Welcome to the Manager Lab episode on mentorship, inspired by Andy Lopata's HBR article "Weave Mentorship into the Fabric of Your Organization." This episode argues mentorship should be a daily leadership behavior, not just a formal HR program.
Traditional mentorship programs often fall short because they are time-bound, top-down, and optional. When mentorship is embedded into everyday work—ongoing, peer-driven, informal, and everyone’s responsibility—it becomes how work gets done and how people develop.
Key takeaways: everyone can be a mentor (including reverse and peer mentoring); shift from giving advice to holding development conversations; make mentorship visible and valued in performance and recognition; and create conditions for mentorship by building psychological safety and protecting time to learn.
Challenge: this week, intentionally mentor one person by asking powerful questions to help them think, decide, and grow.
