Mentoring Burnouts: Impact of mentoring relationships on mentors

Mentoring is a critical part of any workplace environment; impacting both parties and companies in positive ways. In line with its importance, 87% of respondents of a survey feel mentoring interactions have helped increase self-confidence. But, what transpires when this relationship starts taking a toll on mentors in the form of mentoring burnout? 

Mentoring burnout can occur when mentors are overextended, as much energy is pumped in, without taking time out to recharge. This type of burnout results in issues such as fatigue, irritability, anxiety, and maybe, depression–eventually, affecting the mentor-mentee relationship.

As an instance of this in a typical work environment: it is not uncommon for experienced mentors to be swamped with constant queries from their mentees consistently–a tough situation for any human, especially considering breakdown possibilities. Owing to this, mentors’ workload may sooner or later grow to an unmanageable level and they will have to take an extended break from work. Thus, neglecting overexertion or a self-care regime can lead to extreme exhaustion and feelings of burnout; extremely damaging for mentors if not managed properly.

Causes of Mentoring Burnout

Mentoring burnout is a condition wherein mentors become overwhelmed due to the mentorship role, attributed to multiple factors such as long hours and high expectations; lack of support and resources, and unpredictable mentee behavior–all explained below.

Long Hours and High Expectations

Mentoring burnout can be a pricking issue for those involved in a mentoring relationship; especially for mentors bearing the burden of long hours and high expectations from their mentees. The massive workloads associated with these relationships can quickly become overwhelming, leading to mentors’ exhaustion and eventual burnout–not benefitting either party. 

In fact, Asana’s Anatomy of Work research report indicates that seven out of ten knowledge professionals had suffered either burnout or impostor syndrome–interestingly, 42% experiencing both. Imposter syndrome, also identified as perceived fraudulence, involves an unusual experience wherein a person starts to self-doubt themselves and experiences incompetence regardless of education, expertise, and credentials.

Thus, if ignored, the endless effort needed to maintain a mentoring relationship can leave the mentor feeling drained and exhausted. A consequential situation arising from it can be that mentors may struggle to provide adequate guidance and support due to a lack of energy or motivation.

Not just mentors, even the mentee may suffer particularly from a lack of direction or feel neglected if their mentors’ enthusiasm dwindles over time. Ultimately, this state can give rise to feelings of gloom and doom for mentors, slowly inching to uncertainty with their growth hitting stumbling blocks. With proper planning and communication between both, this experience can be avoided and managed effectively to benefit from the relationship.

Lack of Support and Resources

Sometimes, mentoring can often be demanding due to high-pressure, as mentors provide constant attention and guidance without any assurance that they will receive adequate support or resources in return. When mentors aren’t supported with proper tools for their work, it can lead to a sense of helplessness and even burnout. 

For example, when an experienced mentor is stuck with the stressful responsibility of having to teach multiple new recruits on the fly without proper help or training materials, their patience wears thin and performance drops drastically. Plus, the mentors are likely to feel isolated and trapped by the sheer magnitude of multiple obligations.

Thus, it’s essential for organizations to be cognizant of the negative impacts mentoring relationships can bear on mentors and hence, the requisite resources and support to mentors shouldn’t go unnoticed. This could mean furnishing more personnel assistance; investing in better training materials; offering competitive remuneration packages, or establishing groups where mentors can openly discuss issues related to their roles. 

Considering this, many successful companies have opted for enhanced support and resource systems through mentoring platforms, designed to understand the needs of the mentors to enhance mentoring programs and develop top talents. Guess what, about 70% of Fortune 500 companies prefer to remain invested in mentoring to recruit, retain and develop a knowledgeable and talented workforce. Without such measures in place, both mentors and mentees risk being exposed to feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low professional efficacy–factors leading to lower job satisfaction levels and affecting productivity adversely.

Unrealistic Expectations

While mentors may be passionate about helping others, there cannot be unrealistic expectations from organizations or mentees. Elaborately put, there cannot be unpredictable hours, increased workloads, and an ever-changing landscape of challenges, leaving them feeling lassitude and unable to do their part properly. 

This could involve anything from answering queries at odd hours of the day or assisting in project development beyond their control. In such situations, mentors’ ability to do their job productively and sprucely may be hindered by these exhausting pressures that they had not expected when entering into this role. Unreasonable expectations can turn out to be the main culprit for stress in any workplace, as indicated by studies.

