Conducted a one-hour free consult with a small company this morning. Their mentoring program was not achieving results: mentors met with their mentorees maybe once or twice and then nothing seemed to happen beyond that. In our discussion, a review of what was missing provide the answer as to why the program wasn’t successful.
Here are some tips when reviewing your own program to assess if you have critical components missing:
1. Program Design:
Do you have clear guidelines that include how often pairs should meet and for how long? What is the role of the mentoree’s manager compared to that of the mentor? How do you define confidentiality and how does that impact the relationship between the mentor and manager and any talent management programs you have?
2. Training:
Do you provide any training? Not a document with tips but real training! Mentoring is a very specific type of relationship and should be distinguished from coaching, buddy system and other types of relationships. Do you train both mentors and mentorees? If not, your increasing the chances of failure.
3. Ongoing support:
Do you have a program manager? Does this manager provide ongoing support to the mentoring pairs by doing monthly follow-ups and providing resources needed by pairs?
Answering these questions or adding some of the above to your program will greatly enhance your success in mentoring. If you haven’t yet but would like to, take advantage of our free, one-hour consult to discuss your program or to discuss implementing a mentoring program.