Corporate secrets
Mentoring, coaching and buddying are three secrets to corporate success
Gautam Nath
In corporate life, there comes often a time when you feel you’re at a crossroads and need someone to talk to. Often, your line manager may not be the one you want to chat with as he/she does your appraisal at the end of the year.
Yet, if this feeling festers, your morale and level of enthusiasm falls.
So there are several HR tools that are applied in the corporate world that I have come across and would like to share.
Mentoring: At some point in my career, I started off as a mentee and was appointed a mentor. She was the vice-president of finance and did not even sit on the same floor as I did. But she was my mentor and I would set up a one-hour face-to-face meeting with her every month and we would chat. I prepared for those meetings because my mentor was far senior to me and her time was precious.
She would give me such insights and logic and show me the bigger picture that I would remember her words years later when it became my turn to be a mentor. One key takeaway that rings in my head even now is “Ask not what the company can do for you, but what you can do for the company.” This Kennedy-inspired mantra has held me in good stead over my various roads in life. It reflects an attitude and gets noticed very fast.
Coaching: A coach, on the other hand, is a person who may be senior to you in your own department and teaches you the ropes. My coach was four years senior to me in the marketing department and he would spend time twice a month going over various business decisions and processes of our department. He would teach me things that he had learned along the way and which would help me better achieve my objectives. My coach was like an elder brother who guided, supported and helped me grow. In my life, I have had three coaches who I remember very well and continue to keep in touch with them even though many years have gone by. They have been at my wedding and I to theirs.
Buddies: And the best bit, the buddy. The buddy is someone appointed to be just that, your corporate buddy. When I joined a new company here in Canada, my buddy was at my level but had been in the company for at least four years so knew what happens where and how. My buddy was someone who I could ask any question even the ones that I felt may be stupid. Nothing stands between me and my buddy at work. He tells me the formal way and the informal way. He tells me who to avoid and when my shoelace is untied.
My buddy in Canada helped me out so much as being a newcomer, I often wondered how things could be said or done here. These nuances were very quickly passed on and helped put me at ease on the job. He extended the buddying beyond the workplace and introduced me to many good places to eat as well as pubs in downtown Toronto. He taught me about the Raptors and the NHL games that Canada is so proud of.
Corporate Canada has her share of mentors, coaches and buddies. And they all come together to help build a great country and our great future.
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