At the heart of a thriving community lies the principle of advocacy. Advocacy – the act of speaking up for oneself and others – is a vital practice that protects the integrity of our workplaces, educational environments, and society as a whole.
Conversely, mentoring is often perceived as a quiet, reflective process; a space for goal-setting, career navigation, and gentle guidance. However, hhile these elements are foundational, true mentoring goes beyond personal development. It is an act of courage that ripples outwards, creating an environment where individuals feel safe, valued, and empowered.
The fact is, when we embed advocacy into the fabric of our mentoring relationships, we move from passive observation to active, positive cultural change.
Recognising the Need for Advocacy
Advocacy starts with heightened awareness. In any setting, bad behaviour (whether it manifests as exclusionary language, dismissive attitudes, or overt harassment) often thrives in silence. Recognising the need for intervention is the first step toward dismantling these patterns.
Identifying the Signs
Bad behaviour is not always loud or aggressive; it is often subtle. As mentors, we must tune our intuition to identify:
- Marginalisation: When a quiet voice is consistently talked over or ignored in meetings.
- Undermining: When a colleague’s contributions are minimised or attributed to others.
- Microaggressions: The persistent, small-scale slights that can erode a person’s confidence over time.
Recognising these moments requires active listening and empathy. It is about noticing the shift in someone’s body language, the hesitation in their voice, or their sudden withdrawal from a group.
Standing Up: The Mentor’s Role in Challenging Behaviour
Standing up to bad behaviour is arguably the most daunting aspect of advocacy. It is a moment where the flight or fight response often kicks in, yet the mentor’s role is to provide a measured, principled pause.
The Power of the Pause
You do not always need a grand speech to challenge behaviour. Sometimes, a simple, calm question can disrupt a harmful dynamic.
- “Could you clarify what you meant by that?”
- “I’m not sure I understand the humour there. Could you explain it?”
These questions force the speaker to reflect on their own words without you having to become an aggressor yourself. By remaining calm and objective, you strip the power away from the inappropriate behaviour and place the focus back on the impact of those words.
Advocacy as Mentoring
In a mentoring context, this is a teachable moment. If a mentee witnesses you advocating for them or others, you are modelling the very behaviour you want them to adopt. You are demonstrating that professionalism does not require complicity.
How to Broach the Topic of Support
Recognising that someone needs help is different from knowing how to offer it. It is vital to approach the topic with a balance of sensitivity and directness. We must avoid rescuing, which can strip others of their agency, and instead focus on empowerment.
Creating the Safe Space
The best way to broach the topic is to establish a foundation of trust early on. Use these strategies when you suspect a mentee or colleague is struggling:
- Observation-Based Inquiries: Instead of asking, “Is something wrong?”, try, “I noticed you seemed a bit quiet in the meeting today. I’m here if you want to chat, or if there is anything I can do to support you.”
- The Third-Party Approach: If you are worried about their ability to self-advocate, ask open-ended questions: “How did you feel about how that conversation went yesterday? Do you feel you were given the space to contribute effectively?”
- Offer Options, Not Demands: Always give the individual control over how they want to handle a situation. “Would you like me to raise this on your behalf, or would you prefer we role-play how you might handle it yourself?”
Building a Culture of Advocacy
When we treat advocacy as a core mentoring skill, we stop viewing it as an isolated incident and start seeing it as a cultural value.
Mentoring Skills as Tools for Advocacy
- Empathy: The ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, which fuels the desire to protect their interests.
- Reflective Practice: Regularly evaluating our own biases and behaviours ensures that we are not unintentionally contributing to the problems we are trying to solve.
- Boundaries: Knowing how to set firm, healthy boundaries is an essential component of self-advocacy. A mentor who models good boundaries helps their mentee learn how to say “no” or “this isn’t acceptable” without guilt.
The Impact on the Collective
When advocacy becomes a collective responsibility, the environment shifts. People no longer fear retaliation for speaking up because they know they are backed by a culture that values truth and integrity. Mentoring programmes that integrate these principles create a psychologically safe environment, which research consistently shows is the primary driver of high-performing, innovative teams.
Conclusion: A Call to Action
Advocacy is a practice, not a destination. It requires us to be brave enough to sit in discomfort, humble enough to check our own biases, and committed enough to mentor others to do the same.
By integrating the skills of recognition, courageous intervention, and supportive dialogue into our mentoring practice, we do more than just guide individuals; we build a culture where everyone has the right to be heard, respected, and valued.
As you go about your work, remember: the most powerful tool you possess is your voice. When you use it to lift others up, you are not just mentoring an individual – you are shaping the culture of your entire organisation.
Want to explore this topic further?
- Management Centre give some good ideas of how to work out an approach to managing behaviour at work
- You can explore more about this topic by checking out our full report on Mentoring As A Strategic Countermeasure to Workplace Bullying.