establish a workplace mentoring program that pays off...establish a workplace mentoring program that...

Establish a Workplace Mentoring Program That Pays Off

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of organizations have seen an increase in employee engagement levels due to mentorship.

Source: The Brandon Hall Group’s Employee

Engagement Study 2018

56%

Establish a Workplace Mentoring Program That Pays Off 02

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y :Mentoring has morphed, and the wise old sage sharing 40 years of career advice is now only part of the picture.

Reverse mentoring, peer mentoring, high-potential mentoring, eMentoring, diversity mentoring and a host of

other buzzwords are popping up in today’s competitive business world. Often noted as an enticing corporate

perk and a promising way to encourage continuous learning, 71 percent of Fortune 500 companies and a quarter

of small organizations currently offer formal mentoring programs.1

When mentoring programs are carefully constructed, the benefits to protégés, mentors and organizations alike

are tremendous. Not only do they help to speed up learning and boost employee engagement and retention,

they also reshape workplace culture and promote diversity.

However, establishing a quality mentorship program can be challenging. Ineffective mentorships can do more

harm than no program at all.

How can you create a workplace mentorship program that contributes to learning and engagement—and is also

a perk for the participants?

of mentees and mentors said the mentoring program helped them develop a positive relationship with another individual in the company.

Source: River’s The ROI of Mentoring eBook, 2018

90%


Take a Closer Look at the Real Benefits of MentorshipsMentoring is a professional relationship that helps

less experienced workers (protégés/mentees) learn

by observing, participating in and leading real-world

experiences. More knowledgeable workers (mentors)

model and describe behaviors and exchange valuable

information that is often unavailable through formal

training.2 To do this, mentors carefully analyze their

habits, routines and the intuitive decisions they make

so they’re able to explain the reasoning behind these

actions and choices.3

Job-specific mentoring has been around for

decades as a way to supplement formal training and

accelerate skill mastery and careers. However, its

resurgence in recent years can be attributed, in part,

to an accelerated pace of innovation and change

in the business world and a growing concern and

competition for talent.

Organizations are attracted by the potential gains

attributed to mentorship as they work to create their

own programs.

Organizations are formalizing mentorships and aiming these programs at millennial and Gen Z workers who want access to leaders and ongoing career direction.10

Six benefits of mentorships

1. Helps attract and retain talent

Employee turnover is lower in companies with

mentoring programs.4 In a business climate where

the brightest minds are in high demand and there

are a record 6.6 million U.S. job openings, business

executives worry about finding and keeping workers.5

To address recruitment and retention concerns,

some truly amazing and creative employee perks—

think outdoor basketball courts and on-site libraries

with cozy fireplaces—are becoming common

in organizations nationwide. Because a lack of

professional growth is a common reason for employee

turnover, mentoring programs also make that list

of perks.6

Many employers focus on retaining millennials, for

good reason. By 2025, 75 percent of the workforce will

be millennials, and an estimated 91 percent of these

workers want to be leaders.7 However, the majority

(71 percent) aren’t happy with how their leadership

skills are currently being developed and say they

are likely to leave their current employer in the next

two years.8 Further emphasizing this segment’s drive

for career development, two-thirds say they would

take a pay cut to work at a company offering good

mentorship opportunities.9

To keep these valued up-and-comers from taking jobs

elsewhere, organizations are formalizing mentorships

and aiming these programs at millennial and Gen

Z workers who want access to leaders and ongoing

career direction.10 And it’s working. Research shows

that millennials who plan to stay with an organization

for more than five years are twice as likely to have a

mentor (68 percent) than not (32 percent).11


of millennials who plan to stay with their current employer for more than five years have a mentor at work.

