Mentorship in your business increases retention, develops talent and builds sustainability
Studies by Gallup show that mentorship, development of employees and coaching are key factors in retention, job satisfaction, and engagement among employees access the board. Opportunities to learn, grow and develop are key drivers of engagement at work. These factors include performance feedback, training, coaching and mentoring. Employees at all levels of the organisation benefit from being coached and from coaching others.
Mentoring is about relationships
Mentoring aims to provide a safe environment where the protégé is able to share whatever issues are impacting their professional and personal success. Many mentoring relationships use specific learning goals (or areas of competency) at the starting point. However, the focus of the mentorship relationship often goes beyond these basic areas to include areas such as work/life balance and how the personal influences the professional.
Mentoring requires time
For mentoring to be successful it requires time for both mentor and protégé to learn about one another. They need to build trust, and creates an environment in which the protégé can feel secure in sharing the real issues that impact his or her success. Successful mentoring relationships last on average at least 10 -12 months.
Mentoring is about development
The purpose of the relationship is to develop the protégé not only for the current job, but also for the future. This distinction differentiates the role of coaching by the immediate manager and the relationship of the mentor and protégé.
Mentoring requires specific design
Mentorship programmes need to be aligned with the strategic goals of the organisation. The programme elements (including the focus areas of the relationship, the specific mentoring models, the matching process of mentors and protégés, and the specific components and elements that will guide the relationship programme) need to be considered and buy-in created with key role players.
The immediate manager should only be indirectly involved
The immediate manager may offer suggestions on how to best use the mentoring experience. However, the manager should have no link to the mentor – to maintain the mentoring relationship’s integrity.
Richard Riche
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