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Employee Mentoring
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Employee Mentoring Insights

LocalMasters offers a platform and provides strategic insights for your success. Connect with us today for a free personal consultation or if you are interested in implementing Employee Mentoring into your workplace. If you need more information first, below are some frequently asked questions that address employee mentoring so you have a better understanding of what it is and how it can benefit your work environment.

Fundamentals

Objectives

Implementation

Tracking

Management

Reference

Methodology
For Success

Step 1

Defining Employee Mentoring

Step 2

Importance of Employee Mentoring

Step 3

Implementing Employee Mentoring

Step 4

Measuring Employee Mentoring Success

Step 5

Sustaining Employee Mentoring Efforts

Fundamentals

Fundamentals

What is Employee Mentoring?

A mentorship occurs when a person of influence, or mentor, provides guidance to a mentee, sharing valuable experience, skills and knowledge. Building a mentoring program in the workplace assists the progress of educational opportunities that can help employees grow in their careers and can further advance a warm and inviting corporate culture. A mentoring program encourages new hires or those beginning their careers find experienced mentors who can help navigate them toward success on their professional journeys. Mentorship programs at work improve employee retention, elevates workplace satisfaction, provides opportunity for professional growth and strengthens company culture. An organized program delivers structure and guidance throughout the mentorship process to magnify its benefits.

What is the Mentor / Mentee Relationship Dynamic?

If we simplify mentoring, it’s more like a role model, in many ways. It’s somebody who usually has more years of experience, compared to the mentee. A mentor is someone who is coming from a different vantage point. They’ve lived these experiences.  Versus, when people are starting off in a job or a career: you’re kind of learning the hard way. Learning as you go, through different trial and error experiences.

More Than Just Guidance?

When employees have access to mentors in the workplace, they can provide more than what traditional coaching offers. Mentors are able to pave the way for you in some ways. Not doing the work for you, but relating to you: “Hey, I have gone through these experiences, and this is what I’ve found… I have been in a similar situation myself, this is how it impacted me and this is how I navigated it”.  The mentor / mentee relationship is a mutual one. This means that the mentor also learns and gets benefit out of the program as well, it’s not just about the mentee’s growth and development – it’s mutually beneficial. Each time a mentor takes on a new mentee, both parties receive value from it.

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Objectives

Objectives

Why Mentoring?

When a company invests in a mentorship program for its employees, they’re demonstrating its commitment to those who want to learn, grow and develop their skills. A mentoring program can produce additional opportunities for success among employees of all skill levels and ages. Employees who are brand new to the organization can learn an incredible amount from experienced high level supervisors and managers, however, the learning and growth cuts both ways adding additional benefits.. Mentors often discover that they can learn from employees who they’re guiding, especially when they work with employees from different generations and backgrounds. According to a survey conducted recently by multinational professional services network company Deloitte, 68% of employees who said they plan to stay with their employer for more than five years were twice as likely to have a mentor, versus 32% who did not.

Can Mentoring Improve Relationship Building?

Mentors create a safe space so mentees can evaluate and think critically about situations.  A mentor might say “Hey if this situation were to come up for you, how would you do it?” Then the mentor is able to provide valuable feedback accordingly, depending on what the mentee offers to them. Another aspect that mentors try to create in the relationship is connecting with their mentees through similarities: “I too have been in this situation, either earlier in my career while training, or during my internship, and this is how I handled the situation.” Mentors offering that perspective, through the lens of a veteran who understands the situation the employee is going through, can give employees such a lift, such a feeling of support and care, that they just cannot obtain elsewhere. When the employee respects the mentor, and the mentor allows the employee to feel what it’s like to be in their shoes, it can be transformative.

Does Mentoring Generate Trust In Teams?

When organizations make the effort to put mentors in place, especially those that focus on the mental well being of their employees – not just mentoring to help improve their productivity and performance – they actually see even greater benefits. Think about it: if a mentor is helping the mentee with managing their mental health, guiding them, giving them feedback, encouraging them, supporting the employee through stressful situations, that employee is going to come out of that process even stronger, more productive, and happier! Mentors have a unique position in that they are able to provide help, guidance and advice across a broad range with employees. Over time, a strong bond is developed, forged by mutual trust. Mentors therefore can help uncover deeper issues that may have gone unnoticed in an organization without an employee mentor program.

Can Mentoring Support Career Advancement?

Employees understand their future is being invested in if they’re set up with a mentor who can help guide them. Employees want to feel that their organization appreciates them, not just through catchy slogans and marketing, but through action. Mentors are a fantastic way to address how to provide all important upward mobility opportunities for employees. Companies benefit by hiring within the organization, saving them money and resources, while fortifying their company culture. Additionally, a mentoring program steers mentors and mentees toward a collaborative learning environment where it is encouraged that employees obtain knowledge from those in their orbit. By linking employees with a mentor who is responsible for guiding and supporting them, a safe, comfortable place for employees to grow is available. Employees won’t feel restricted from taking risks and making mistakes because they know they should constantly be growing and improving.

