The Power of Mentors

Do you have someone on the team that has been there longer than anyone else and knows the secret path to positive results? Whether we are talking about executive or operational teams, these members have the operational knowledge that the rest of the team needs to be successful. While we cannot connect to the Matrix and download everything they know, we can do something similar that will provide growth for everyone that chooses to participate.

The greatest benefit of using mentors is the transfer of knowledge from an experienced professional to an inexperienced protégé. There may be a basic understanding of what is going on, but it is the old guys who have already made the mistakes that know the nuances of their system. This transfer can only be successful if the receiver is ready for and open to the new information.

I feel some organizations may not have mentoring due to the innovative nature of their work, and how someone “did it” 10 years ago does not matter. That is until ideas began to be built on other ideas and now the organization is forced to document everything or keep someone around that knows the old system. At some point the innovation must move into the mainstream where it can be adapted and replicated.

When I began in my first formal process improvement role, I did not have a mentor and I had to feel my way around in the dark (while making lots of mistakes) until I started doing things right. When it was time to start the mass building of “belts”, I knew that to be successful, those new belts would need some help to get through the process faster. It was a workable system, but I wonder how much more those candidates would have learned if we were not holding their hands the entire time?

As you mentor others, are you directing down the path, or are you asking questions to make the protégé think about and consider the potential impact of decisions? Are they learning enough to walk the journey alone when you are no longer available? We have see the results of this condition when the charismatic leader leaves the organization and performance declines.

Each protégé is a little different and we cannot treat all of them the same. Would Anakin have turned to the dark side if Obi-Wan had not been as cryptic in his approach? Wisdom comes from practice, not from following an old man on some darn fool idealistic crusade. There should be discussion, a decision, execution, and then back to discussion. These conversations can follow a simple formula: what happened, what was supposed to happen, why did it happen, and then how do you respond to the results?

When Good Ideas Go Bad

In my experience, groupthink is a behavior that can sink an improvement project if not caught and stopped early. Groupthink is where there is group pressure to ‘go along’ with the decisions of the group or the beliefs of the group. This can start with ill-defined problem statements, scope, and/or goals, and the team will stay on the wrong path if assumptions are not tested or questioned. Keeping charter information simple and validating the problem statement can go a long way control groupthink. Validation is accomplished through using process timelines or data that is reflective of the problem statement.

Another method to reduce groupthink is to use a balanced functionally diverse team. Members bring their own perspective of the problems and causes to the team and if functional diversity is not present, then the natural group will have the numbers to force their perspective on the other team members. Using balanced teams with one or two members from each function can prevent groupthink.

ummm, no.

My favorite cause of groupthink is when one "expert on everything" arrives and begins to tell everyone how to think. Many will go along to get along because they are afraid of making someone mad or they do not want to be seen as a non-team player or because they are introverts that are uncomfortable speaking up. As a project lead my first method is to take them off to the side and tell them to knock it off. If it continues I have called them out in front of the team, which usually sends them into the stratosphere. If I still do not see the behavior I am looking for I will send them back to their work group and let the boss know that I'm not interested in baby-sitting their problem child. I have not had to do this very often because we use ground-rules for team member behavior that are discussed during the kick-off of the project while everyone's Supervisor, the Project Champion and General Manager are in the room.

This type of behavior can show up at any time during the project whether it is executed through weekly team meetings or kaizen style locked in a room for a week. When the behavior arrives a the end of the week when everyone is tired and ready to go home, the aforementioned expert will begin to implement her solution. Another method to overcome is to provide everyone with a number of votes or rating system to use across different possible solutions. I have had good results with this style and will continue to use it in the future.


Ultimately setting the expectations for team behavior must be established early (and often). If you are on a team and you begin to recognize groupthink, it may be time to become the voice of dissension.