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Bring Mentoring into Corporate Culture
Published on 05/10/09
by Carrie Brancheau, PHR
If you ask someone how they feel about mentoring, you are liable to get any number of answers about its uses and efficacy. In my case, I had an informal mentor and much of whom I am as a professional has been shaped by my relationship with this individual. He went beyond what was a necessary business affiliation and consistently shared his valuable experience with me. Some thirteen years later, our relationship has grown into a friendship, one that I cherish.
I think that mentoring can bring key advantages to an organization. Some benefits ascribed to a successful mentoring program are better mentee performance, higher self-confidence, faster culture integration, increased organizational communication, mentee career planning/guidance, and increased diversity and retention.
When thinking about establishing your own mentoring program consider the following:
Define the purpose: Why have a mentoring program?
• Establish goals and objectives.
o Facilitate succession planning.
o Employee engagement.
o Increase retention.
o Assist diversity programs success.
o Increase productivity.
o Fail stop to organizational “Brain Drain”.
• Link to organizational strategy.
• Can be key to retention in a fast growth organization.
• Develop a feeling of inclusiveness—a key element in diversity program success strategies.
Matching Mentors with Protégés
• Use a behavioral profiling tool to match up the right pairing of individuals to maximize the success of program.
• Get buy-in from Mentors; time commitment.
• Good pairings are necessary as Mentors help mentees to establish a network for long-term success.
• The ability to establish mutual respect and trust an essential element of the relationship.
Orientation
• Define a mentor and mentee.
• Illustrate the goals and objectives to be achieved by mentor.
• Establish the length of time necessary to achieve the desired results.
• Define the level of formality (formal/informal) in relationship.
• Clarify roles and responsibilities for both.
Monitor Process
• How does the process align with organizational goals and objectives?
• Scheduled calendar of events/meetings. Create a ritual of connection.
• Establish clear expectations: of mentor; of mentee.
• Structure to build trust.
• Both parties must feel free to terminate the relationship without reprisal.
Does your organization have a formal mentoring program? Have you had an informal mentoring relationship? I would love to hear your experiences and how they impacted you.
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