Polls
Discussions
1. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW? Root causes explained only through lived workplace moments.
Example1: In a growing IT firm in Noida, a team lead proudly tells a new joiner,
“Any problem, come to me.”
For the next three weeks, that leader is either in meetings, travelling, or “looped in later.”
The employee learns fast:
Availability is a sentence, not a practice.
Example2: In Surat, a senior manager announces a “Mentorship Hour” initiative.
Calendar invites go out.
Reality: rushed conversations, generic advice, and constant glances at the phone.
In Jaipur, an intern waits weeks for feedback. When it finally comes, it’s a forwarded article or a motivational quote ending with:
“You’ll figure it out.”
What’s really happening:
Many leaders were promoted for delivery, not development
Mentorship was never taught — only expected
Busy leaders confuse visibility with guidance
And organizations assumed leadership automatically means mentoring ability
So a silent gap formed.
Titles grew.
Guidance disappeared.
________________________________________
2. HOW DOES IT IMPACT THE WORKFORCE? Human emotions and behaviors, told through everyday reactions.
Example 3: In Chennai, a trainee stops asking questions after being brushed off twice.
She starts Googling answers — and stops trusting her manager.
Example 4: In Hyderabad, a young analyst says to a peer,
“I don’t need hand-holding. I just need direction once in a while.”
Example 5: In Indore, a sales executive copies senior blindly because no one explains why things are done a certain way. Mistakes repeat. Confidence drops.
What employees quietly feel:
Loneliness at work — despite teams
Fear of sounding “weak” by asking
Trial-and-error fatigue
And a slow realization: “Growth here is accidental, not intentional.”
The best learners don’t quit loudly.
They disengage first.
Then they leave.
________________________________________
3. HOW DOES IT IMPACT THE ORGANISATION? Business consequences, revealed through patterns — not theory.
Example 6: In a Gurugram startup, junior talent churns every 10–14 months.
Exit interviews repeat one line:
“No one really guided me.”
Example7: In a Kochi operations firm, mistakes keep recurring despite capable hires. Why? Knowledge lives in people’s heads, not conversations.
Example8: In a Bengaluru product company, one senior engineer informally mentors a few juniors. Their performance outpaces everyone else. Leadership realises mentorship exists — but only by accident.
Without mentor power:
Learning cycles slow down
Managers become bottlenecks
High-potential talent leaves early
Culture becomes survival-oriented, not growth-oriented
Leadership deficit doesn’t fail loudly.
It fails silently, repeatedly, and expensively.
________________________________________
4. WHAT SHOULD EMPLOYERS STOP DOING? Don’ts framed as “please don’t be this workplace.”
Don’t assume seniority equals mentoring skill.
Many leaders were never mentored themselves.
Don’t outsource mentoring to articles, links, or generic talks.
Growth doesn’t happen via forwarded PDFs.
Don’t create symbolic programs without time commitment.
Mentorship that survives on calendar leftovers isn’t mentorship.
Don’t treat mentoring as charity or “extra effort.”
Employees can sense when guidance is optional.
And please don’t say:
“Observe and learn”
when what you really mean is
“I don’t have time.”
________________________________________
5. WHAT SHOULD EMPLOYERS START DOING? Dos shown through grounded, human examples.
Example9: A Jaipur-based firm made mentoring a weekly non-negotiable, even if just 20 minutes. No agenda. Only listening and direction. Retention improved quietly.
Example10: In Pune, managers were trained how to mentor, not just told to mentor. Conversations improved. So did trust.
Example11: In Hyderabad, mentors were rewarded not for team size — but for people growth outcomes. Suddenly, guidance became valuable currency.
Example12: In a Delhi media company, leaders openly said:
“I don’t know — let’s figure it out together.”
That honesty built more confidence than perfect answers.
The shift is simple but powerful:
From command → to context
From authority → to availability
From leaders who decide → to mentors who develop
Mentor Power doesn’t need grand speeches.
It needs presence, intent, and continuity.
________________________________________
Closing Thought
Leadership deficit isn’t about bad leaders.
It’s about unsupported leaders.
When organizations stop assuming mentorship will “just happen”
and start designing for it,
workplaces transform quietly — but deeply.
The poll attached captures the humor.
This discussion captures the truth.
Together, they ask one honest question:
Are we leading… or are we just occupying positions?
