Mentoring Future Managers Mentoring Future Managers
How to mentor the people who will lead your teams next, from research.
What this presentation covers
What this presentation covers
What this presentation covers
What mentoring does for careers
Mentoring helps careers, but modestly
A meta-analysis found career benefits, but small effects on pay and other hard outcomes.
- How people feel career satisfaction and similar outcomes
- Hard outcomes pay and similar: small effects
Two kinds of support
Plan for both kinds of support
Outcomes differed with the kind of help: career support or psychosocial support.
- Career support visibility, advice on the next move
- Psychosocial support confidence, a role model
Formal and informal mentors
Formal matching alone does not deliver results
Protégés of informal mentors earned more; formally mentored ones did no better than the unmentored.
Stretch assignments
Stretch them, but watch the load
In 225 job experiences of 60 managers, extra challenge brought less and less new skill.
- Some challenge skills grow
- Much more challenge growth slows down
- Challenge with feedback growth keeps going
Feedback on stretch work
Pair every stretch role with feedback
Access to feedback offset the falling returns of very hard assignments.
Growth over years
Leaders grow over years, through feedback
A review of 25 years of research stresses 360-degree feedback and growth tracked over time.
- Self-assessment
- Manager
- Peers
- Direct reports
Senior sponsors
Find sponsors in senior leadership
Sponsored employees were promoted more often, and more so with a senior sponsor.
- With a sponsor 65%65%
- Without a sponsor 35%35%
Linking mentoring to succession
Tie mentoring to succession planning
Best-practice firms used their own managers as a mentor network for high potentials.
- Name high potentials with line managers
- Build a mentor network from your managers
- Learn through projects real work, real stakes
- Meet senior stakeholders forums across the firm
- Review succession often keep the list flexible
A plan for each candidate
Write one plan per candidate
Name the target role, the people around the candidate and the next review date.
- Target role the next step up
- Stretch role one at a time
- Mentor outside the reporting line
- Sponsor a senior leader
- Feedback monthly, from several people
- Review every six months
Sources
The research behind this presentation
- Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., Poteet, M. L., Lentz, E. & Lima, L. (2004) Career benefits associated with mentoring for protégés: A meta-analysis Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(1), 127-136
- Ragins, B. R. & Cotton, J. L. (1999) Mentor functions and outcomes: A comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(4), 529-550
- DeRue, D. S. & Wellman, N. (2009) Developing leaders via experience: The role of developmental challenge, learning orientation, and feedback availability Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4), 859-875
- Day, D. V., Fleenor, J. W., Atwater, L. E., Sturm, R. E. & McKee, R. A. (2014) Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 63-82
- LeanIn.Org & McKinsey & Company (2025) Women in the Workplace 2025 LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company
- Groves, K. S. (2007) Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices Journal of Management Development, 26(3), 239-260
Name the roles first
Then give each candidate a stretch role, a senior sponsor and steady feedback.