How much time do you dedicate to mentoring your employees?

Mentoring, or coaching? They're two separate things, and many managers and leaders incorrectly conflate the two. Coaching addresses a specific job-related skill and is very tactical, while mentoring is more attuned to career progression and strategic goals. 

With mentoring, the conversations can be less structured, less frequent, longer in duration, and a bit more ad hoc. I spend perhaps 2 hours a quarter mentoring.

With coaching, one can be very efficient if trained in how to do it correctly. Think of coaching as a two-month-long conversation about the development of a person's very specific job-related skill, with multiple discussions during that two-month-long conversation. The desired outcome of this conversation is a durable behavioral shift. The initial identification of the skill gap, the setting of the person's target goal (SMART goal), and the development of a plan to close that gap shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes. Follow-on discussions, or check-ins on the person's progression toward that target goal, should be as-needed, but frequent enough to keep them on track. These check-ins are quick, less than five minutes in duration. Time is NOT an impediment to coaching if you know how to do it correctly. I'd say I spend about 20% - 30% of my time coaching.

Perhaps the one fault almost every coach has and needs to work through is to not stop coaching too early. When a person exhibits a desired change in behavior once, many coaches assume the person's behavior is now shifted. This is completely incorrect. Statistically, it takes 66 days, on average, for a person to develop a new behavior or habit, hence the two-month rule. Even if they're exhibiting the desired behavioral shift after one week, you need to keep checking in with them for the next seven weeks to ensure the new behavior "sticks".

15% to 20%

Mentorship and sponsorship are crucial for employee growth and foster continuous learning, professional development, and career advancement. It doesn't matter what stage of your career you are in, you can always benefit from having mentors and sponsors (and from mentoring and sponsoring others once you develop experience, expertise, and influence).  

Mentoring is an integral part of my approach while monitoring our team's day-to-day activities. I believe that effective mentoring occurs through practical application rather than excessive talking. By actively observing and engaging with the team during their work, I can provide guidance and support in real-time. 

So, I set aside only 1-hour at the end of each week to summarize the week's activities and plan for the following week. This dedicated time allows me to reflect on the overall progress and make informed decisions. 

Because I help my team to continuously review accomplishments and set goals, I ensure that our team stays on track and makes effective progress, maximizes our time, and learns more while on duty.

I dedícate at least 2 hours per week working my company and another 2 hours with colleagues outside, it’s very intentional given that is an opportunity to learn from these individuals as much as to contribute to their growth.