Key takeaways
- High performers leave when they can’t see their next step. They outgrow roles fastest and have the most options, so an unclear path costs you your best people first.
- Mentoring makes the path visible. A mentor who has already made the move shows what the next role takes, helps plan the steps and opens doors to people and projects.
- Pair mentoring with real moves. Career conversations, sponsors, stretch assignments and open internal roles turn a plan into progress.
- Start with the people you can least afford to lose. Hold a career conversation, map a target role, match a mentor and review progress quarterly.
- Measure what matters: regretted turnover, internal moves and promotions among high performers in the program, compared with similar high performers outside it.
Why Do High Performers Leave When They Can’t See a Path to Grow?
High performers leave when they can’t see a next step because growth is a large part of what keeps them motivated. They learn a role quickly, and when no one talks with them about what comes next, they look for it elsewhere. They also have the most options: recruiters call them first.
In a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 63% of US workers who quit a job in 2021 said a lack of opportunities for advancement was a reason, the same share that cited low pay. Many of these exits can be prevented. A 2019 Gallup analysis found that 52% of employees who left voluntarily said their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving, and 51% said no manager or leader had talked with them about their job satisfaction or future with the organization in the three months before they left.
Warning signs a high performer can’t see a path
- Strong ratings, but no new role, scope or project in the last two years.
- No career conversation with their manager in the last six months.
- Questions about roles on other teams or in other locations.
- Less interest in stretch work they used to volunteer for.
- A manager who relies on them too much to let them move.
How Can Mentoring Help High Performers See a Path to Grow?
Mentoring helps by turning a vague future into a concrete one. A mentor who has already made the move your high performer wants can show what the next role involves, which skills and experiences it takes and who makes the decisions. Paired with real chances to move, such as stretch projects and internal roles, mentoring gives people both a reason and a way to grow inside your company.
Real moves make the path believable. LinkedIn data shared in 2022 showed that employees who made an internal move had a 75% chance of staying at their company after two years, compared with 56% for those who hadn’t. Mentoring alone is not a cure-all: a 2004 meta-analysis in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that mentored employees generally had better career outcomes, such as pay and career satisfaction, but the effects on objective outcomes like pay were small. It works best as part of a wider plan for employee retention through mentoring that includes real opportunities.
Career conversations
Ask where the person wants to be in two to three years and write down one or two target roles. The manager holds this conversation; a mentor can help the employee prepare for it.
Career mentors who’ve made the move
Match each high performer with someone one or two levels ahead who has done the role they want. The mentor shares how they got there and which experiences mattered most.
Sponsors
A mentor gives advice; a sponsor uses their influence to put someone forward for roles and projects. High performers who are ready for a bigger role often need both.
Stretch assignments
A stretch assignment, such as leading a cross-team project, builds the experience a target role needs before a vacancy opens. The mentor helps plan it and debrief it.
Reverse and peer mentoring
High performers also grow by mentoring others. In reverse mentoring, a junior employee mentors a senior leader on a topic such as new technology, which gives the junior employee visibility with leaders. Peer and group mentoring connect people across teams, so they see roles and paths they didn’t know existed.
How to Use Mentoring to Keep High Performers: A Step-by-Step Plan for HR
To use mentoring to keep high performers, find who is at risk, hold a career conversation with each, map a path to one or two target roles and match a mentor who has made that move. Then add a sponsor and a stretch assignment, open internal roles and review progress every quarter.
- Find your high performers and who is at risk. With HR business partners and managers, list top performers and people in critical roles. Flag anyone with no move or new scope in two years, or no recent career conversation.
- Hold a career conversation. Ask where they want to be in two to three years, what they want to learn and what would make them stay. Record one or two target roles.
- Map the path. For each target role, list the skills and experiences it needs and the gap today. For leadership roles, connect this to your succession planning, so high performers become ready-now successors.
- Match a mentor who has made the move. Match on the target role, goals and skills to build, not just seniority. Keep the mentor outside the reporting line so the mentee can speak openly.
