Employee expectations have shifted. Values have changed. Working from home has become a way of life, and employees are seeking more purpose from their careers. The question is, does your organization have theprogramsin place to provide the support your employees need to grow in ‘the newworkplace?
Join us as we delve into theprocessof strategic mentoring and the important role it plays in organizational health. We will explore the impacts of mentoring on attraction, developmentand retention, and learn that not all mentoring programs are created equal. We will unpack what sets a quality mentoring program apart from others to deliver impactful results for your organization, and whattherisksareof not doing it well. Gain insights on key questions to ask yourself when establishing a program and the steps required to deliver a program that will achieve results.
What you will learn:
Understand the value of strategic, purpose led mentoring
Learn what is in it for the mentees, the mentors, and the organization
Key things to consider when starting a mentoring program
Hosted by:
Alex Richardson
Co-CEO and Chief Growth Officer, Art of Mentoring
In 2016, 2017 and again in 2022, we surveyed organisations and found that only just over half were actually satisfied with the results being delivered by their mentoring programs. An analysis comparing those that were satisfied (leaders), with those that were not (laggards), revealed once again in 2022 that lack of program success is highly correlated with a lack of program structure, training, support and resourcing. Yet, mentoring can deliver a high return on investment, when designed and implemented well. According to our colleague, Professor David Clutterbuck, highly effective mentoring programs:
Deliver substantial learning for at least 95% of mentees and at least 80% of mentors.
Lead to at least one third higher retention amongst people mentored, than peers who are not.
Demonstrate measurable improvements in mentee job commitment, engagement and relationships at work (particularly with their bosses!).
Improve and reinforce mentors’ confidence and ability in coaching their own direct reports.
Provide useful insights into people management undercurrents – broader issues that can lead to improvements in HR policies and processes.
Give leaders greater confidence in succession plans.
In the context of diversity, equity and inclusion, have a clear and substantial contribution towards the achievement of equal opportunity targets and have a measurable impact on cultural awareness.
If your current program is not delivering outcomes like these, or you are about to create a new program, here are some simple design guidelines – and traps you can avoid:
1.Start with the end in mind: By far the most important element to get right is the program purpose. If you can’t tell a convincing story about why your organisation needs a mentoring program, you might as well not even start. Everything else flows from this—the program design, measurable objectives, eligibility, matching and training strategy and a compelling reason for mentors to sign up. The best programs we see are those that are well–targeted and designed to achieve a specific purpose. Here are some examples:
A professional association mentoring program supporting graduates in their first year, when they are prone to burn–out, mental health issues and leaving the profession.
A government program designed to help people from different generations to work in reciprocal mentoring relationships to foster cross–generational learning and experience transfer, as well as to build a collaborative culture.
An enterprise–wide mentoring program to build career mobility and provide development options for employees who miss out on other training opportunities.
Mentoring to encourage and support women into more senior roles to meet diversity goals.
Without a clear purpose, mentoring programs become a ‘tick–a–box’ exercise to which no one in your organisation will fully commit to. They need direction, commitment, and a little bit of love to help them flourish.
So, the best place to start, is to ask: What is my organisation trying to achieve in the next 1–3 years and how will mentoring help?
2. Get your ducks in a row: Programs with low commitment, particularly from senior leadership, suffer from poor program management. When senior leaders commit to a mentoring program, they indicate to others the program is an organisational priority. The truly committed participate fully as mentors themselves, by role modelling and gently creating pressure for those below to step up. Find people in your organisation who are passionate champions for mentoring and get them involved.
3. Find the glove that fits: Getting the degree of structure right can be tricky. Too much structure (templates, tools, forms, reporting, guidelines) causes disengagement. Remember, mentoring is a very human process! On the flip side, not enough structure can leave people feeling unsupported, especially first-time mentors. The degree of structure needed will vary across industries and professions – some like more and some prefer less. By far the most common mistake we see is lack of structure. It simply isn’t true that if given digital access to a portfolio of mentor profiles, potential mentees will seek out and choose a mentor that is right for them. And left to their own devices, novice mentors can feel out of their depth, resorting to “telling” rather than “guiding”. Their lack of confidence about themselves as mentors gets in the way of authentic communication, which is at the core of good mentoring. Fully unsupported, unstructured mentoring initiatives often lead to what we call ‘fast knowledge transfer’ rather than true developmental mentoring. Good mentoring requires some skill on the part of the mentor, which can be trained. Mentees, too, need to be well-prepared to engage. So, don’t just match people up and then walk away – make sure you equip everyone involved, mentors, mentees, and program managers and sponsors, with what they need to ensure mentoring success. Even line managers of mentees and mentors may need to be briefed so that they can support the time devoted to mentoring.
