuulikki Juusela has a M.Sc. focussed on psychology, national economics, social policy and statistics. She has long been active at an international level in mentorship. A Finnish citizen, she owns a training and public relations company as well as an antiques business. Formerly the Executive Director for the Finnish Council for Health Education, on the Executive Committee for the European Union for Health Education and the International Union for Health Education, Tuulikki has been the Head of the Statistical Office of the Finnish Municipal Association and Researcher for the Statistical Office of Finland. 

"Confidentiality in Mentoring 

- The successful partnership between the Mentor and Mentee is based on trust, honesty and confidentiality. It does safeguard the process and sensitive personal information. 
The opportunity to discuss issues in confidence is crucial to the effectiveness of mentoring.  All conversations between mentor and mentee have to be kept confidential unless both parties agree otherwise for a specific topic. 
Clarify how each party defines confidentiality. 
Discuss which topics or issues are most in need of “protection.”  Then agree together which items are confidential, maybe even writing them down and ”signing” together.



Areas of confidentiality could include: 


• work related areas (performance reviews, feedback, etc) that the mentee is willing to make available to the mentor
• areas of life outside of work that the mentee is willing to talk about (these should be relevant to the mentoring relationship) 

• areas of work and life that the mentor is willing to include in the mentoring relationship 



Also agree which sensitive issues are off-limits for discussion.  Delicate topics should be discussed only when initiated by the mentee.  Breaching confidentiality might cause considerable damage to the trust between mentor and mentee.  Mentors may encounter situations that are beyond their expertise, in which they may wish to consult with somebody.  Mentor needs permission from mentee.  Both partners agree that the Mentor can speak to someone else about an issue or problem.  The Mentor and Mentee will agree who the Mentor will speak to and the boundaries of the discussion."


Tuulikki Juusela
Womco Ltd
Finland

NOW - Please feel free to share your comments and experiences with respect to this aspect of mentorship.  Also, help us to reach others who could benefit from participating in this discussion. We welcome your 'sharing' this page with those in your circle of contacts!

Questions:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

KMC 1) - CONFIDENTIALITY (Part 2)

Key Mentorship Characteristics (KMC) 

1) CONFIDENTIALITY - An understanding between a limited number of parties regarding the extent to which information shared between them will be kept private or revealed to those outside of the group. Information that has been shared between the parties was communicated in confidence, with the understanding that it’s distribution will be carefully handled.

We had such a great response to our request for comments on the role of “CONFIDENTIALITY” in Mentorship that we felt we had to post these separately in order to keep these special comments intact for your benefit and reading pleasure.

This is a continuation from the first in a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships.

Here's a quick glimpse of the following special posts featured on this BLOG.

* IN THIS POST - Prof David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership (United Kingdom)

Coming Soon:

Feb. 21, 2013 - Tuulikki Juusela, Womco Ltd (Finland)

Tuulikki has a M.Sc. focussed on psychology, national economics, social policy and statistics. She has long been active at an international level in mentorship.  A Finnish citizen, she owns a training and public relations company as well as an antiques business. Formerly the Executive Director for the Finnish Council for Health Education, on the Executive Committee for the European Union for Health Education and the International Union for Health Education, Tuulikki has been the Head of the Statistical Office of the Finnish Municipal Association and Researcher for the Statistical Office of Finland. Drawing on her many and varied experiences in mentorship, Tuulikki highlights the importance of trust, honesty and confidentiality. She offers practical insights that help the participants respect the boundaries established within mentoring relationships.

Previous Post: 

Feb. 7, 2013 - John Kuypers, Performance Shift Consulting (Canada)

Please feel free to share your experience with respect to this aspect of mentorship and invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

We asked:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

Here are some comments that we've received from our friends, respected professionals and experts who are familiar with this subject:

Prof. David Clutterbuck

David Clutterbuck was one of the very early pioneers of mentoring and coaching. Author of 55 books, a third of them on coaching and mentoring themes, he is visiting professor at both Sheffield Hallam and Oxford Brookes Universities.  David co-founded the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and chairs the International Standards for Mentoring Programs in Employment.

