Mentoring Ideas for Introducing Mentoring in your Organisation
Why Mentoring?
When it comes to seeing tangible results and ROI from developmental initiatives, mentoring has a lot going for it, mentoring provides the follow-up, accountability and bedding-in of newly acquired skills and knowledge. Mentoring can be used in supporting other development initiatives in the organisation such as graduate programmes, talent management initiatives, succession planning; by offering a mentoring programme, you become more attractive to potential recruits, especially graduates; it can help develop positive connections between co-workers and across functions which will have a positive impact on the rest of the organisation and the culture; increase productivity through better engagement and job satisfaction by those that have been mentored.
Leaving development solely to line managers can be a bit hit-and-miss, line managers often lack the time and skills to not only effectively develop their staff, but to recognise potential in others, at worst they can actively block progression for fear of losing key staff.
“Mentors provide a range of learning and supporting behaviours, from challenging and being a critical friend, to being a role model; from helping build networks and develop personal resourcefulness, to simply being there to listen; from helping someone work out what they want to achieve and why, to planning how they will bring change about.”
David Clutterbuck
Mentoring options
Depending on your vision for mentoring, you may want to consider a number of options:
Long-term mentoring (6-24 months) – where mentees and mentors are matched for a longer period, the purpose might be to support career development, progression into senior roles, to support EDI initiatives, graduate progression, talent management programmes.
Specialist mentoring – mentoring support in specific areas or aligned to in-house development initiatives, mentees are provided a mentor in the areas of the business they would like development in.
Just-in time mentoring – guidance that a mentee needs, at the time they need it. This would involve specialist mentors who can provide quick, short-term advice and guidance. This style of mentoring can bring confidence to new skills, fast. This shorter, targeted learning approach can fill in the knowledge gaps required to keep people on track and pushing ahead. Just-in-time mentoring can be a less intimidating way for many to get a taste of what mentoring has to offer. It is often a great way to recruit mentors and encourage a wider variety of people in, to share their skills.
JIT mentoring is a great way for a bank of mentors in organisations to use their skills in an effective, targeted way, they may be seen as ‘special advisors’ and can support a number of mentees at the same time without having to make a long-term commitment to one person, this may suit the organisation’s culture and ways of working.
Recommendations for introducing a mentoring programme
Preparation Prior to the delivery of the programme, the groundwork needs to be done to ensure that there is a clear purpose to the mentoring programme, who is involved, what the organisation would like to achieve and how this will be measured. How will mentoring be aligned to other development initiatives?
Organisational Readiness and Structure Buy-in and commitment from all stakeholders, especially top management, is crucial for a successful mentoring programme. This is where a steering group can be beneficial, made up of representative mentees/mentors, programme manager, sponsors within the organisation and other key stakeholders.
You will need a framework for the mentoring programme, a clear picture as to what mentoring is/isn’t and the roles and commitments of everyone involved.
Selecting mentors/mentees I would recommend procedures as to how mentors and mentees are selected and matched. Mentors outlining what they can offer, their areas of specialism and their commitment. Having a bank of mentors with data about skills, strengths, specialisms will help when matching mentors and mentees.
For mentees, introduce an application process where they are required to outline what their objectives are and how mentoring can support the achievement of these. Also, what they would be looking for in a mentor.
I would also recommend a short briefing session to introduce mentoring and an overview of the programme, and the mentor’s role and responsibilities are outlined. Having the sponsor deliver this sets the tone.
Hopefully, at this stage prospective mentors will be informed enough to make a decision as to whether mentoring is for them and what it entails.
I would recommend that you provide training for mentors, training provides an opportunity to learn more about the skills of a mentor. Mentee training, the aim of which is to inform them of the mentoring programme and their role and responsibility in the mentoring relationship.
I recommend that mentors are provided with supervision. This gives them an opportunity to check-in and discuss any issues, needs, or questions and provides them with support and guidance. It is also an opportunity to feedback to the programme manager and sponsor.
Evaluation Has the programme achieved what it set out to achieve in the initial stages? How will the programme be evaluated, and success measured? It is useful here for those involved to evaluate the programme and provide feedback. I would also recommend that ongoing evaluation and feedback is undertaken throughout the programme.
How I can help…
To provide consultancy at the start and throughout, to help you get the programme off the ground.
To help you think about the purpose of the programme and what you would like to achieve.
Facilitate a Steering Group briefing session
Help with setting up of the Programme, design of resources, guidelines, questionnaires, paperwork,
procedures, evaluation methods
Deliver a briefing session with mentors
Delivery of the mentor training
Delivery of mentee training/briefing
Help with matching mentors with mentees
Conduct mentor supervision- providing on-going support (usually on a quarterly basis)
If you would like to explore mentoring in your organisation and how it can work for you and your staff, then please get in touch. Together we can identify what you want to achieve from a mentoring programme and how to go about achieving it.
More information is available at: www.fptrainingltd.co.uk or email me at fiona.porter@fptrainingltd.co.uk
