Do you want to foster stronger working relationships in your organization? A formal mentoring program can be a powerful tool for attracting and retaining talent. Mentors provide access to growth and development opportunities through meaningful connections. We also know that mentoring improves culture, both from a broad HR perspective, as well as through a specific DEI lens. On this week’s Lead at Any Level LIVE!, Engage Mentoring’s Yalonda Brown shared her expertise on this important topic. (Article continues below the video.)
Lead at Any Level LIVE! featuring Yalonda Brown
Are You Ready to Implement a Formal Mentoring Program?
When Ms. Brown is exploring options with potential clients, she typically asks:
- What are you doing now to provide meaningful connectivity amongst staff and team members?
- Are there groups within your organization that you can’t develop fast enough?
- Through what lens are you identifying high potential team members for promotion, training, and development opportunities?
- Who is not being served well?
Typically, says Ms. Brown, companies who come to her already have Employee Resource Groups in place. Then, their member surveys reveal a high demand for formal mentoring. In one instance, more than 200 employees requested mentorship. But the organization only had the capacity to accommodate twenty of those requests. “What about the others?” she wondered, “What happens to them?”
Outsource Your Mentoring Program
Running a mentoring program often falls under “Other Duties as Assigned.” Typically, someone in the HR department does the best they can with a spreadsheet and limited time. But programs without sufficient capacity, expertise, metrics, and accountability often fail. Engage Mentoring recommends instead outsourcing the initiative. Ms. Brown says it’s especially important to choose a partner who understands the program’s goals, tracks data, and can measure a return on the company’s investment.
Benefits of a Formal Mentoring Program
According to Ms. Brown, a company can expect great results from a well-managed mentoring program:
- Improved productivity
- Better cross-cultural awareness and stronger relationships
- Higher employee satisfaction
- Lower unwanted employee turnover, especially among historically excluded employees who represent the highest “flight risk”
- Expanded diversity among leadership, which promotes innovation and resilience
- Lower recruiting costs
- Stronger company culture
How to Get Started: Talk to Engage Mentoring
Engage Mentoring’s proprietary software platform delivers a highly structured, seamless experience for mentors and mentees alike. Participants can complete training modules, match with a partner, schedule meetings, and more, all from within the platform.
While Engage Mentoring works with companies of all sizes, most of its clients employ between 50 and 500 people. Client companies span a variety of industries. The solution scales up to serve global companies of all sizes.
Would you like to learn more about Engage Mentoring? Do you want to see a software demo? Contact Yalonda Brown at yalonda@engagementoring.com today for more information!
Comments
One response to “Formal Mentoring Program Improves Culture [464 words]”
[…] recognize and overcome them. Remove the artificial barriers that may be keeping you from your next mentor, star hire, or big customer. Remember, we go far when we go […]