‘We live in a world that is dynamic, where people have to draw from diverse areas of expertise to succeed in their particular industry.”
This, says Dr Namane Magau, of Tshelane Basadi Investors and a member of the International Women’s Forum of South Africa (IWFSA), is why mentors should not limit exposure to people in the same industry. Individuals from other industries can extend the perspectives, knowledge and understanding of someone without being in the industry. Exposure to diverse views and experiences extends opportunities for innovation and creation of new solutions, she adds.
Magau believes mentoring is important as it provides an opportunity for transference of skills. It can create a safe environment, for example, for an executive to share experiences, aspirations, fears and insights.
‘Mentoring is therefore made available in many leading, high- performing organisations to promote the development and performance of their executives. The companies encourage their executives to identify leading executives to be their mentors. The relationships provide a special platform for the executive to learn more about the dynamics of the industry as well as management of self and others.”
Magau says she appreciates the role of mentor as it not only allows her an opportunity to help others find the light within themselves, but also extends her own knowledge.
‘Mentoring can be structured or unstructured. In many instances mentoring happens through individuals being drawn to those they feel they can learn from, and the relationship becomes a mentoring one. Effective mentoring therefore requires that those being mentored should be keen to be mentored.”
She says matching individuals to people who can provide relevant insights, knowledge and expertise is important, as is clarifying expectations for both mentor and mentee.
‘Work out the format of the mentorship, decide on how the support will take place. Assess the impact of the mentorship, to identify areas of success, areas requiring improvement, and if the mentoring should be altered.”
Magau advises that there should be an agreement on the time that will be allocated for the mentoring.
‘I do not find mentoring demanding, because I approach it as an opportunity to share knowledge and to learn from those being mentored. Mentoring should not be time-consuming if it evolves around the needs of the one being mentored also being mindful of the demanding schedule of the mentor. Communication is vital.”
A lot of Magau’s mentoring stems from the IWFSA, which identifies individuals as mentors. But, she says, mentoring is not only structured, it often just happens.
‘Mentoring is a private thing. I am a mentor to others and I have also been mentored. I have been privileged to have my role models as my mentors, and to also have professional relationships transform into mentorship. Besides participating in mentoring, I have also established mentorship programmes.”
In Magau’s opinion, South Africa has prioritised the empowerment of women, and over the past 10 years has made significant progress in raising the awareness of the importance of promoting women leaders.
‘The impact was visible for us in the tracking of the performance of the JSE-listed companies and 17 state-owned enterprises through the Annual Census done by BWA [Business Women’s Association] on the level of participation of women corporate leaders. The legislative framework for women empowerment is enabling; government has also set the tone with the vote of confidence in women leadership by reflecting a relatively high percentage of women leaders in Cabinet and state-owned enterprises.”
But the challenge is still huge, with the percentage of woman CEOs remaining constant at about 2% since the census began first in 2003 until 2007.
Awareness, she says, has been raised, but more needs to be done to achieve a paradigm shift in corporations for them to appreciate that women leaders can be as effective as men leaders. ‘The first woman CEO of HP [Hewlett-Packard], Carly Fiorina, explains the challenge women face as the one of being different in a male-dominated environment. It is, however, this challenge of being different that can also be a strength. Women therefore need mentors to enable them to transcend the psychological barriers in their environments. Both experienced men and women executives should provide support to bring out the best in emerging executives.”