Multi-Housing News - August 2009 - (Page 28)

property management Mentoring: More Critical Than Generation Y needs to be developed for leadership positions before the Baby Boomers retire By Keat Foong, Executive Editor If you think mentoring is an aspect of employee management that can be postponed until the economy picks up—or not addressed at all—you may want to reconsider that viewpoint. Dorothy Alpert, vice chairman and national sector leader-Real Estate of the Real Estate Practice at Deloitte, says there are “not enough” of such relationships, whether formally imposed by the company or spontaneously created by the participants themselves, at real estate companies today. Mentoring ultimately helps retain employees, says Alpert. “Mentoring is one way to establish a strong connection with employees. And studies show that employees’ sense of connection to the organization makes them more likely to stay at the organization.” Last year, Deloitte released a report entitled “Closing the Talent Gap in the Real Estate Industry.” The report noted that the real estate industry, already perennially beset by high turnover rates, would be facing an increasing crisis as the Baby Boomers retire in greater numbers. Because the population that succeeds the Boomers, Generation X, is much smaller, real estate companies should have to concentrate on attracting and retaining, in particular, Generation Y employees. Also, the report pointed out that Generation Y needs to be developed for leadership positions while they still have the benefit of Baby Boomers in leadership positions. One of the steps that Deloitte recommends, under what it terms a “Develop-Deploy-Connect” talent management model, is to provide availability and access to mentors as a way to groom Generation Y employees. Deloitte’s report was completed last year before the financial crisis, but Alpert argues that employee retention is still a pertinent issue despite the hard economic times. In fact, it may be even more important to work on keeping workers today, as other companies may take the opportunity to search for better employees during the economic downturn. “The retention of the best becomes even more important,” she argues. Mentoring can be a peer-to-peer relationship or a peer-to-senior relationship, in which the individual can identify with a role model, explains Alpert. Peer-to-peer mentoring, in which the employee seeks the advice of a peer, can work extraordinarily well. “You do not have to have mentoring relationships only with your supervisor or someone more senior,” says Alpert. “You can have as robust a mentoring relationship with a peer with whom you feel you have things in common and by whom you feel less judged.” Companies can also have different ways to implement such relationships. “Some organizations feel very strongly that mentoring cannot be forced, but both parties have to enter into it willingly, while others feel that to jumpstart the relationship, the organization can start it,” says Alpert. “I have seen both [methods] work. More often than not, the best mentoring relationships are ones that find themselves.” Mentoring also has to be a two-way street, advises Alpert. “The individual being mentored has to get something out of it” and vice versa. What can be gained by a mentoring relationship? Alpert says that it is in the nature of Generation Y to desire strong social infrastructures in the workplace, as well as social and professional networking. A relationship with a peer or senior staff member can “be instrumental in introducing that individual to a personal, as well as a professional, network in the organization,” she notes. The mentor can provide career advice and 28 August 2009 | Multi-Housing News

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Multi-Housing News - August 2009

Multi-Housing News - August 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Executive Insight: David Hendrickson, JLL
Market Pulse
Operations
Finance: Green Lenders
Property Management: Mentoring
Development & Design: Green
Profile: AMLI
Market Report: Florida
Kitchen & Bath: Saving Water
Products: Paints & Finishes
Technology: Resident Screening
Perspective: Leasing Practices

Multi-Housing News - August 2009