- Add a sponsor and a stretch assignment. Agree on one assignment in the next 90 days that closes a gap, and a senior leader who will put the person forward.
- Set the rhythm. Pairs meet about twice a month for six to nine months, set goals in the first meeting and review them with the manager at 90 days.
- Open internal moves. Post roles internally first, expect managers to release strong people, and count a good internal move as a win for the manager who let them go.
- Review every quarter. Check meetings, goal progress and moves. Rematch stalled pairs and expand what works.
For the program design itself, from goals to matching and training, see our mentorship program guide.
How to Measure Whether Mentoring Keeps Your High Performers
Measure it by comparing high performers in the program with similar high performers who aren’t, over the same period. The main signals are regretted turnover, internal moves and promotions, and whether people say they can see a future at the company.
| Measure | How to track it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Regretted turnover | Share of high performers who resign, in and out of the program | Quarterly; reviewed yearly |
| Internal moves and promotions | Moves, promotions and new scope for each group | Every six months |
| Ready-now successors | Share of critical roles with a ready-now successor, a core measure of workforce readiness | Every six months |
| Career conversations | Share of high performers with a documented career conversation in the last six months | Quarterly |
| Mentoring activity | How often pairs meet and progress on their written goals | Monthly |
| Can they see a future? | Survey item: “I can see a path to grow my career here,” rated 1 to 5 | Start, midpoint and end |
For a full set of metrics, a reporting cadence and common mistakes, see our guide on how to measure mentoring program success.
How Rumi by Chronus Helps
Rumi by Chronus helps HR give high performers a visible path at scale, without running matches in spreadsheets.
- Mentors who’ve done the job. Rumi Mentor pairs your people with coworkers who’ve done the job before. Its AI weighs a dozen factors, including goals, skill gaps, experience, availability, language and location, and every suggested match shows why. It runs 1:1, group, reverse and flash mentoring.
- Every meeting prepared. With Guided Conversations, every meeting starts with a plan and simple prompts, and Rumi flags a match that’s gone quiet before it fizzles out.
- Coaching toward the next move. Rumi Coach knows each employee’s role, skills and goals, and the career move they’re working toward. It reaches out before the moments that matter and helps them rehearse high-stakes conversations. When needed, it connects them with a mentor who has faced the same challenge and briefs that mentor before they meet.
- Proof for leadership. Unified Insights brings engagement, meeting cadence and goal progress into one view, and ties mentoring to retention and promotion.
For example, Luis wants to lead a finance team. Rumi knows Ana made the same move last year, so Luis is matched with Ana, a finance director. What employees say to Rumi is private by default, and they choose what to share with a manager or mentor. Rumi doesn’t replace the manager’s career conversation or the mentor’s experience; it helps more of your people get both.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mentoring and High Performers
How does mentoring help retain high performers?
Mentoring shows high performers a concrete next step inside the company. A mentor who has made the move explains what the target role takes, helps plan the experiences to get there and connects them with people who can open doors. With stretch assignments and internal moves, it gives them a reason to grow with you.
What is the difference between a mentor and a sponsor?
A mentor gives advice, shares experience and helps someone plan their growth. A sponsor is a senior leader who uses their influence to put someone forward for roles, projects and visibility. High performers who are ready for a bigger role often need both.
How do you keep high performers when there’s no promotion available?
Offer growth that doesn’t need a new title: a stretch assignment, a lateral move that builds new skills, leading a project or mentoring others. Be honest about timelines, and agree on the experiences that would make them ready when a role opens.
Should high performers be mentors or mentees?
Both work. As mentees, they learn from people who have made the move they want. As mentors, including in peer and reverse mentoring, they build leadership skills and visibility with senior leaders.
How long should a mentoring program for high performers last?
A cycle of six to nine months works well for career mentoring, with meetings about twice a month. That is long enough to set goals, complete a stretch assignment and review progress with the manager.