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Implementation

Implementation

How to Build an Effective Employee Mentoring Program?

A good place to start when considering a mentoring initiative in your organization is by asking: will your talent stay long term? Entice Top Performers to Stay. High potential employees are the ones organizations need to be targeting. Why? If you don’t have resources and programs in place to keep them feeling valued and provide opportunities for growth? They will leave, plain and simple. Organizations are clamoring now more than ever to keep their top performers. Lack of mentoring time and again shows up on human resources surveys, and as a reason for leaving in exit interviews. Companies need to understand that investing in a comprehensive mentoring program is equivalent to other “non-negotiable” budgetary items that enjoy consistent and steady funding year after year. How do companies get successful and stay successful? Keeping their people. How do you keep your top talent? Provide them reasons to stay – look no further than a robust employee mentoring program.

What are the Benefits of an Employee Mentoring Program?

  • Strengthen Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Mentoring programs are a terrific way to support your organization’s efforts when it comes to DEI initiatives. More and more studies are pointing to the direct correlation of a strong mentoring program’s ability to cultivate a diverse workforce. A recent study conducted by Harvard Business Review discovered that, on average, mentoring programs expand the representation of African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American women, and Hispanic and Asian-American men by anywhere from 9% to 24%. This is yet another mutually beneficial situation for both employees and employers. Mentoring programs can have a positive impact in increasing diversity in organizations, in addition to retaining top talent and increasing bottom lines.

 

  • Employee Engagement and Recruiting. There’s a new buzz phrase going around that more and more companies are catching on to. “Health is the new wealth.” Mentoring can serve as a conduit, providing energy surging toward improved employee engagement.  A recent survey discovered that more than 9 in 10 workers who have a mentor are satisfied with their jobs. Additionally, employees receiving guidance from mentors are also likely to be better compensated and feel more valued for their efforts at work. These factor heavily in human resource overall workplace happiness surveys. Employee fulfillment, that is, when workers feel connected to the work and feel that what they do matters, leads to increased engagement. When employees are engaged, companies see an increase in higher productivity, lower turnover, and improved cost savings when it comes to health. 

 

  • Attract Talent. In addition to keeping your high potential talent, a solid mentoring program is going to make your organization a prized target for new talent. Make your company an attractive place to work by promoting your robust employee mentoring program. It would behoove your hiring managers, human resources and whomever is in charge of recruiting to get the word out. Take this into consideration, a study showed that 87% of millennials rate professional career growth and developmental opportunities as important to them in a role. Stand out and be noticed. 

 

  • Strengthen company culture. It can be overstated: employees feel cared for and respected when companies take action toward furthering employee growth and development. Invest in your employees, they have the most impact on your bottom line. They are the ones with the closest connection to your customers, day in and day out. Provide them access to a mentor, and watch their engagement and employee satisfaction scores soar in your next engagement survey. 

 

  • ROI – employees who are under the care and guidance of a mentor are going to increase their performance in just about every measurable category. Productivity, communication, time management, team building and relationship building, interpersonal skills, leadership and more. A motivated employee goes above and beyond. A mentor can provide them the opportunity in a safe environment to unlock their true potential.

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Tracking

Tracking

How Do You Know Employee Mentoring Is Working?

They will tell you! Whether it’s through feedback channels like team meetings, performance reviews, human resources employee engagement surveys, or word of mouth, upper management will be hearing good things. However, it’s important to provide data and metrics to support that positivity. Mentoring programs should have periodic check in meetings built in, where they provide feedback to department heads and upper level management. Mentors should be keeping detailed records of all of their mentees, monitoring progress, and identifying areas for improvement.

What Tools Are Used to Track Employee Mentoring Results?

Key performance indicators, targets and segments are all goal analysis metrics that tie together the mentoring program approach. Once goals have been clearly articulated, the next step will be connecting relevant KPI to ensure the mentee is improving. The ideal situation is there’s an established baseline of KPI metrics for performance comparison: before mentoring and after mentoring has taken place for a certain period of time. 

 

An example of KPI that can track an individual’s performance involved in a mentoring relationship in industry are:

  • Rate of new contacts or leads
  • Number of opportunities opened
  • Opportunity to win ratio
  • Average deal size
  • Churn rate
  • Engagement with customers

 

Additionally, organizations can track success of a mentoring program by comparing company KPI such as:

  • Retention rate
  • Participation rate in mentoring program
  • Employee engagement rate
  • Internal Hires and Promotions
  • Partnership completion rate

 

Once enough data has been collected, companies can also utilize group comparison metrics for a snapshot approach of mentoring’s effectiveness:

  • Employees who did not receiving mentoring
  • Employees who had mentors but didn’t set goals
  • Employees who had mentors and set specific goals

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Management

Management

What’s the Key to a Sustainable Employee Mentoring Program?

