Employees who have a mentor build up their career more quickly, both vertically as well as horizontally. Not only are they challenged, they are also protected, they get visibility, and they always have someone to rely on. On a psychosocial level, these employees tend to feel better; they are more self-sufficient and are psychologically stronger. This is something that Koen Marichal has noticed. In 2011, he collaborated on a study with the former VMA, ‘Young Makers – Wise Mentors’. Young managers were brought together with top managers like Karel Vinck, Tony Mary, Wouter Torfs and Frank Van Massenhove.
"If a young person can talk to a Karel Vinck or a Wouter Torfs, a whole new world opens up. That change of environment is important.”
Marichal highlights various studies that prove that mentoring has positive effects on employees’ careers and their psychosocial well-being. Moreover, it is an important power source for informal leadership. According to Marichal, it fits in perfectly with new ideas on leadership. He links characteristics of mentorship to several leadership styles, like servant leadership, in which a mentor serves for personal growth.
“Other features, like encouraging self-sufficiency and participatory decision making, are typical for empowering leadership”, Marichal adds. “Transformational leadership also focuses on a development-minded mindset and intrinsic motivation. Organizations who choose that kind of leadership don’t formally implement it, because every leader is expected to be a kind of mentor.”
