How to Structure a Mentorship Program
Bradford R. GlaserSharing advice, perspectives, experience, and knowledge helps employees build strong relationships with one another. This experience also allows groups to gain more meaning from their work and extend their skills beyond their day-to-day jobs.
A proven way to foster this kind of collaborative environment is through a mentorship program. If you’re looking to engage your employees in a meaningful and rewarding way, here’s how to structure a mentorship program that’s a right fit for your organization.
Let's dive in!
- Identify the elements of good mentoring
- Handle issues in mentoring
- Deliver constructive criticism
Table of Contents
Why Does Mentoring Matter?
If designed and implemented thoughtfully, a mentoring program can:
- Increase employee satisfaction
- Build leadership skills
- Foster connections among employees
- Improve employee retention
- Create a competitive advantage in the labor market
- Boost company morale and improve company culture
- Elevate skill sets across the organization
In fact, according to a Harvard Business Review article, 75% of executives cite mentors as a key factor in their success, and 90% of employees with a mentor report being happier at work. With benefits like these, mentorship opportunities can't be brushed aside.
What Kind of Mentorship Program Should I Start?
There are several different types of mentorship programs to consider for your organization. Your first order of business will be to determine the type of program that best suits your company's structure and culture. Here are a few to consider.
One-on-One Mentoring
One-on-one mentoring is the most traditional type of mentoring, in which two individuals are paired up and encouraged to meet regularly. Typically, the structure involves pairing an older, more experienced employee with a younger, junior-level employee. The purpose of this specific mentorship structure is to build connections across generations of work. This connection allows younger employees to “manage up,” enhance their knowledge, receive guidance on the professional world, and challenge their work.
If you’re looking to cultivate a strong entry-level workforce and help older employees feel valued, one-on-one mentoring programs are the best option. When you’re pairing employees, be sure to ask specific questions about their interests, goals for the mentorship, and preferences for a match.
Reverse Mentoring
Similar to one-on-one mentoring, reverse mentoring pairs more established employees with junior employees. However, in this type of structure, the younger employee typically takes the lead, teaching the older employee about new programs, technologies, or ways of working.
Reverse mentoring programs are more common in tech organizations or companies that are on the cutting edge of innovation, where younger employees bring in the necessary new skills. Reverse mentoring helps ensure that older, more established employees remain relevant and marketable in a rapidly changing work environment while also fostering intergenerational relationships within your organization.
Project Mentoring
If your workplace is project-focused and you’re looking to enhance efficiency and productivity, consider establishing mentorship programs centered on specific projects. This could mean pairing up a person who has worked on a similar project with someone new to the project. It could also mean setting up mentorships within a project team to help build a stronger group. The idea behind this mentorship program's structure is to share best practices for specific projects and related challenges.
Speed Mentoring
Similar to speed dating or speed networking, speed mentoring involves employees matching up to discuss challenges and receive advice. Every five minutes, the pairings change, allowing larger groups to mix and mingle, share insights, and connect. Speed mentoring is an excellent ice-breaker activity for a company-wide meeting or a larger group. This practice also works best if a structure is in place that encourages matches to continue meeting if they hit it off.
How to Structure Your Program
Your program can be formal or informal, depending on how deeply embedded in the company culture you’d like it to be. Informal mentorship programs typically offer up the opportunity to be paired, so employees know it’s an option for them if they choose. A more formal structure may require regular reporting on goals and progress. It may even be necessary as part of performance objectives.
There are pros and cons to each structure. An informal structure is less daunting to implement, but without accountability, it may be less likely to stick. A formal structure helps ensure a more ingrained mentorship program, but there is also a lot more work on your end to maintain and ensure continued effectiveness.
What’s Your Goal?
When considering the creation of a mentorship program, it is helpful to first define your goal. This may help you decide on the best type of structure and how formal to make it. The goal could be anything from increasing employee satisfaction and retention to improving advancement opportunities for minority employees. Regardless of the goal, be clear about it from the outset. This will help you make a clear case to management and also assist in designing a more relevant and concise program.
How to Make It Stick
To establish a culture of mentorship, employees must participate actively and regularly, in addition to advocating for and expanding the program. Consider some of these ideas, especially at the outset, to encourage mentorship in your organization:
- Create a small ambassador group: Try rolling out the mentorship program with a select employee “cohort.” This will allow you to test your ideas in a small sample size and gather feedback on how the process is progressing. Creating a small group first also helps build camaraderie around the program. If it goes well, and their feedback is taken into account when designing the program, these individuals will be enthusiastic mentorship ambassadors across the organization.
- Give some shout-outs: Consider spotlighting a mentor pair regularly to the entire office. Not only does this recognize the great successes of mentorships and boost visibility for participating employees, but it also raises awareness that the program exists.
- Incentivize meetings: If it’s within your budget, consider providing every mentor pair with a gift card to a local coffee shop or restaurant to use regularly. When coffee or food is already paid for, what reason would they have not to meet?
- Embed objectives and reviews: Consider incorporating mentorship into annual employee objectives and create evaluation criteria that reflect mentorship. If you don’t want to add “mentoring” into objectives overtly, then consider increasing the emphasis your evaluations place on “leadership skills” in general by positioning mentorship as a powerful way to achieve that objective.
Mentoring Best Practices
Truly effective mentoring starts with understanding some mentoring best practices. Both mentor and mentee should understand the purpose of the relationship, whether it's for skill development, career progression, or personal growth. Clarifying this relationship and establishing roles, communication preferences, and boundaries help create a strong foundation.
When mentoring, you want to be sure to follow other mentoring best practices such as focusing on long-term development, not just short-term performance. Regular, structured meetings ensure that progress stays on track. Feedback during these meetings should be constructive and supportive, and the ultimate goal should be to help mentees achieve their long-term development goals.
Following these mentoring best practices can ensure that mentoring is a powerful tool for growth, connection, and learning.
Your Turn
We hope this guide on structuring a mentorship program has been helpful. Business mentoring is about helping employees become more effective – and supporting and involving employees in the process.
To get started with your own mentoring program, equip your team with the right mentoring skills. Mentoring 101 is a downloadable, customizable course that helps mentors and mentees understand what a successful mentoring relationship looks like.
Participants will learn how to set expectations, measure success to ensure the relationship is mutually beneficial, and how to maintain a successful mentoring relationship.