Are Your Goals Straightforward? A key aspect in any successful mentoring program is having a clear understanding of it’s objective. The mentor must have clarity in order for the relationship to have the desired impact. The objective is directly linked to the specific goals of the organization providing the mentorship program. Additionally, the goals of the employees will be weaved into the program. A general goal of most companies is to promote growth and development inside their organizations – they want to build professionals from within to take on leadership roles. In order to get the greatest levels of impact from a mentoring program, goals of both the organization and employees must be focused and narrowed down. Ideally, this step should be done before the rollout of the mentoring program.

Is The Mentoring Initiative Understood?

In the excitement of rolling out a new mentoring program initiative, sometimes there can be confusion in whom to target, which can create unexpected issues with participation and success of the mentoring program. Your employees have to be clear on who will be participating and why. Preparing ahead of time which employees may benefit from mentoring the most before launching is highly advisable.  Organizations often have a limited amount of mentors, so they should be strategic on whom to select for the program. Identifying whom to offer it to often involves criteria such as a passion for their work and those who have expressed interest in career advancement. Supervisors and managers are advised to compose a list of individuals they feel are invested in their roles and have ambition. Therefore, when the time comes to roll out the program, they most likely will already be interested in developing a relationship with a successful mentor who can share their experiences and help guide them in their professional growth journey.

Have You Determined The Model?

Organizations that are considering a mentorship program may not be aware of their options. The traditional model of mentoring is the tried and true one-on-one model, however there are other choices and options. Group mentoring can also be the right fit for an organization, again, depending on its goals. Reaching more employees could be more valuable for some companies than others. Additional options include peer-to-peer mentoring which is a program that has individuals working together who are at the same level in the organization. Self-directed mentoring provides individuals with autonomy to search and discover their own mentor, versus being paired up with one by their supervisor or manager. Some organizations combine their programs to provide greater options and flexibility both for mentors and mentees.

Will it Receive Promotion and Support?

Everyone needs to know about the amazing benefits of the mentoring program! This is twofold: employees seeking growth and opportunity and advancement & management and executive leadership. Every possible step must be taken to promote the amazing benefits and value that a mentorship program provides. It needs to be championed by leadership, it must be mentioned and referred from the top leaders on down to supervisors. Mentorship programs decline due to lack of internal support. Leadership must buy in and understand that the benefits and strengths that a mentorship program brings to the table is essential to growth and success of the organization.

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Reference

Reference

Employee Mentoring Trends Gaining Attention in 2022

The world has gone through a major change in the past two years. From the COVID-19 pandemic, to global lockdown, remote working, economic recession, all these factors will continue to have an impact on the future of industry, and what employee mentoring programs will look like in 2022 and coming years. 

Here are a few trends that companies should pay attention to while rethinking, updating, and developing their employee mentoring strategies and initiatives. 

 

  1. Be Open to Adaptation. Whichever mentorship program your organization decides to implement, traditional one-on-one, group, peer-to-peer or self mentoring, all are dynamic pathways to improve knowledge sharing throughout all departments. The latest trend with mentoring has shifted towards the virtual setting. Conducting mentoring online via video conferencing software, while not ideal, is gaining popularity due to the ongoing global pandemic. Mentoring is at it’s best when the human connection and bond is there, which a virtual setting cannot provide nearly as well as in person sessions. However, companies must be willing to adapt. Whatever method is decided, when companies share knowledge, innovation and collaboration leads to a cascade of benefits. Everyone, from all backgrounds and talent levels are involved in pursuing and pushing hard to accomplish goals. The ship is steering in the same direction. 

 

  1. Mentoring is not just for large companies! Mentoring programs are compelling in that they provide such a wide range of benefits. Whether it’s increasing your retention rates or preparing your top talent up for success, mentoring is something that’s well worth the investment. When job titles are less important, and investing in people is given the spotlight, wonderful things can occur. Sharing knowledge with others is vital for growth and long term success inside any organization, large or small. 

 

  1. Mentoring creates a deep connection in company culture. A while back, mentoring was often designed into the employer-employee relationship. A superior could be expected to see an employee as their up-and-comer, not only leading them but helping to steer their career. As that relationship has transformed, companies are seeking for other ways to create meaningful relationships with their employees. A robust mentoring program is an intelligent initiative for linking your employees’ individual purpose with that of your organization. With those two interests aligned, your workplace culture will prosper.

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