Mentoring programs are a great method to boost employee development, engagement, and retention at any company. Nine out of 10 workers with a mentor said they were satisfied with their jobs; more than half rated themselves “very satisfied,” according to CNBC/SurveyMonkey.
Start your program off right with mentoring best practices curated by our mentoring experts. Attention to a few important details can make all the difference in ensuring effectiveness for your mentoring program.
Watch our 1-minute video, or read on for our entire list of mentoring best practices.
What Makes a Successful Mentoring Program?
The success of a mentoring program can be judged by its results. Good mentor programs build trusting relationships among mentors and mentees and offer a mutually beneficial experience for both. These programs foster professional development as well as boost employee engagement, purpose and a sense of belonging — all of which contribute to retaining current employees and attracting new ones. Ultimately, successful mentoring programs help employees realize their true potential while strengthening the cohesiveness of the organization and improving its performance.
What Components Should Be Included for a Successful Mentoring Program?
1. Define Your Mentoring Program Objectives & Secure Leadership Buy-In
You might be surprised by the number of mentoring programs without clear objectives or strong buy in. Such programs often struggle because there’s no consensus of what success looks like. Follow mentoring program best practices by implementing SMART objectives – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.
Here’s an example: “The goal of our mentoring program is to help new employees become 60 percent more productive by the end of their first six months.” Such objectives provide direction to program participants and help organizational leaders understand why they should offer their support.
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2. Find a Strong, Passionate Mentoring Program Manager
Selecting the right program manager is critical to your mentoring program. A strong program manager doesn’t guarantee success. But a weak one will guarantee underwhelming results.
Program managers provide essential ongoing support, training, and coaching to participants. They identify opportunities and troubleshoot issues, working with stakeholders to make ongoing adjustments to keep the program thriving.
They’re also instrumental in promoting the program to potential participants and serve as the program’s ambassador (along with the executive champion) to the organization. Passion, excellent communication, and organizational skills are a must. Prior experience in serving as a mentor is a bonus.
3. Build Flexibility into the Mentorship Program
Successful mentorship programs balance the dueling needs of structure and flexibility. A level of formality is needed within the mentoring process, participant training, progress tracking, and communication to help the program run smoothly.
Yet mentoring is about individual learning and growth, which means participant needs will vary in outcomes sought and preferred methods of learning. When planning a mentoring program, identify areas that require flexibility and build them into the program. Areas to consider include: mentoring format (one-to-one, group, circles), duration, and participant interaction tools.
4. Promote Your Mentoring Program
When you introduce a new mentoring program to your organization, there’s generally natural enthusiasm. But this enthusiasm doesn’t always translate into high participation rates. A common reason? The absence of effective promotion.
Don’t assume potential mentors and mentees will automatically understand the benefits of mentoring. For many, this will be their first experience. You’ll need to convince them that participation is worth their time and effort. If you need ideas, check out our toolkit for promoting your mentoring program, which is full of mentorship program best practices. Beyond participants, key leaders and stakeholders need to be educated on the benefits of the program and strategic value to the organization.
5. Emphasize the Impact of Mentoring
Consider the needs of mentors. Building a solid base of mentors can be a challenge. A key is understanding the positive and negative factors that impact mentor participation. Once you’ve identified them, look for creative ways to reinforce positive drivers and lower the hurdles of negative ones throughout the mentoring process. Convey the benefits of mentoring programs to your potential mentoring participants, as well as your organization and its stakeholders.
For example, these statistics show that mentors are often busy people with limited time to spend. How can you help mentors become more efficient with their time? Also consider recognition and reward strategies. Formally recognizing mentor involvement is a best practice that can be very motivating to those mentors and help attract new ones.
6. Utilize Mentoring Best Practices to Prepare Mentors and Mentees for Success
Productive mentoring doesn’t just happen. Provide training to mentors and mentees regarding the programs goals, participant roles, mentoring best practices, and your mentoring process. Help mentors and mentees clarify their own objectives. The need for training and guidance doesn’t end after the initial orientation. Provide tips and mentoring best practices throughout the mentoring program to help participants stay on track and get the most out of the program.