4. Plan and take time to execute: Smart organisations plan their mentoring program design, starting with considering whether mentoring is the right intervention to achieve the organisational objective. They involve key stakeholders at the beginning who can help steer the program once launched. They also don’t rush the execution. Just as with any development program, it can take a few months to rally key people, promote the program internally and then invite people to apply. Rushing the execution to meet a deadline almost always ends up with something being compromised; usually the application and matching time is cut short, and poor-quality matches result.
5. Measure, measure, measure! This is linked to the first issue: If there are no clear objectives, then measures of mentoring success are unclear. This leaves a mentoring program open to being shut down on a personal whim by a leader who does not understand the organisational benefits. If you want your mentoring program to be sustainable, be able to demonstrate the ROI.
6. Don’t compromise: You can only have two out of these three – high quality, speed and low cost. We’ve already warned against rushing. If you have high program dropout rates, low goal achievement by mentees or low satisfaction rates from all participants, you are almost certainly under-resourcing your mentoring program. Well-resourced programs have a dedicated program manager who stays in contact with the pairs and nudges them along, educational resources to prepare the mentors and mentees before commencement and for larger programs, software that automates and streamlines program management.
When mentoring pairs fail to engage well, or stop engaging altogether, it most often is because they have not been matched well or have not reached a shared understanding of their commitments to each other. Preparing mentors and mentees to articulate clearly what they each want and can offer, and helping them to discuss this together once matched, can make all the difference.
Membership Associations create valuable communities for like-minded professionals, and association networking is an important part of the professional and career development benefit that that membership provides.
Associations take that benefit to the next level however, when they create personal connections among members through mentoring. Association mentoring programs give members unique access to each other in partnerships where the mentor and mentee receive support and guidance to jointly achieve meaningful growth and change.
In this webinar, you’ll hear from 3 association leaders who have realised the value of strategic mentoring programs across different industries and very different member bases; you will learn about their decisions and their journey to implement mentoring for their membership, and the gratifying results for their participants, the association, and their industry as a whole.
Presented by
Gina Meibusch, Senior Program Designer, Art of Mentoring
Pip Thomas, CEO, Association of School Business Administrators
Stephen Durkin, CEO, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Neal Logan, Career Development Manager, CPA Australia
You’re ready to launch a mentoring program, or you have an existing program in place and are managing it with countless spreadsheets, emails and post-it notes. You know there has to be an easier way to implement this using the right technology! A solution that saves time and creates a more engaging experience for your participants. However, with so many mentoring software options to choose from, how will you decide which is right for you?
Our eBook will help you to navigate the decision-making process and present key features that you may not have previously considered, and that are fundamental to a program’s success.
Fill out the form below to download our free eBook on the How To Choose The Right Mentoring Software.
The impact of COVID–19 and remote working has propelled the need for human connection and belonging into the spotlight.Employeeswant to contributetopurposeful work, establish meaningful connections in their work environment, and their expectations of employers are much more than simply making money.
Organizations are identifying the need to move from short term fixes, to implementing significant cultural changes to meet the needs of their employees.The growing trend toward implementing purpose–led Mentoring within organizations to meet this need and to curb the impact of The Great Resignation, is a no–brainer. Proactive organizations want to get ahead of the curve and implement programs to retain valuable talent and provide opportunity for development.The expectations of employees have shifted, are you ready to meet their needs?
Join us as Art of Mentoring’s Co-CEO, Alex Richardson reframes what it means to engageemployeesmeaningfully to retain talent, and positively impact the culture of yourorganization.
What you will learn:
What outcomes you can expect from mentoring
How mentoring can attract, engage and retain your valuable talent
The role of mentoring in culture and organizational health
Hosted by:
Alex Richardson
Co-CEO and Chief Growth Officer, Art of Mentoring
Art of Mentoring’s CEO and founder Melissa Richardson sat down with Lisa Vincent CEO of course creation tool, HowToo to discuss “The Secret to Keeping Your Best Talent in 2022”.
The topic clearly resonated with the industry, with over 600 individuals registering to attend.
Led by Gina Meibusch, Senior Program Designer at Art of Mentoring, the discussion touched on the challenges of retaining and hiring talent in the current talent market, and how organizations can meet these challenges with a strategic approach.
Here are five things we learned from The Secret to Keeping Your Best Talent in 2022.
#1 The pandemic affected everyone
It’s practically cliche at this point to talk about how much the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world on its head, but even as the end appears in sight (knock on wood), the effects continue to ricochet through the world of business.
While the first phase saw managers and business leaders grappling with newly-remote teams, the end of 2021 revealed the dissatisfaction that had been bubbling away for workers all along. Queue the Great Resignation – workers leaving their roles in droves in search of higher pay, better conditions and better career development opportunities.
“We’re really talking about a war for talent,” Melissa pointed out in the webinar.
