What steps are worth taking to make the company’s mentoring program a success?
Thinking about organizing a mentoring program at your company? It’s a great idea yes, but the fundamental question here is: why? What is your company’s motivation for joining such a challenge?
Many companies opt for mentoring because:
- They know others are doing it, so they want a similar program in their company
- believe they have people in the organization who will do a great job as mentors,
- want to recognize talented employees by offering them an additional way to develop personally and professionally,
- have no idea about training or think that this form is already overbearing for everyone and want to do something "different."
From my years of experience, I can confidently say that behind the success of each mentoring program there is a clearly defined, specified goal. This may include:
- Making people stronger in terms of substance and relationship,
- Increase visibility and networking between business lines,
- Increase knowledge sharing and develop a culture of continuous learning,
- Intensive professional and personal development of both Mentors and Mentees,
- Supporting diversity and developing inclusivity in the organization.
Remember that the goals of the program are the axis of the development goals of Mentees and mentoring education for Mentors.
If the right goal is the first factor for success, the second is proper program design. Once the goal is defined, it’s time for the following steps.
- Consider whether you have the internal resources within the organization to manage the program At all its stages. Consider whether you need outside support.
- Define the implementation stakeholders and include them in the preparation of the program.
- Consider implementing a pilot edition, through which you will test the organization of the program, verify its goals and target group. A well-run first edition will build the program’s brand and encourage participation in future editions.
- Involve people who are respected and recognizable in the organization – especially at the beginning.
- Before you announce a program in your organization make sure you know what kind of mentoring you are inviting and what the participants can count on.
- Ensure transparent and comprehensive communication of the: the course of the program, the goals of the program and the criteria for participation, tailored to each audience.
- Prepare participants to benefit from a mentoring relationship both in the role of Mentee and Mentor through mentoring education tailored to the specific program.
These are just some of the tasks you and your team will face. Be prepared for a lot of effort.
Mentoring programs do not implement
themselves. They need consistent grassroots work, management support
and careful communication to be successful.
And you can always use the support of Kingmakers’ experts to help you through each stage of implementation.
