Employees are one of the most critical assets of a company. Capable employees can increase productivity as well as improve the product’s quality or rendered services of the organisation which strengthens its competitive position in the market. That’s why companies should aim to help develop and retain talented employees as well as attracting aspiring talent with a mentoring program.
While this program is between mentors and their mentees, organizations also benefit from mentoring since it improves communication and relationships in the workplace, staff retention, morale, and motivation.
Mentors can provide career and psychosocial support to their mentees. Proteges presented with challenges which can develop skills that can be helpful in their career advancement while gaining a higher sense of competence and self-esteem.
Meanwhile, mentoring can renew enthusiasm for the mentor while enhancing their skills in coaching, counselling, listening, and modelling.
A mentoring program uses collaborative learning to share knowledge, skills, insights, and experiences that would be beneficial to everyone involved. But few programs successfully meet their goals due to lack of understanding of its purpose and what it requires to succeed. Before you start implementing your mentoring program in the workplace, take a look at these tips to ensure your success:
- Careful Planning
Different organisations have different needs, so before beginning your mentoring program, you should first focus on finding a clear objective for your company. Make sure also to understand your employees’ needs and their key motivations to participate. Evaluate your business so you’d be able to determine how the mentoring program can add value or enhance your business as well as your staff.
Implementing a successful program requires planning. There are things you need to consider such as the length of the program. While it usually lasts several months to a year, you need to determine a time frame that would give the employees enough time to learn. After the program, you should also allow a breather so that participants could put their learnings into practice.
Your mentoring program could also fail if you don’t consider the people involved in this program. Employees in the program, especially those assigned to its creation and implementation should be interested in the idea and can make it work.
At this stage, metrics that will be measured and methods of evaluation should also be agreed upon by those in charge.
- Guarantee Participation from All Parts of the Organization
Securing participation from all levels and departments is essential but not necessarily the easiest part of creating a mentor program. The advantage of this is that it will give more participants for the program. Mentors and mentees would have a chance to be paired up with someone who could teach them things they wouldn’t usually learn at their level.
Present your plan from the top management team and ensure that everyone understands the program. You would be able to show the value of the program and how it could solve the problems the management have.
- Seek Mentees’ Input During Pairing
There are a lot of types of mentoring your program could use. Some companies use group mentoring; others bring experts for a facilitated mentoring or the most common form of mentoring, the one-to-one pairing. The problem they usually face is who to pair with whom.
While different companies use all sorts of methods to match mentors and mentees, one of the best ones is to offer options from a pool of available candidates and allow them to pick. Since the mentees have their preferences on what they want to learn and what qualities they seek in a mentor, their choice should be taken into account as well.
Developing a clear goal is critical in managing the mentor and mentee’s performances as it aids in determining their priorities. This would also give the mentors a chance to verify that they have the knowledge and experience to help the mentees with their specific needs.
Once they pair up, don’t allow them to disband early as there’s always a settling period before their relationship starts to build. But if it really doesn’t work then allow for them to separate and find a new match. While the process itself should be confidential if a personal conflict develops then the participants should know who to contact.
- Train your mentors and mentees
Before starting the mentoring program, both mentors and mentees should be able to attend training seminars and workshops to brief them on the mentoring program’s goals and how it could help them. You can set proper expectations and communication channels to ensure that your company attains its goals.
During training, the mentors should be able to brush up on their coaching skills while realising that their advice should lead to the empowerment of their protegee in a way that would increase the effectiveness of the organisation. Meanwhile, training for mentees would introduce them to the skills that will be observed and develop during their mentoring sessions.
To ensure proper training for both of the mentors and mentees, the person who will be responsible should be part of the program to answer questions and learn their duties as well.
- Support the Program
While some mentor relationship thrives, some might struggle for a while, especially if the mentor has no experience with teaching before. Don’t lose heart and encourage these pairs to continue to meet according to their agreed frequency. Ensure that they are fully supported and communicate with them frequently to keep things positive.
Signs of success for mentoring takes time to emerge so don’t push for it during the early stages of the program. It would be better to implement goals or on-going checklist for them both to focus on what they are trying to achieve.
For more tips on how you can drive your business to success, you might want to check out here at Business Coaches Sydney. Contact us at 1300-833-574 to learn more.
Garret Norris
Latest posts by Garret Norris (see all)
- Common Mistakes Small Businesses Make in Social Media - January 28, 2019
- Benefits of Social Media Monitoring for Small Businesses - January 14, 2019
- Social Media Campaign Ideas Small Businesses Could Try - December 24, 2018