As a result, businesses need to overhaul their employee value propositions to boost attraction and retention of their workforces – or risk haemorrhaging dissatisfied workers.
#2 Employees are looking for real support
A big paycheck isn’t enough to satisfy employees – and with historic stagnation in wage growth, even those aren’t easy to come by anymore. Instead, employees are seeking companies that can support them in holistic ways, from meaningful work, to organizational trust and personal wellbeing.
One of the key areas companies need to focus on is Growth Opportunities. In his HR Predictions for 2022 report, Josh Bersin writes “Learning, skills and career pathways will become business-critical.”
By placing career growth and learning as a key pillar of their Employee Value Proposition, companies can attract and retain good people far more easily.
#3 Training & mentoring are peas in a pod
When tackling complex needs like growth opportunities, companies may look to a single solution. However, a single approach is rarely enough to create the culture of growth and learning that employees are looking for.
Instead, by combining approaches like training and mentoring, businesses can not only create a more robust culture, but also get more out of each tactic in the process.
“I think mentoring is a really perfect partner for training… We’re encouraging people not to make mentoring about teaching a new skill. It’s better to handle that as training. It’s much more effective that way, and infinitely more scalable,” Melissa shared.
“I agree,” Lisa added. “The combination of the two will get the best growth outcomes for individuals and organizations.”
#4 Capturing the wisdom and knowledge of baby boomers is essential
The baby boomer generation is rapidly approaching retirement, and they take with them decades of experience and knowledge, unless it is captured and shared first.
“There’s a wealth of knowledge and experience among baby boomers that needs to be captured,” Lisa pointed out. “A culture of learning creation, capturing and sharing from all directions is really critical.”
Both mentoring and training are essential for preventing this priceless resource from walking out the door. Many baby boomers are keen to leave a legacy behind, and are happy to participate in mentoring and training initiatives to pass on their experience.
“Technology also plays a key role in capturing and sharing knowledge in a way that is useful and needed,” Lisa added.
#5 How to build a learning culture
Without a learning culture, providing proper growth opportunities is impossible. In a learning culture, employees have agency to upskill and reskill themselves, and are rewarded for their efforts.
“It starts with finding and recruiting people with curiosity to learn,” said Lisa. “It will be easier if your people are already eager and motivated by the concept of not knowing, getting out of their comfort zone and continuing learning.”
Lisa also shared a number of other ways to build a learning culture, including:
Encourage experimentation
Democratize learning creation
Making learning a core value and priority
Set up personalized learning plans
Encourage learners to share their skills
Apply learning and neuroscience with the AGES model.
A multi-pronged approach is essential any time a company is attempting to build or change culture internally.
Hear the case studies
Both Melissa and Lisa shared case studies from customers that employed strategic mentoring and training programs.
To hear the case studies and catch further insights from the discussion, you can watch the webinar recording here.
With the rise of The Great Resignation and the growing skills shortage, retaining information and transferring knowledge is becoming increasingly more important to retain and attract top talent.
In this webinar Art of Mentoring and HowToo will explore how mentoring and learning can help improve staff retention or capture knowledge before it leaves.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this webinar:
The role that learning and mentoring play in retention of talent
The tools and techniques to support effective retention of information and ease of knowledge transfer
How enabling teams to create learning and utilising mentoring can reduce the learning curve, and help drive successful outcomes
We’ll explore case studies where other organisations have addressed their retention challenges with learning and mentoring
Presented by
Melissa Richardson, Founder and CEO, Art of Mentoring
Lisa Vincent, Co-Founder and CEO, How Too
Gina Meibusch, Senior Program Manager, Art of Mentoring
The Women Building Australia National Mentorship Program is an initiative led by Master Builders’ Australia, which represents eight state and territory Master Builders’ Associations and 32,000 members nationwide. The program provides female newcomers to the industry with access to support, encouragement and advice from experienced individuals through a virtual or face-to-face mentorship.
In this case study, we explore the business challenges, solutions and results from this highly successful program.
The Women Building Australia National Mentoring Program is an initiative led by Master Builders’ Australia, which represents eight state and territory Master Builders’ Associations and 32,000 members nationwide.
The program provides female newcomers to the industry with access to support, encouragement and advice from experienced individuals through a virtual or face-to-face mentoring relationship. In this case study, we will explore the business challenges, solutions and results from this highly successful program.
In 2022, one of the most pressing people issues is a shortage of talent. There is no question that retaining people – whether they are defined as high performing talent or not, is critical. Getting the employee value proposition right is the key. So where does mentoring fit in with what employees are looking for?
In Josh Bersin’s HR Predictions for 2022 report, he describes succinctly how the employee value proposition has changed. He says “Learning, skills, and career pathways will become business-critical”.
