Corporate Mentoring Matters

Here are 5 reasons why a mentoring program is essential:

1.  To invest in your organizations future. 

• A small investment used for a mentoring program will help produce a significant array of benefits for the organization as well as the employees.

2.  To assist with your succession planning. 

• Once you determine who will be your future leaders, mentoring will help you prepare them for their future roles.

3.  To help you with your organizational growth. 

• Mentoring will help strengthen communication and networking among employees.

4.  To foster knowledge sharing among employees. 

• Mentoring helps with the transfer of knowledge among individuals. 

5.  To provide an additional benefit to your employees.

• Employees consider mentoring an essential benefit because it allows the employee to interact with a colleague who is willing to assist them obtain their goals and growth within an organization.

A common question I get asked and one that I frequently read about in the literature is whether mentoring matches should be voluntary?  The quick answer is:  "Yes".  But actually the problem is the question itself.  What most people mean when they ask that question is:  "Should matches be made voluntarily by a mentoree or mentor self-selecting their partner or should matches be made by a Mentoring Program Manager?"  When this is asked, most people will immediately cite the self-select choice by as the better option.  That then implies that matches made by an organization's Mentoring Program Manager do not involve choice and therefore, are not as good or, are bad.  This is a false assumption borne out by my own consulting experience of over 23 years.

In all the years that I have been working with organizations in creating and maintaining successful mentoring relationships, 95% have been matches made by the Mentoring Program Manager and would, most often be viewed as "forced matches" by people who don't fully understand the process of making a match.  And, on average, our clients generate a 90% success rate with that approach.  Maybe if we use the term "third-party matching", we can get away from the idea of a "forced match".   

A "forced match" in my mind is one where two people are arbitrarily put together with no meaningful process to ascertain compatibility and where one or both of the partners have been required to do this and don't wish to.  Who would want to run this type of program?  Surprisingly, a number of companies or organizations that have no concept of what mentoring is about and create programs that result in poor mentoring.  This is usually not intentional but done out of a false sense of providing something good to employees which, in effect, overpromises and under delivers.

There are pros and cons to both self-selected matches and third-party matches but both need to be voluntary in the sense that pairs should wish to work together.  Neither is better than the other as such and both should be considered when exploring mentoring.  In fact, in many programs, pairing is done by the Mentoring Program Manager for targeted populations usually under 100:  high pos, leaders, etc. while the self-selected method is used for large numbers of employees and it is not unusual for a client to use both methods in their programs.

So the next time you see the question asked as to whether matching should be voluntary,  reply by asking the person whether self-selection or third-party matching is best and see where the dialogue goes.  It will make for an interesting conversation.

One example would be in Asian cultures where someone's education and experience are highly valued.  In such a culture, mentorees may be reluctant to ask for more time or to share a great deal of themselves due to the assumption that to do so is to impose upon a mentor's valuable time.  There is a fear of being a burden to one's mentor.

Under these circumstances, it is important that the mentor take the initiative to express his/her desire to learn more about the mentoree and to indicate that by the mentoree sharing his/her experiences, knowledge, culture, etc., the mentor gains as well.  This means the mentor may have to actually ask questions that explore the mentoree's background and culture - not in an intrusive way but as a way of learning about and understanding the mentoree better.  For mentors in these types of relationships, it is easy to misinterpret a reluctance to share on the part of the mentoree as simply being witholding when what is really happening is the mentoree being deferential to the mentor. 

Cultural nuances do impact mentoring and since mentoring is about a relationship, it's important for all  of us in such relationships to learn about the other partner..not just by asking questions but by exploring resources that can shed light on the cultural background of the mentoree or mentor.  Picking up a book that deals with cultural differences or going online to explore the specific culture of your partner can provide valuable insight into how best to communicate and engage as a pair. 

A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine nor a garden without love.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

Dig the well before you are thirsty.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

If you want one year of prosperity,
grow grain,
If you want ten years of prosperity,
grow trees,
If you want one hundred years of prosperity,
grow people.