 

"Confidentiality - When people glibly say that the mentoring relationship is confidential, what do they mean? In helping hundreds of organizations define confidentiality, here are some of the lessons I’ve learned:

• Confidentiality is about confidence — trust in the other person’s discretion and judgement. The greater the level of co-confidence, the higher the level of honesty and personal disclosure within the mentoring conversations
• It’s surprisingly rare in well-managed programmes for either party to break confidentiality. When it does happen, it often destroys the relationship and can undermine the entire programme
• Confidentiality is never absolute. Among exceptions:
• The mentor’s duty of care towards the mentee takes higher priority, should they be in mental or physical danger
• The mentor also has higher responsibilities in the context of duties in law (e.g. avoiding complicity in crime) and in their role as an officer of the organization (to avoid damage to its reputation)
• Privacy is often a more accurate term than confidentiality
• The existence of the mentoring relationship should always be public (otherwise it is open to misinterpretation, particularly in the context of cross-gender mentoring); however, the content of the mentoring conversations is private to the mentoring pair
• It’s important to agree on protocols for how to handle discussions with third parties. For example:
• What is an appropriate response when a mentor is asked for their views on the suitability of the mentee for a new or more senior role? How much of the content of the mentoring conversation is it appropriate to reveal in this situation, with regard to the mentee’s strengths and weaknesses, career aspirations and so on?
• What can the mentee say to their line manager about advice they have been given by their mentor?
• If mentor and mentee meet with the line manager to discuss the mentee’s development options, what should be revealed and how?
• If confidentiality has to be broken, for good and ethical reasons, it should never come as a surprise to either party. It’s important that mentor and mentee talk with each other to:
• Establish that there is an ethical issue
• Clarify each other’s responsibilities and duties of care
• Explore, and if possible agree, who should make the disclosure of the confidential information and how
• If one party refuses to behave ethically, and the other believes that a disclosure is necessary, the latter should set out clearly what they are going to say, to whom and when. This may not save the relationship, but at this point the level of trust (confidence) is likely to have been damaged irreparably anyway
• When in doubt, the party, who feels that disclosure is appropriate, should seek professional guidance (for example, from a professional mentoring supervisor)."

Prof David Clutterbuck
David Clutterbuck Partnership
Woodlands, Tollgate, Maidenhead, Berks, UK

Website: www.davidclutterbuckpartnership.com

NOW - Please feel free to share your comments and experiences with respect to this aspect of mentorship.  Also, help us to reach others who could benefit from participating in this discussion. We welcome your 'sharing' this page with those in your circle of contacts!

Questions:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

KMC 1) CONFIDENTIALITY (Part 1)

Key Mentorship Characteristics (KMC) 

1) CONFIDENTIALITY - An understanding between a limited number of parties regarding the extent to which information shared between them will be kept private or revealed to those outside of the group. Information that has been shared between the parties was communicated in confidence, with the understanding that it’s distribution will be carefully handled.

We invited our friends and readers to add their perspective on the role of “CONFIDENTIALITY” in Mentorship

This is the first in a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships. We’ve already received some great comments from experts and participants within mentoring relationships. Because of the value they provide, we’ve decided to post these separately in order to keep these special comments intact for your benefit and reading pleasure. 

Here's a quick glimpse of the following special posts to appear on this BLOG.

* IN THIS POST - John Kuypers, Performance Shift Consulting (Canada)

Coming Soon:

Feb. 14, 2013 - Prof. David Clutterbuck, David Clutterbuck Partnership (United Kingdom)

Prof. Clutterbuck was one of the very early pioneers of mentoring and coaching. Author of 55 books, a third of them on coaching and mentoring themes, David shares some of the lessons he’s learned on confidentiality. He comments on how it is gained and maintained, as well as when it needs to be broken, and how to handle that most delicate scenario. 

