“Leaders who teach are more effective than those who tell.”- M. R. Fulmer.

In an economy with constant change and competition, it is important for companies to be able to react as efficient as possible. This helps to be competitive and thus, be successful on a long-term.

Finding solutions to prevent the loss of critical organizational and business knowledge and to transfer this knowledge to the next generation is one of the topics companies are driven by.

In addition, demand for continuous learning has never been larger. One possible approach to combat the potential loss of knowledge is mentoring. Business-based coaching relationships help to transfer knowledge and insights across generations of leaders.

There is an increasing number of full-time professional coaches and mentors for people at work. Additionally, many managers and professionals offer coaching and mentoring within their organization of profession. Even more of them use the skills to lead and manage individuals and teams.

Mentoring helps to keep knowledge in-house, prevent reinvention of basic concepts, reduce mistakes, and avoid the loss of hard-won organizational capabilities. But mentoring is not the cure-all for everything. Disadvantages and advantages need to be taken into consideration as well.

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Interesting reads:

• Anaya, C. P. (2012): Knowledge Transfer: A practical approach
• Burns, J. M. (2012): Leadership,
• Connor, M. and Pokora, J. (2012): Coaching and mentoring at work: developing effective practice
• Cranwell-Ward, J., Bossons, P. and Gover, S. (2004): Mentoring: A Henly review of best practice
• Ensher, E. A. and Murphy, S. E. (2005): Power Mentoring: How successful mentor and protégés get the most our of their relationships
• Fulmer, M. R., (2008): The Leadership Advantage: How the best companies are developing their talent to pave the way for future success
• Hersey, P. H., Blanchard, K. H. and Johnson, D. E. (2012): Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources
• Zachary, L. J. (2005): Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide