Why We Need A DUAL Agenda for Mentoring

By Barry Sweeny, 2008

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Often in our mentoring and human development work there is ONE focus for the conversation. This topic is frequently a more superficial, personal, or short-term issue, which is the content evident in the words we are saying. Examples include:

When this is the only agenda we are addressing, it is so because our work is straight forward and there is no perception of a more long-term aspect to the work.  Of course, for some things, that may be all that is necessary.

Another example of this is negotiating an agreement between a mentor and protege to work together. If working together is all that is needed and there is no other deeper purpose being served, then we would say there is only one agenda. However, this author submits that there SHOULD also be more long-term considerations being addressed.

Almost always, our work through mentoring can or SHOULD have at least TWO levels of significance which are both being served and advanced at the same time.

Another way of saying this is that the mentoring dialogue could just serve the needs of the protege, but why not conduct it so it also serves the goals of the program or organization? Sadly, I find, that this "dual agenda" is often a potential that remains unrealized unless we consciously seek to serve two agendas.

I have found the following quote to be exactly what is needed in many mentoring, coaching, and other improvement conversations. It's exactly what's needed because it helps keep us focused on two things which many of us consider critical, but sometimes forget.

1. We all need to continue building our skills for working together more effectively and accomplishing more than we can by working separately.

2. We also work in organizations which need restructuring and re culturing to ensure that professional growth becomes a part of every day work in the organization.

BOTH THE PERSONAL AND LONGER TERM ORGANIZATIONAL AGENDAS ARE NEEDED. The trick is to learn how to have mentoring discussions which serve BOTH agendas.

"The trick will be whether we can examine & critique each others' practices without injuring the practitioner, and at the same time... to learn how to engage in these kinds of difficult yet fruitful discussions, while creating professional relationships in which this kind of conversation is more the daily norm."  - a paraphrase of Tom Bird, of the Far West Regional Laboratory in San Francisco, California.

In your work in mentoring, seek to make every decision, every personal, leadership, and program activity, every mentoring conversation serve at least TWO goals at the same time. Learning how to do this and learning to do it well take excellent models, careful advance planning, practice, critiquing of the effort, learning from mistakes, and patience to gradually build the skills of working on a dual agenda.

This very web page is an example of serving such a dual agenda:

1. The first agenda was to provide the reader with explanation and examples of the "dual agenda" concept.
2. The second agenda is to encourage you to employ Barry Sweeny as a consultant, trainer, and/or mentor of mentors, to help you learn, develop the skills of, and master using a dual agenda in all your thinking and work.

Recall the comment made just above that "Learning how to do this and learning to do it well take (observation of) an excellent model."  Let Barry be your model. Contact him and ask for help in creating plans, activities, and a mentoring program that serves BOTH the needs of the program participants AND helps your organization develop the effective, results-oriented strategic culture your organization needs.