Feb. 21, 2013 - Tuulikki Juusela, Womco Ltd (Finland)

Tuulikki has a M.Sc. focussed on psychology, national economics, social policy and statistics. She has long been active at an international level in mentorship.  A Finnish citizen, she owns a training and public relations company as well as an antiques business. Formerly the Executive Director for the Finnish Council for Health Education, on the Executive Committee for the European Union for Health Education and the International Union for Health Education, Tuulikki has been the Head of the Statistical Office of the Finnish Municipal Association and Researcher for the Statistical Office of Finland. Drawing on her many and varied experiences in mentorship, Tuulikki highlights the importance of trust, honesty and confidentiality. She offers practical insights that help the participants respect the boundaries established within mentoring relationships.

Please feel free to share your experience with respect to this aspect of mentorship and invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

We asked:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

Here are a few of our thoughts to start things rolling:

Confidentiality goes ‘hand-in-hand’ with trust in a Mentorship relationship. It’s difficult to separate these two characteristics, as they are both critical to the success of mentoring relationships.  Confidentiality within the relationship provides those involved with an understanding that the information shared between them will be kept private and handled with appropriate care.

This foundation supports the ability of the participants to risk being vulnerable, yet remain secure while discussing sensitive issues. It takes courage to address many of the issues and struggles that individuals face. When both the mentor and mentee are careful to keep their conversations confidential, they strengthen their mutual trust and keep the learning relationship positive and productive.

Here are some comments that we've received from our friends, respected professionals and experts who are familiar with this subject:

John Kuypers – John Kuypers is a marketing & sales executive, leadership executive coach, consultant, speaker, and facilitator. He is a highly-respected strategist, Organizational Development expert, and the author of four books including, Who’s the Driver Anyway? Making the Shift To A Collaborative Team Culture.

John Kuypers 

Performance Shift Consulting
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Website: http://johnkuypers.com

“It is an unfortunate reality that people feel they need confidentiality in order to open up. It is viewed as crucial to trust. Without trust, the mentor relationship is worthless. Yet I believe part of a good mentoring relationship is challenging the mentee along the way, “What would bother you if this became known?”

Typically, the answer centers around a fear about how others would react if they knew the mentee’s truth.   Yet, the most common cause of performance and relationship problems at work is the withholding of honest truth from the person bothering the mentee. 

One of the most important jobs of a good mentor is to help the mentee learn to be authentic and real in their relationships.  As the mentee grows in comfort and confidence to do this, they themselves will begin to see that the only topics that need to be confidential are personal facts that are not relevant or information that might get people unnecessarily comparing and complaining, such as salary levels or speculative organizational changes.”

NOW - Please feel free to share your comments and experiences with respect to this aspect of mentorship.  Also, help us to reach others who could benefit from participating in this discussion. We welcome your 'sharing' this page with those in your circle of contacts!

Questions:

•       What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?

•       What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?

•       How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?

INVITATION to COMMENT - on “TRUST” in Mentorship

Here's an opportunity to add a few of your thoughts to upcoming posts on the topic of Mentorship!

We’ll be developing a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships. Input is being solicited from across various social media platforms we currently use, but please feel free to invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

Selected comments will be fully acknowledged, so we ask that you include your name, business name and website URL (as may be applicable) in order to be recognized for your voluntary contribution of comments. The completed post will be promoted within our circle of social media contacts, and we encourage you to share them with your circle of contacts!

This specific REQUEST FOR INPUT is regarding “TRUST” within the mentorship relationship.
 

* If you’ve had experience with Mentorship, please help us with your comments related to the following questions:

• What is the role of TRUST within a mentoring relationship?
• What does TRUST mean to you?
• How is TRUST developed between the mentoring partners?
  

We are looking forward to your comments and would greatly appreciate if they could be received prior to February 25, 2013 to be considered for the pending post on TRUST. 
(Comments received after the due date may still be included in future posts.)

