As per the report published by Gallup, around 67% of the employees are disengaged at work, and 51% are seeking new opportunities in the market.
In the pursuit of securing top talent in the market, organizations must prioritize the establishment of robust strategies aimed at retaining and nurturing their existing workforce, particularly through effective mentoring in the workplace. This is crucial for boosting engagement and ensuring long-term retention.
The transformative effects of the pandemic on global business operations and organizational frameworks have prompted a reevaluation of how workplace mentoring is perceived. The shift to virtual and hybrid work models has revealed gaps in the learning and development of employees, underscoring the need for organizations to bolster their efforts in mentoring employees within the evolving technical landscape.
The conventional practice of in-person mentoring is undergoing a metamorphosis, with companies seeking to gauge the impact of mentoring programs in the workplace under the new operational paradigm. By leveraging diverse forms of mentoring, organizations can harness their most valuable asset—their employees—and align them with organizational objectives.
Also Read: Tips of delivering effective virtual mentoring sessions
What is a Workplace Mentoring Program?
Mentoring is one of the foundational activities of the organization, undertaken to train, develop, and create a skilled workforce. Human resource management is one of the most complex tasks, and organizations globally face critical challenges in maintaining and developing their employees.
Through effective mentoring programs, it is possible to train new, middle, and upper management employees and align them towards the organizational goals. Not just larger scale organizations, mentoring has been effective in small and medium-scale enterprises as well.
MSME organizations are actively utilizing formal mentoring for creating a productive, engaged, and skilled workforce. A report by Kabbage shows 92% of small business owners found mentoring to have a positive impact on the growth of their business. While 89% of the business owners that didn’t have mentors wished they had one.
With the rapidly changing needs of the businesses and clients, leaders have to be visionary and support mentoring activities by acting as a bridge between employees and organizational needs. It has been found that employees that have formal mentoring programs and full-time mentors feel supported, engaged, and more productive at work. This further helps in strengthening employee retention and engagement in the organization.
Also Read: How does reverse mentoring work?
Benefits of Mentoring in the Workplace
Workplace mentoring programs helps in cultivating strong relationships among employees and increases the overall productivity of the workforce. By implementing a well-defined and structured mentoring tool like Mentoring Complete, organizations can realize the impact of mentoring in the workplace. With features like precision matching, anytime mentoring, and program design and implementation, leaders can plan to reskill and upskill their employees.
The benefits of mentoring employees are not just limited to the but extend to all the entities involved in the program.
Check out the advantages of having formal mentoring programs in the workplace.
Workplace Mentoring Program Benefits of to the Mentor
Mentoring is an exchange of ideas, knowledge, and skills from a mentor to the mentees. Meanwhile, mentors (an experienced employee) also get exposed to a range of benefits that help them develop on various professional fronts. Besides the personal satisfaction of sharing knowledge and skills with the learners, mentors can take advantage of the sessions in the following manner.
- Expanding skillset through continuous learning and collaboration
- Inculcating active listening skills
- Understanding of human personas through interaction
- Opportunity to become a subject matter expert
- Undertaking leadership goals and perspectives
- Mentor and mentee relationship building
- Career progression through on-the-job learning
- Leadership development and succession planning
Mentoring in the Workplace: Benefits to the Mentee
A structured mentoring program can be highly beneficial to the mentees. It helps plug in the gaps between the learning and development processes of employees across multiple functions. A five-year study by Gartner found that 25% of the 1000 surveyed employees that enrolled in a mentorship program had a salary grade change and also got promotions earlier than those who did not take part in the program. Some of the benefits of mentoring a mentee are listed below.
- Skill and competency development
- Overall professional development: Interpersonal and intrapersonal
- Better relationships with peers and managers
- Active involvement in projects
- Better utilization of skills
- Development of leadership skills
- Easier transition from mid-level to higher management positions
Also Read: Benefits of implementing employee career development program
Mentoring in the Workplace: Benefits to the Organization
Mentoring is a powerful tool that contributes toward the recruitment, retention, and development of employees. Intentionally and carefully designed mentorship programs can result in attracting the right talent and help retain potential employees.
Successful mentoring programs can bring transformational results by increasing the productivity of the employees and by mitigating critical mistakes that could lead to a loss of revenue. Strategic implementation of mentoring in an organization can result in the following benefits:.
- Create a workforce aligned with the vision and mission of the organization
- Attract the right talent pool and create strategies to grow and nurture the existing employees
- Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of team members, leaders, and upper management
- Create smart succession plans for the organization
- Bring attrition under control, thereby reducing the revenue of loss due to the exit of potential employees
- Reduce the risk of making critical mistakes that can cause revenue loss
- Create an open, supportive, and collaborative culture that respects everyone’s perspective
- Create a diverse and inclusive workforce
Also Read: Know the type of mentoring your employee needs
Implementing Mentoring in the Workplace
Developing and executing a mentoring program in the workplace necessitates a comprehensive exploration of human resource management intricacies. A profound comprehension of employees’ obstacles is crucial for the effective implementation of a tailored mentoring program, which has the potential to significantly influence business outcomes. Leaders should strive to design a purpose-driven, sustainable, and scalable program that encompasses the entire workforce.
The following six-phase process for implementing a mentoring program can assist leaders in eliciting successful outcomes from their employees.
Also Read: Why mentoring women in the workplace is more important than ever
1. Define the goals of the program
Organizations deploy mentoring programs to accomplish multiple goals. It can be about improving performance, increasing leadership capabilities, or grooming the team members for the position of manager and taking up more responsibilities and challenges. Whatever is the desired outcome, it should reflect in the intricacies of the mentoring program.
2. Outline the mentoring process
Think through the complete process of mentoring. At the end of this phase, one should be able to answer the following questions:
- What is the procedure to apply for the program?
- How to establish the mentor-mentee relationship?
- How to achieve the outcomes in a virtual environment?
- How to track the success of the program?
- How to incorporate the participants’ feedback into the program?
It is good to think about the challenges in the process and find solutions to avoid any bottleneck.
3. Mentor and mentee matching
Matching is a crucial phase of a mentorship program and requires a careful understanding of the professional duties of the learners, and finding a suitable mentor to fulfill their learning objectives. Right matching results in building strong mentoring relationship between a mentor and a mentee.
By using Mentoring Complete’s precision matching, program managers can create quality matches for efficient program delivery.
Also Read: Reasons why mentor and mentee training is critical
4. Provide mentorship training
Before starting the mentoring program, it is important to train the mentors and explain the learning outcomes desired at the end of the program. Equip them with the tools and help them select the mentoring approach best suited for the success of the program.
5. Communicate expectations
Without a proper understanding of the learners’ expectations, it is not feasible to run a mentoring program successfully. Managers should interact with the learners and mentors to establish the learning objectives. It can also be achieved by sending out questionnaires, surveys, and personal interviews.
6. Measure results
Measuring the impact of mentoring in the workplace involves revisiting the goals set up before the program implementation. Look at the sales figure, employee engagement and productivity, retention rate, and skillset enhancement to understand the effectiveness of the mentoring.
Conclusion
In conclusion, mentoring in the workplace is a time-honored method of empowering employees with the necessary skills to excel in their roles. For organizations seeking to maximize the full potential of their workforce and address human resource challenges, it is essential to leverage best practices in mentoring when implementing such programs.