There are many benefits to a corporate mentoring program. From boosting employee morale to reverse mentoring (millennials mentoring baby boomers on the latest and greatest technologies, for example) to successfully supporting women in their career growth goals. Here we discuss four overlooked benefits of mentoring that will position your organization for the best and brightest prospective employees while nurturing the rock stars you already have today.
1. Attracting talent
It’s college graduation season. There is so much great talent out there, but why would these talented young people want to come to work for YOU? Mentoring has a powerful attraction for prospective employees. In career development surveys, mentoring continues to be cited as an important benefit. When trying to attract talent, advertising that you have a professional and effective mentoring program can be a significant differentiator between you and your competitors.
2. Developing talent
Does your organization struggle with developing talent? Developing a talent pool is an ongoing challenge for most companies as they strive to remain ahead of the competition. Many different development strategies exist and a company that wishes to remain a player needs to incorporate a number of them to grow its talent. Corporate mentoring is one of the most effective strategies as a standalone program or as part of an existing workforce development program.
3. Supporting diversity initiatives
We touched upon this in the opening paragraph. Millennials, boomers, women…..how about global organizations that are working together cross-culturally? Many companies are struggling with supporting diversity initiatives. Today’s workforce is evolving, and the best companies are responding to it by offering and fostering diversity initiatives to expand understanding and encourage collaboration across different demographics. That’s good news, but there’s still a big problem – most diversity initiatives don’t go far enough. And companies that offer insufficient programs are wasting time and money.
4. Succession planning initiatives
We all like to pretend it isn’t going to happen. “Joe Smith will never leave us….he’s been here forever and he knows everything!” Well, we hate to break it to you, but Joe Smith will eventually leave. It’s coming and you need to be prepared for it. Ensure that your company’s expertise from experienced employees like Joe Smith will not be lost once he retires or leaves the company. Retain that expertise via a mentoring program by properly positioning those who are poised to take Joe’s place. Mentoring is an ideal strategy for enriching your succession planning program. In succession planning, you’re targeting individual talent to take on increasingly more responsible positions and eventually assume a major position within your organization.