Thanks for your kind consideration and participation.
We wish you the best of success in all your endeavors!

Pro-Vision Solutions Inc.
Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)

Business Success BLOG:  http://BusinessSuccessBlog.blogspot.com/
Mentorship BLOG:  http://ProVision-Mentorship.blogspot.com/
YouTube Channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvisionMentorship
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JimEwingProVision

Facebook:  facebook.com/JimEwingPVS
Twitter:  JimEwing_PVS

Multiple Mentoring Partnerships – Can they Work?

Have you made any of these comments recently:

• This Mentorship relationship doesn’t seem to be working
• Some developmental needs are not being met in this current Mentoring relationship.
• It seems like this Mentoring partnership has grown stale.
• I really feel that a change is needed.
  

Does any of that sound familiar? A Mentoring relationship does not have to be a life-long commitment. While some Mentoring relationships do extend over a longer period of time, it’s important to understand that it would only make sense if there was mutual value in continuing. More important, be aware of when the Mentee would be better served through finding an appropriately matched Mentoring relationship – one that meets their current growth requirements.

Consider whether the involvement of multiple Mentors could assist in meeting the unique and diverse needs of the Mentee. That’s an interesting strategy that may prove to be successful, as finding an exact match between a Mentee and Mentor becomes increasingly difficult as the number of skill areas expand.

Related to this, is a post from my friend Neil Kaarsemaker, Operations Director - Alberta Division, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. I was pleased to hear from Neil, who shares some of his thoughts and experiences on Mentorship.

I have two ongoing mentorship relationships. One is with my career & life coach, Linda Maul at Creating People Power. The other is a prayer partner whom I have been meeting with weekly for 8 years now. These are both one-on-one mentoring relationships where we get to know one another very well over time, and with the sharing of life experiences. This is crucial from my perspective - to spend the time to get to know one another deeply and personally. Sharing of experiences, the good and the bad, are the best learning experiences in a mentorship relationship. How we deal with the highs and lows is what defines us as a person. Also, learning to trust a mentor to keep your confidences and not judge you in the things you do or say is a powerful element in building a strong mentorship relationship.

Mentorship is often thought of a a one way street, but I disagree. Both parties gain, especially in the relationships I am experiencing. Even in a more traditional mentor/mentee relationship, both parties gain immensely.

A third mentorship relationship from my past has been a mens group that was focussed on the topic of life & career transitions in your 50's. The members had careers that were peaking, many with an option to retire on the horizon. Kids, if there were any, tended to be adults and were making their own decisions for life, education, love and relationships. This group of guys met every six weeks or so, over a four to six month span to discuss what we had been experiencing in our lives, what other transitions we had encountered that taught us about ourselves, leading into the next transition and our expectations for "what's next." This was a collaborative mentorship of story telling, questions for each other, and challenges on how to break through barriers, real and imagined.

Thanks Neil, for sharing your experience in having multiple Mentoring partnerships and how they can meet a wider variety of individual needs. 

PLEASE feel free to add your comments related to this post and how the needs of the Mentee/Protégé can be met through the creative use of Mentoring relationships.

Related to this story, simply click on the name of the person mentioned to view any of the following video interviews:

Dan Gaynor encourages Mentors to help the Protégé develop a sense of purpose. Dan poses the question: “Do these relationships need to end? He talks about one of his personal mentorship relationships where they still periodically connect - even after many years! The nature of the relationship changes, but the contact is still maintained.

Dave Abday suggests having regular assessments along the way. Understand when it’s time to move on to another source of input, although, a relationship often continues well into the future.

Grant McDowell recommends having a common idea of the objectives for the relationship. He talks about the value of using a Mentoring Agreement, either written or verbal. He also suggests that you have an exit plan for when the official mentoring period is over.

