An effective mentorship program is crucial for business success. Matter of fact, 71% of Fortune 500 companies, according to Forbes, do have such a program in place and can attest to its many benefits. These include higher employee engagement, increased productivity, and better employee retention. For individuals, mentorship has been linked to career success. 76% of people in mentorship programs cited it as a major factor in their success as per a study conducted by the Olivet Nazarene University. Additionally, mentorship increases opportunities and promotion chances for mentees.
- Benefits of Having a Mentorship Program in Your Business
Mentorship programs present a myriad of benefits for businesses and their employees. By linking higher level or more experienced employees with less experienced counter-parts, mentorship helps speed up the learning process. This is because mentees tend to share their first-hand experiences, insights, and their failures. Seeing as most mentors are usually successful in their various fields, their experiences and knowledge can be used by mentees to navigate daily challenges at the workplace and progress career wise. This knowledge is also specific to the organisation or industry.
Mentors give support, feedback, assurances, and advice that is very much needed by new employees. They can also teach new skills and avail their extensive resources and network to mentees which in turn opens opportunities and leads to career growth and development.
Additionally, mentorship eases the onboarding process of new hires and makes the company more appealing to recruits. All of this benefit yet it costs nothing. Your business uses already available resources unlike formal training sessions such as seminars. Having established how beneficial a mentorship program is, the next step is learning how to curate an effective one.
- Curating A High Impact Mentorship Program
Curating a mentorship program that works for both mentees and mentors is a process that requires you to factor in a couple of things. Know that it takes time. Not that it is too hard to do. Basically, all you need to do is just follow these 4 steps.
- Set Up a Formal Structure
First and foremost, you need to define what are the objectives of your mentorship program. Companies tend to have mentorship programs for different purposes. These include but are not limited to, employee retention, leadership development, enrichment of the onboarding process, and teaching of specialised skills. Once you’ve identified your objectives, come up with a structure that will govern how mentorship is conducted.
Decide if it is an invite-only program, mandatory or voluntary where all employees are open to apply. Figure out the connection type and duration. Will it be one on one or group-based? How long will it run for? Weeks, months, years? Decide on the mentorship style to be used. There are several types of mentorship; peer mentoring, group mentoring, facilitated mentoring, reverse mentoring, flash mentoring, and 1:1 mentoring which is the most common.
- Pair Mentees with Mentors
This is a very crucial step as the matches have to work if the program is to be successful. You need to factor in the roles of an employee, their needs, and their interests when matching them up with mentors. Finding the ideal mentee – mentor pair can be quite tasking. You could ask employees to fill out a form, questionnaire, or do an interview and use the answers given to find matches that just might work. Alternatively, you can ask mentees to pick their preferred mentor or vice versa. Some companies employ the use of mentoring software to pair people up. Others still enlist the help of career coaches.
- Sell The Idea to Participants
You might witness hesitation to embrace the program on both sides. Don’t worry. All you have to do is sell the idea to participants. Clearly explain the benefits of participating in the program. Don’t assume they know somehow. While you’re at this, you may also want to set expectations on what either party is to receive from the relationship.
- Develop A Guide
Once you have convinced employees to partake in the program and have paired them up, the next step is usually developing a guide for mentor-mentee relationships. This guide should be flexible but still provide structure. Identify key activities to be done, avail calendar scheduling tools, and set up virtual communication channels that can be used to connect. Without such a structure in place, parties can lose momentum and direction leading to the ultimate failure of the program.
It’s also important to evaluate your mentorship program. Identify ways to determine if the program is working. This could be based on productivity levels or the employee satisfaction rate. Should you see it’s not functional, set up a system that allows switching of mentors and mentees without bringing about hard feelings.
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Ruth Kimani
[…] HOW TO SET UP AN EFFECTIVE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR YOUR BUSINESS […]
Well said and encouraging
encouraging, Good Information