Mentoring has long been proven in practice and research to strongly influence engagement and retention of both mentors and mentees. In a study conducted by Sun Microsystems, retention of mentors and mentees was compared with non-mentored people in a control group. They found that the difference in retention alone saved an incredible $6.7M.
But how does mentoring affect engagement and retention? At Art of Mentoring, we make it our mission to deliver research and evidence-based mentoring, so we’ve spent some time looking at why mentoring programs positively influence employees’ attitudes to and satisfaction with, their work and their employers. We believe that mentoring contributes to each of the six pillars in the model above.
Let’s start with the obvious. Developmental mentoring is more than transactional. It’s a journey of learning. Good developmental mentoring builds capability in both the mentee and mentor. Mentees can focus on skills gaps, and mentors can enhance their own skills in offering developmental dialogue which is so crucial for a successful mentoring relationship. As shown in the chart above, providing Growth Opportunity through capability-building enhances job performance, satisfaction and builds a strong bench for future roles.
Mentoring also contributes to Health & Wellbeing, another of the key pillars. Mentoring increases affective wellbeing for both mentors and mentees and is widely acknowledged to have a psychosocial aspect. Mentors provide emotional support and help to normalize workplace struggles and concerns.
Cohort-based mentoring programs (where participants are exposed to more than just their own partner) help break down silos within organizations and enhance understanding and trust, which contributes to a more Positive Workplace.
Mentoring can connect or re-connect mentors and mentees with the Meaning in their Work. In our 2020 research project, we pulled aggregate data from 13,000 participants in our programs to find that that 46% of the mentee respondents said that the Art of Mentoring programs were one of the best things they had done in their career. The biggest program impacts on mentees were on personal learning and growth, self-awareness and confidence, more meaning and purpose and increased likelihood of staying in their organization, profession, or industry. Mentors in our programs often report that the reflective dialogue with their mentees reminds the mentors of why they embarked on their careers or chosen professions in the first place.
There are brand-enhancing benefits of running formal mentoring programs. Mentees are grateful to their organization for the mentoring opportunity, and mentors see the benefits too. In our research, 85% of mentees and almost 80% of mentors said that the mentoring experience had a positive impact on their impression of the organization that offered it to them. This investment in people builds Trust in the Organization.
Mentoring is a common intervention to build Strong Management and leadership strength. A mentor can help a manager develop an authentic leadership style and presence and help equip them for future challenges.
Can you afford NOT to have mentoring in your organization?
Not if you want to compete for and retain the best talent. Today, remote work and virtual connections are the norm, and mentoring is an important tool to maintain human connection. People are longing for meaningful connections that are removed from specific outcomes in the day-to-day activity of their role. Combined with the power of being able to focus on oneself and externalize inner dialogue, mentoring is a powerful tool for improving wellbeing and self-confidence.
Mentoring is not just a feel-good exercise but rather it can be a powerful tool in reframing engagement and retention activities within the workplace. It creates a competitive edge against other employers trying to attract the same candidates and it improves staying power for those involved as they create more meaning in their role now, and into the future.
A Strategic Mentoring approach guarantees successful ROI
Strategic Mentoring takes a purpose-led approach to design and implementation of organizational mentoring initiatives, linking mentoring back to business goals. Program objectives are established and measured during and after the program to prove return-on-investment. Organizations that follow this approach often have several mentoring programs on offer, with a blend of formal and informal offerings. For example, they may offer mentoring to increase diversity, increase engagement in middle management, or develop a stronger leadership bench.
For targeted mentoring programs, a cohort learning approach makes sense. Whilst criticized for being administratively onerous, some of the benefits of cohort-based learning far outweigh the disadvantages, especially if the organization uses mentoring software to automate as much as possible. Cohort programs enhance the learning experience through collaboration, provide structure for the mentoring pairs in the form of milestone dates and group events, and both mentors and mentees benefit from different perspectives and networking opportunities with their peers.
But not everyone may be able to join a cohort program, because they may not be eligible. A less formal organization-wide program that caters for people who are not covered in the cohort programs can fill this gap, operating on a ‘mentoring-on-demand’ model, where mentees seek their own mentors.
We know that where formal cohort mentoring programs have been implemented, informal and on-demand mentoring flourishes, because there is a ready pool of mentors trained in the cohort programs. Formal, cohort-based programs play an important role in training and preparing people for effective mentoring relationships that can emerge organically without any administrative effort.
If you’re not taking a strategic approach to mentoring, we can assure you, the organizations that have, are already attracting, developing and retaining the talent you want for your future success. Is it time to catch up? Absolutely, or you will be left way behind.
Read more about the process steps involved in strategic mentoring or contact us to learn more about how we can help you with your mentoring strategy and implement cohort or on-demand programs that deliver a positive ROI.
