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Two Things You Should Know Before Starting
a Mentoring Program
If you’ve read our past newsletters you’ve probably
figured out a couple of things about mentoring.
One, mentoring is a powerful tool that is proven to increases results,
retention rates, and job satisfaction for both mentors and mentees
in most organizations (March
2008 Newsletter).
Two, we at Ovson Communications are very enthusiastic and optimistic
about mentoring and its application in the workplace
Before you jump ahead and implement a mentoring program in your
organization you should understand two critical items that will
improve your chances of success.
Before you start a mentoring plan, you should know:
- What a formal mentoring program includes
- How to enlist proper
support from company leaders
What is a Formal Mentoring Program?
The best way to understand a formal mentoring program is to look
at its definition, then compare it to an informal mentoring program.
DEFINITION
A formal mentoring program is an official, documented, sponsored,
and implemented company-wide plan. It would have a systematic
way of matching mentors and mentees based on career path strategies
and talent gaps in the organization. The plan would be available
to every employee.
OFFICIAL
A formal mentoring program must be tied to the overall strategic
plan of the company, making it a critical part of the organization’s
culture.
DOCUMENTED
Documenting the mentoring plan allows for a system in which to measure
the progress of everyone involved. The formal program must have
criteria, goals, milestones and a built-in feedback system that
quantifies results. This allows for evaluating and modifications
to the plan as necessary.
SPONSORED
Sponsorship and support is required by company leaders in the form
of resources, promotion and commitment.
COMPANY-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION
A formal mentoring plan must be available to all employees. Often,
future company leaders are those that work their way up from the
very bottom.
INFORMAL MENTORING
While an informal mentoring program is better than no mentoring
program at all, it lacks accountability, quantifiability and
implementation speed relative to a formal mentoring program.
It’s
ok to start with an informal mentoring program for testing purposes,
yet for measurable, sustainable, speedy implementation and results,
your organization needs a formal mentoring program.
Leadership Support
The first step to implementing a formal mentoring program is to
gain leadership support. Implementing a mentoring program requires
an investment of energy, time and finances. Resources that are
controlled by company leaders.
Support is more than a simple verbal blessing. During a recent
consultation the company mangers told us that their company’s
partners are in support of mentoring, yet they are not willing to
invest time mentoring managers themselves.
That is not really support as they are unwilling to commit the
resource of time!
Support is an agreement by company leaders to invest a measurable
amount of resources per year or month in the mentoring program.
Resources can be money, time, space for mentoring, and mentor/mentee
training. The type and amount of support should be agreed upon
before any other step in the creation of a formal mentoring program.
How to Enlist Leadership Support
The best way to insure the right support by company leaders is to
first share with them the proven benefits of mentoring. The simple
fact of selling remains: if people don’t see the benefits
of what they are getting they will not buy in.
Even though you and I know that mentoring has been proven to
increase retention rate, increase productivity, attract top talent
and defuse generational conflict in organizations (January
2008 Newsletter).
Don’t assume your company leaders know this information.
It is important to share the benefits with company leaders. Show
them studies and statistics to back up the long-term benefits to
the organization.
Feel free to cite our newsletters and resources.
Once company leaders recognize these benefits and hear the demand
for mentoring from their employees they will be more open to establishing
and supporting a formal mentoring program.
Summary
Like any other company development project, a formal mentoring
program should be presented and tied into company long-term
strategic goals. The first step in implementing a formal mentoring
program is to enlist the support of company leaders in the form
of a measurable investment of resources.
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