INVITATION to COMMENT - on “CONFIDENTIALITY” in Mentorship

It's a NEW YEAR and here's an opportunity to add a few of your thoughts to upcoming posts on the topic of Mentorship!

We’ll be developing a series of BLOG posts related to Key Characteristics found within Healthy Mentoring Relationships. Input is being solicited from across various social media platforms we currently use, but please feel free to invite others to participate where you feel they could add value to our discussion.

Selected comments will be fully acknowledged, so we ask that you include your name, business name and website URL (as may be applicable) in order to be recognized for your voluntary contribution of comments. The completed post will be promoted within our circle of social media contacts, and we encourage you to share them with your circle of contacts!

This specific REQUEST FOR INPUT is regarding “CONFIDENTIALITY” within the mentorship relationship.
 

* If you’ve had experience with Mentorship, please help us with your comments related to the following questions:

• What is the role of CONFIDENTIALITY within a mentoring relationship?
• What does CONFIDENTIALITY mean to you?
• How is CONFIDENTIALITY developed between the mentoring partners?
  

We are looking forward to your comments and would greatly appreciate if they could be received prior to January 25, 2013 to be considered for the pending post on CONFIDENTIALITY. 
(Comments received after the due date may still be included in future posts.)

Thanks for your kind consideration and participation.
We wish you the best of success in all your endeavors!

Pro-Vision Solutions Inc.
Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)

Business Success BLOG:  http://BusinessSuccessBlog.blogspot.com/
Mentorship BLOG:  http://ProVision-Mentorship.blogspot.com/
YouTube Channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/ProvisionMentorship
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/JimEwingProVision

Facebook:  facebook.com/JimEwingPVS
Twitter:  JimEwing_PVS

Mentorship Programs Improve Employee Retention

IF YOU could REDUCE your average employee turnover rate from 27.6 percent to 2 percent, would you put a Mentorship Program into place in your organization?

One of the very impressive examples mentioned by Professor David Clutterbuck at a conference on the merits of having a mentorship program came from the results of a program conducted at GlaxoSmithKline.

Before merging with Glaxo, SmithKline Beecham established a mentoring program within a number of their European, American and Indian operations. The Finance division in Europe saw a need to help employees increase their visible within the organization. While highly competent, it seemed that many of the employees were not advancing in their careers as opportunities opened for promotion. A mentorship program was introduced with a series of lunch sessions. This provided a broad base of employees with a better understand of what mentoring involved and how they could participate. Following the introduction, over 200 employees attended a half-day training session at which more details were discussed.

Fast-Forward to the review of the program - and the results were impressive. In their assessment, it was found that the majority of employees had established a self-development plan that included activities to increase their profile. In addition, a quarter of them were actively networking. The survey indicated that 95 percent of the mentors believed they had grown as a result of having been a mentor, and that the experience they  gained could be applied within their normal roles. Many of the employees achieved a promotion within the following two-year period.
 

Another interesting outcome, and the one we wish to highlight in this post, was the very positive and significant impact that mentorship had on retention levels. In the first year of the program, the average turnover among the company’s finance employees in Europe was 27.6 percent. However, for those who had participated in the mentoring program, whether they had been Mentors or Mentees, it was just 2 percent. In the year afterward, the figures were 35 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.

Professor Clutterbuck further remarked that it was not necessarily those who were committed to the company that joined the mentoring program. Rather, it appeared to be those who thought that mentorship would give them an advantage in future career placements that joined. They felt that mentorship skills would help them find future positions (elsewhere) in their career development!

About Professor David Clutterbuck - David Clutterbuck Partnership   

Professor David Clutterbuck was one of the very early pioneers of mentoring and coaching. Author of 55 books, a third of them on coaching and mentoring themes, he is visiting professor at both Sheffield Hallam and Oxford Brookes Universities. David co-founded the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and chairs the International Standards for Mentoring Programs in Employment.  

Website: davidclutterbuck.wordpress.com 

What are your comments regarding the value that a Mentorship Program can provide to organizations?