Every company that wants to grow should focus on improving its employees. Your employees are the heart of your company. Investing and improving your team is a straightforward path to success. An internal mentorship program is an effective way to build your organization’s bench for succession. This type of program helps your employees share knowledge and form close bonds, strengthening your company’s culture and growing your business from the inside out.

What is a Mentorship Program?

A mentorship program is a program where senior members share their knowledge. They can meet with newer employees and give them advice on their role in the company and their career. This personalized guidance can be incredibly helpful for new employees, especially younger ones who might feel a bit lost in the company. A mentor can help them prioritize their careers and improve their work. This assistance can become a key part of an employees professional education. Spending time with a mentor who has been on staff for a while also helps to establish your company’s culture with new hires.

In addition to teaching, a mentorship program can also improve the lives of the mentors who are involved. They can feel good about using their time to pass valuable knowledge down to the people who will benefit from it most. Revisiting some of the fundamental advice that they used in their career can also help them to improve their own workflows. Retracing those mental paths can help them to approach their work with a fresh perspective. Their mentoring sessions can let them focus on something other than work, which can be a refreshing break from their usual routines.

Starting an Internal Mentorship Program

To build a new mentorship program, start by developing a plan for the program that hits highlights your goals. Identify who will participate, both as mentors and as mentees. Make a list of the expectations for all parties to keep everyone on track. Outline some standards for communication, as well as time periods for mentorships to take place. Keep each mentorship to a set timeframe. That way, it’s easy to reassess the compatibility of each mentor/mentee pairing. A paring that last for a few months is a good amount of time to accomplish the basic benefits of a mentorship, with the understanding that it can always be extended if both parties are interested.

Finding The Right Mentors

The ideal mentors for your program are the senior members of staff. They are capable of sharing industry knowledge, business skills, and advice to help their mentees grow as employees and humans. Ideally, these mentors are volunteers who are excited to take on the role of a teacher. It’s helpful to pair people from different departments or skillsets, both to avoid departmental stress and to supply a fresh perspective. Additionally, cross-department collaboration helps your company connect and remain a cohesive unit rather than a collection of separate workplaces.

Identifying Mentees

Your mentees can be any employees who might benefit from a mentor, or new employees who are looking to make a connection in the company. Established employees with specific learning goals can be a good fit. Managers should also keep an eye out for struggling employees who might benefit from the guidance that an experienced mentor can offer them. On the other hand, supervisors should also look for “rising stars” – employees who exhibit great potential – as candidates to be paired with a mentor to fuel their career growth within the organization. Access to a senior other than their boss can encourage newer employees to be open and ask questions. They can use the mentorship as a safe space for growth and improvement without worrying about appearing unknowledgeable to their direct supervisor.

Pairing Mentors and Mentees

Pairing your employees is easy. If you have enough mentors, it’s best to pair each mentor with one mentee. With this method, your mentors can give their mentees their full and undivided attention, and it keeps the program from becoming burdensome for the teachers. Encourage applicants to fill out a formal application to be paired with a suitable mentor. This also ensures that mentee participants are actively engaged in the process, too. After their application is reviewed, they can be paired with their ideal mentor and start learning.

In Closing

Creating and implementing a mentorship program for your company can be a large undertaking at first, but it has many benefits for your business. Y0u don’t need to rely on outside training courses to improve your employees. A mentorship approach to learning connects people together, encouraging collaboration and strengthening your company’s culture. Furthermore, advertising a mentorship program can be a competitive advantage for your organization when seeking new talent. Using the resources that you already possess isn’t gaming the system – it’s just good business.