For instance, if a business owner chooses to bring on several people as trainees without giving a thought to how many mentees the mentors can handle–isn’t this an unmanageable task for even experienced professionals? Thus in such situations, mentors would find themselves pulled in different directions, resulting in poor guidance to mentees; trying to meet somehow deadlines within the given timeframe. On the whole, with so much on their plate and high expectations, mentors are obviously bound to feel paralyzed and incompetent.

Implementing Practice Versus Doing Someone Else’s Work

One of the most detrimental aspects of mentors-mentees imbalance is when the mentors fail to inculcate “do-and-learn practice” and rather do actual work for the mentee. This dangerous habit of mentees can manifest in severe problems later, for example, when the mentees keep pestering mentors for step-by-step instructions to complete a job task or even demand the mentor to complete work themselves–while they sit back and observe.

In such circumstances, mentors act out of a sense of responsibility to help mentees. However their idea may boomerang, robbing them of their own time and energy–spent elsewhere in better ways. 

Obviously going ahead, this decision can generate a feeling of frustration as the mentor has not been able to actually transfer any knowledge through merely doing the job. And it is not that difficult to predict the end result–both parties remain unsatisfied and have a sore experience, thinking they did their part while the other didn’t.

One way to circumvent this is by opting for mentoring platforms such as Mentoring Complete wherein mentors can place emphasis on understanding rather than action–through a periodic feedback process. Through the platform, they can provide guidance to ensure the mentee learns the ropes rather than relying on quick fixes like completing tasks directly for them.

Going Wrong with Pairing Mentors and Mentees

When a mentor-mentee pairing goes awry, an unhealthy level of burnout for the mentor can be expected. Reason–overburdened and lost not knowing why the relationship isn’t working, the mentors may struggle to maintain enthusiasm and energy in their role. 

Such ill-fated pairing creates an environment where both parties begin to lose interest quickly–snowballing into serious problems such as unproductivity or even increased stress levels in the mentor’s life. Thus it becomes imperative for mentors to discern what’s working and what’s not to avoid bonding failure and being overly stressed out.

This can be exacerbated if the mentor is not adequately matched with a mentee. That is: scenarios being, if either party fails to leave up to their commitments, or learning styles don’t sync up, it may not lead to an amicable and successful pairing. 

More alarming: the two personalities’ ego clash, leading to frustration for both parties and eventually compromise–simply to save face. This would result in wasted efforts and unnecessary depletion of resources. 

Thus a successful matching demands careful consideration; encompassing factors such as communication style, personal interests, goals, experience levels, availability, and geographic location. It also requires distinct skills, a certain sensibility, and a structured mindset on both sides. Additionally, drawing boundaries at the beginning (of what’s expected of both) will create a sense of mutual respect and understanding between both parties. 

Furthermore establishing clear expectations regarding communication schedules, meeting duration, and other activities associated with the pair is necessary for the relationship to succeed. With these steps taken care of, any possible issues arising from a misfortunate pairing can be more easily avoided. And fitting the bill, mentoring platforms turn out to be the best option for accommodating all these requirements.

In cases where artificial intelligence solutions in mentoring platforms are used to facilitate enhanced matching processes, added care should be taken to ensure the pair created by the algorithm has compatible attributes that have been identified through prior research. Ultimately, having a thorough knowledge about the individual’s needs will pave the way for greater retention rates and long-term benefits.

Conclusion

Mentoring relationships are incredibly rewarding and useful but they come with inherent risks. Mentor burnout occurs primarily due to long hours and high expectations along with a lack of support or resources and unpredictable behavior from mentees. Thus, organizations should assess carefully at potential matches before initiating mentoring programs to mitigate these risks; providing mentors with the tools they need to cope effectively. 

In view of all, investing in a quality mentorship platform such as Mentoring Complete which looks into both mentors and mentee’s capabilities, qualities, and traits provides better chances of successful collaborations that are sustainable over time. Additionally, its AI-powered Precision Matching tool builds compatible matches, taking into account both mentors and mentees. Talk to our experts and learn more about it! 

Want to make your workplace mentoring programs successful? We’re happy to help you!