{"id":4910,"date":"2020-06-18T09:39:03","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T06:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/?p=4910"},"modified":"2020-06-18T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T07:53:38","slug":"how-to-set-up-an-effective-mentorship-program-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/how-to-set-up-an-effective-mentorship-program-for-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO SET UP AN EFFECTIVE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM FOR YOUR BUSINESS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An effective mentorship program is crucial for\nbusiness success. Matter of fact, 71% of Fortune 500 companies, according to Forbes<\/a>, do have\nsuch a program in place and can attest to its many benefits. These include\nhigher employee engagement, increased productivity, and better employee\nretention. For individuals, mentorship has been linked to career success. 76%\nof people in mentorship programs cited it as a major factor in their success as\nper a study conducted by the Olivet Nazarene University. Additionally,\nmentorship increases opportunities and promotion chances for mentees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Benefits of Having a Mentorship Program in Your Business<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Mentorship programs present a myriad of benefits for\nbusinesses and their employees. By linking higher level or more experienced\nemployees with less experienced counter-parts, mentorship helps speed up the\nlearning process. This is because mentees tend to share their first-hand\nexperiences, insights, and their failures. Seeing as most mentors are usually\nsuccessful in their various fields, their experiences and knowledge can be used\nby mentees to navigate daily challenges at the workplace and progress career\nwise. This knowledge is also specific to the organisation or industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mentors give support, feedback, assurances, and advice\nthat is very much needed by new employees. They can also teach new skills and\navail their extensive resources and network to mentees which in turn opens\nopportunities and leads to career growth and development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Additionally, mentorship eases the onboarding process\nof new hires and makes the company more appealing to recruits. All of this benefit\nyet it costs nothing. Your business uses already available resources unlike\nformal training sessions such as seminars. \nHaving established how beneficial a mentorship program is, the next step\nis learning how to curate an effective one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Curating A High Impact Mentorship Program<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Curating a mentorship program that works for both\nmentees and mentors is a process that requires you to factor in a couple of\nthings. Know that it takes time. Not that it is too hard to do. Basically, all\nyou need to do is just follow these 4 steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Set Up a Formal Structure<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        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,<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Decide if it is an invite-only program, mandatory or\nvoluntary where all employees are open to apply.  Figure out the connection type and duration.\nWill it be one on one or group-based? How long will it run for? Weeks, months,\nyears? Decide on the mentorship style to be used. There are several types of\nmentorship; peer mentoring, group mentoring, facilitated mentoring, reverse\nmentoring, flash mentoring, and 1:1 mentoring which is the most common. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        1. Pair Mentees with Mentors<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          This is a very crucial step as the matches have to\nwork if the program is to be successful. You need to factor in the roles of an\nemployee, their needs, and their interests when matching them up with mentors.\nFinding the ideal mentee \u2013 mentor pair can be quite tasking. You could ask\nemployees to fill out a form, questionnaire, or do an interview and use the\nanswers given to find matches that just might work. Alternatively, you can ask\nmentees to pick their preferred mentor or vice versa. Some companies employ the\nuse of mentoring software to pair people up. Others still enlist the help of\ncareer coaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          1. Sell The Idea to Participants<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            You might witness hesitation to embrace the program on\nboth sides. Don’t worry. All you have to do is sell the idea to participants.\nClearly explain the benefits of participating in the program. Don’t assume they\nknow somehow. While you\u2019re at this, you may also want to set expectations on\nwhat either party is to receive from the relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            1. Develop A Guide<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

              Once you have convinced employees to partake in the\nprogram and have paired them up, the next step is usually developing a guide\nfor mentor-mentee relationships. This guide should be flexible but still\nprovide structure. Identify key activities to be done, avail calendar\nscheduling tools, and set up virtual communication channels that can be used to\nconnect. Without such a structure in place, parties can lose momentum and\ndirection leading to the ultimate failure of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              It\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Liked this piece? You’ll be interested in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              5 Benefits of mentoring<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              7 Reasons you need a mentor<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              How to land your dream mentor<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              Ruth Kimani<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              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\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":5}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4910"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4914,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4910\/revisions\/4914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmc.ke\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}