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

Learning is a weightless treasure you always carry easy.

One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.

Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.

Teaching others teaches yourself.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.

• 25% of employees who enrolled in a mentoring program had a positive salary-grade change, while only 5% of workers who did not participate in a mentoring program had a change
• Mentors were promoted six times more often than those who did not mentor formally.
• Mentorees were promoted five times more often than those who were not formally mentored.
• Retention rates were higher for both mentorees (72%) and mentors (69%) than for employees who did not participate in a mentoring program.

To learn more about mentoring programs, and how your organization can benefit from having one, please click here to contact us.

• One-On-One Mentoring
  The most common mentoring model, one-on-one mentoring matches one mentor with one mentoree. Most people prefer this model because it allows both mentor and mentoree to develop a personal relationship and provides individual support for the mentoree. Availability of mentors is the only limitation.
• Resource-Based Mentoring
  Resource-based mentoring offers some of the same features as one-on-one mentoring. The main difference is that mentors and mentorees are not interviewed and matched by a Mentoring Program Manager. Instead, mentors agree to add their names to a list of available mentors from which a mentoree can choose. It is up to the mentoree to initiate the process by asking one of the volunteer mentors for assistance. This model typically has limited support within the organization and may result in mismatched mentor-mentoree pairing.
• Group Mentoring
  Group mentoring requires a mentor to work with 4-6 mentorees at one time. The group meets once or twice a month to discuss various topics. Combining senior and peer mentoring, the mentor and the peers help one another learn and develop appropriate skills and knowledge.
  
  Group mentoring is limited by the difficulty of regularly scheduling meetings for the entire group. It also lacks the personal relationship that most people prefer in mentoring. For this reason, it is often combined with the one-on-one model. For example, some organizations provide each mentoree with a specific mentor. In addition, the organization offers periodic meetings in which a senior executive meets with all of the mentors and mentorees, who then share their knowledge and expertise.
• Training-Based Mentoring
  This model is tied directly to a training program. A mentor is assigned to a mentoree to help that person develop the specific skills being taught in the program. Training-based mentoring is limited, because it focuses on the subject at hand and doesn't help the mentoree develop a broader skill set.

Executive Mentoring
This top-down model may be the most effective way to create a mentoring culture and cultivate skills and knowledge throughout an organization. It is also an effective succession-planning tool, because it prevents the knowledge "brain drain" that would otherwise take place when senior management retires. For further information, click here.

Our founder and president, Rene Petrin, welcomes the opportunity to speak at your company either on site or through webinars.

He has spoken before a variety of organizations, including Enterprise Holdings (parent company of Enterprise Rent-a-Car) and The World Bank. Rene is a dynamic speaker (download some of his podcasts) and can expound on numerous topics relevant to corporate mentoring. 

He is available for the following types of events and can present for 1 to 1.5 hours:

• Conferences
• Keynote addresses
• Training meetings/seminars
• Management meetings
• Team building seminars
• And more

I often get asked: "How do you recruit mentors?". As a mentoring specialist who has been involved in creating programs for 22 years, I have found that the best approach is often the personal one.  Most companies send invitations or do informational seminars and many will respond but that may still leave you short of available mentors for matching purposes. In some cases, actually asking someone to serve or having a mentoree that you feel would be perfect for that mentor is another way of recruiting.  Mentors will often respond positively if told that "John or Jane, I have a mentoree who really would benefit greatly from your experience and expertise.  Would you be willing to serve as a mentor?".

The biggest objection mentors have is the concern about the time commitment involved in mentoring. Therefore, another way to make your recruiting campaign for mentors successful is to specify upfront what commitment is expected.  The golden standard is meeting twice a month for one to one and a half hours for each meeting.  By being specific, you provide important information that makes the possibility of mentoring more attractive to a mentor.