If you’re the administrator for a mentorship program, it’s important to manage participants’ expectations with clarity. Tell mentees at the beginning that they should lead in the following ways:
- Set meeting agendas
- Outline goals for benchmarks
- Prepare for meetings and be on time
- Update mentorship administration with progress
- Ask for feedback
- Acknowledge mentor’s time and support
- Set aside time to ask for mentor’s insight and direction for the relationship
Don’t forget to inform the mentors that they should be expecting the mentee to take the lead. Not only does this process ensure more complete follow-through, but it builds leadership and confidence in the mentee. Mentees might feel nervous about approaching their mentors with plans, deadlines, or schedules. Remind them that not only is their mentor expecting them to take the lead, but will feel more comfortable knowing what’s expected in advance. This approach also gives the mentee an opportunity to shine in front of a higher level employee.
Set your mentees up for success. They’ll need suggestions and a framework to follow in terms of scheduling meetings, establishing expectations, achieving goals, and tracking progress. Remind them to communicate honestly but also to maintain confidentiality. Give them the chance to ask you questions and make sure they understand the terms of the program before they contact their mentors.
We talked to author and mentoring expert Andy Lopata to learn what additional tips he had to offer for mentors and mentees. “Think about how you interact on the call,” said Lopata. The author of The Financial Times Guide to Mentoring (along with his co-author Dr. Ruth Gotian) offered these simple things to think about:
- Make eye contact by looking at the camera and not just the screen.
- Close any distractions such as email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp. Turn your phone off or on airplane mode.
- Everyone is different, but consider how will you balance note-taking with active listening. There are some excellent AI note-taker apps which don’t just transcribe but also summarise calls. Otter and Fathom are two popular apps (Andy uses Fathom).
7. Properly Match Mentors and Mentees
For mentoring to thrive, a successful mentoring relationship needs to form between mentor and mentee. The strength of the match plays a critical role in this. Consider giving mentees a say in the matching process by allowing them to select a particular mentor or list their top three choices. Mentoring software can improve and speed up the matching process. If your software has a strong matching capability, it will recommend suitable mentors based upon learning needs and compatibility.
8. Track & Measure Mentoring Program Success
How will you know if your mentoring program is a success? Track program and connection metrics and ask for feedback. At the program level, build metrics around defined objectives (see Tip #1 above).
Be sure to assess the outcomes of individual mentor and mentee connections. One of the easiest ways to measure success and capture feedback is through surveys. Ask participants and stakeholders how well the mentoring program met their goals and the goals of the organization. Also ask them for their ideas for improving the program.
Measuring your program effectively will help you illustrate the true ROI of mentoring, giving you even more evidence of mentoring’s impact on your organization. Want to learn how to calculate it? Check out our>ROI of Mentoring Ebook
9. Bring Closure to Individual Mentoring Relationships
Entrepreneurs are advised to develop a clear exit strategy for their business to help them focus upon a tangible outcome. Mentoring is similar in the sense that without defining a closure point, the mentoring process can wander aimlessly. As a mentoring connection progresses, work with the mentor and mentee to identify mileposts that indicate when mutually established goals have been reached. Establish a formal process that brings closure to the mentoring experience. Within this process, provide an opportunity for both the mentor and mentee to reflect upon what was learned, discuss next steps for the mentee, and provide feedback.
10. Showcase Your Successful Mentoring Program
After a mentoring program begins, the focus naturally shifts into operating the program and keeping it running smoothly. Keep in mind, there are likely many more potential participants waiting for signs that joining the program is worth their time and effort. Following these mentoring best practices will help you recruit, retain and engage your organization’s people.
Continually demonstrate the value of the program, recognize participant contributions, and spotlight successes. This mentoring best practice will bring energy to the program, expand participation, and increase overall support within the organization.
