Mentoring in a Systemic Leadership Context

These thoughts inspired by "Leaders urge airmen to turn to peer mentors" from the USAF AIM Points (here)

Mentoring is a key concept in transformational leadership. Mentoring, in the personal communication mode, that leads to the development of personnel into what the larger organization needs them to be can be very powerful. I have personally sought out my own mentors, choosing those who have excelled, lead successful projects, and do so composure and tact. By looking towards these people, I hope to learn their lessons and being applying them in my own way.

Mandatory mentoring, on the other hand, tends to become a "check the box" activity. In different circumstances, I saw other people do their mandatory mentoring with people they didn't know and not caring to learn from them. My wife always hated her mandatory mentoring sessions with women in higher-up management roles - you see, my wife wanted to become a master engineer, and wanted nothing to do with supervision and management. She couldn't learn what she needed to succeed from her mentor.

Ultimately, the organization does need to place value on people getting a chance to mentor and be mentored. This enables the training of the next generation to be done "above the line", and not have the mentor and mentored feel like they are "slacking". But if too much value is placed on mentoring, the activity runs the risk of becoming an organizational mandate, a contingent-reward, or worse - a directed activity.

Does your organization do mentoring? How do you feel about your mentoring relationships?