Mentoring with Open Doors

As we worked through steps for how developing others serves as a path to leadership, I shared how a reluctance to pass along knowledge, often out of a misplaced fear that it could diminish our own value, prevents us from providing a successor (or even a direct report) with all the guidance we possibly can so they can achieve their best results. To lead as well as we’re truly capable of and perform in our own role, this isn’t an option. But without genuinely valuing others and being intentionally available, it may never happen. Even when practicing humble availability and investing in others’ growth, we must still consciously choose an approach of mentoring with open doors.

One of the most difficult situations I had to work through as a human resources manager was addressing (and terminating) an overall great person for failing to execute their responsibilities in the highest ranking position within the company. The hardest part was that this had nothing to do with their capability and everything to do with where they chose to place their focus. Rather than doing what they (and only they) were uniquely qualified to do, their time was absorbed in the routine tasks each of the managers reporting to them were doing - usually just as effectively as they had previously, and sometimes even better. Rather than mentoring each of those managers, this individual got caught up in scrutinizing any action taken that wasn’t exactly what they would have done. Unfortunately, that prevented them from completing their own tasks. It also created a level of contempt from each direct report.

In the first lesson of our Emerging Leader Development course, Cindy and I share several crucial steps leaders can take in holding up to the inevitable criticism they’ll face. One of those is forgetting ourselves and focusing on those counting on us for leadership that they may never get anywhere else. When we’re able to do this, as uncomfortable as it may be, we can start mentoring with open doors.

I’ve mentioned some of the development I worked to offer Jake over the years. Even though there were times where I had concerns that helping him excel would cause our management team to see me as extra baggage, he and I never worked in the same department or held similar roles. When my friend Mike succeeded me in the behavior-based safety facilitator role, I could have easily fallen into the same trap as the executive I described above. I had invested more than a decade of my life into what was widely recognized as the most effective behavior-based process in the company. Rather than viewing any of Mike’s accomplishments as building on that success, it would have been easy to see it as him outperforming me; I’ve known far too many people to view their scenarios just that way.

Thankfully, I quickly found myself drinking from a fire hose in the role I stepped into and had little time or energy left for worrying about how anyone viewed what I did or didn’t do in my previous position. I’d love to share how selfless I had become, but the demands of my workload made that choice for me. If I wanted to avoid drowning from that fire hose, my only option was to be as open as I possibly could in helping Mike get up to speed - and even surpass what I had done in the role - as quickly as humanly possible.

Today, Cindy and I have numerous opportunities to mentor with open doors. We also get to help the many executives we coach implement the same practice. Not only does this exemplify valuing others and being available, open-door mentoring accelerates growth and trust. That said, the biggest challenge I faced in offering that to Mike - something anyone with significant leadership responsibility will encounter - was overcoming time constraints. We’ll dig into dealing with that next. Now, though, I want you to look for ways you can be intentional about providing open-door mentoring to those who need your support the most.