Source: Forbes, 2018

68%1 2 3 4 5 6

2. Improves employee engagement, motivation and satisfaction

Low employee engagement continues to weigh on

organizations. Feeling valued is a key component of

engagement that mentorship addresses. Studies show

that 89 percent of mentees and mentors feel their

company values them when they offer a mentoring

program.12 The feeling of being valued also shows in

employee engagement numbers, with 56 percent of

organizations reporting an increase in engagement

due to mentorships.13

This engagement boost extends beyond protégés.

Mentors also experience greater job satisfaction and

a higher commitment to their employers.14

Reverse mentoring programs further extend

this benefit by involving younger workers as

mentors, tapping them to share their experiences

with technology in a reciprocal way with more

experienced workers.15

3. Reduces stress and minimizes burnout

About 36 percent of U.S. workers report regular work

stress, and 40 percent describe their jobs as “very

or extremely stressful.” While some jobs are more

stressful, certain personality types are vulnerable

to their work environment, seeing it as threatening

and demanding. They feel powerless to handle

challenges on the job. While a mentorship program

can’t guarantee a stress-free work environment, the

presence of a mentor can be effective in offsetting

vulnerability to stress and burnout in these

susceptible individuals.16

Research shows that protégés experience less

emotional and cognitive fatigue and gain a greater

sense of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience

when guided by more senior mentors.17 Mentoring

relationships provide a context for mentors to discuss

protégé’s concerns, share ideas for managing anxieties

and find more meaning in their work.18 With this

support, protégés are also less likely to engage in

counterproductive behaviors such as absenteeism.16

When guided by more senior mentors, research shows that protégés experience less emotional and cognitive fatigue and gain a greater sense of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience.17


4. Accelerates learning and time to competency

The fast pace of innovation in today’s world puts

tremendous pressure on organizations to be agile.

For that to happen, employees need to get up to

speed quickly and keep learning constantly. The only

way for organizations to ensure their workforces are

fully productive and able to achieve business goals is

to make sure employees are continuously learning.19

Formal training serves as the base for this corporate

development drive. However, budget constraints,

workload demands and a dispersed workforce are

driving a trend toward DIY and on-demand learning,20

as well as a resurgence of interest in workplace

mentorship programs.21

Mentoring fits the bill by decreasing the time needed

to produce quality work. An American Society of

Training and Development study showed that while

training alone increased manager productivity by

24 percent, and training combined with mentoring

support strategies increased productivity by

88 percent.22

5. Facilitates knowledge transfer and leadership development

Every employee has job-specific knowledge, and

organizations want to ensure that intellectual capital

stays within the company. Mentoring programs

promote knowledge sharing and transfer, helping

companies minimize the risk of losing a wealth of data

and information that hasn’t been passed on when

workers retire or leave for greener pastures.23

In addition to transferring job-specific knowledge,

mentoring also helps prepare young employees to

step into leadership positions vacated by experienced

workers. Otherwise, with some 10,000 U.S. workers

reaching retirement age every day, organizations

will be forced to promote promising young

workers, whether they’re ready or not. Businesses

can’t afford to take this chance—continuity and

employee engagement depends on strong managers

and leaders.24

Mentoring programs promote knowledge sharing and transfer, helping companies minimize the risk of losing a wealth of data and information.


6. Fosters diversity

Getting the most from a diverse workforce means

putting programs in place that promote interaction

and inclusion. Mentoring successfully supports

workplace diversity better than diversity training

programs alone.25 In fact, companies do a better job

of increasing diversity when they forgo control tactics

and frame their efforts more positively in ways that

increase contact among different groups or draw on

people’s strong desire to look good to others.

Strategic mentor matching of employees also has

been effective in integrating cultures when one

company acquires another or when organizations

have offices in diverse countries.26 By increasing

contact among different groups, workers are able to

explore and appreciate one-on-one cultural values

and work styles.

of HR professionals find their organizations struggle to provide incentives that interest millennials and Gen Zs, such as mentorships.

Source: Allegis Group, 2018

69%


What Keeps Mentorship Programs From Working Well?With the long list of potential gains, organizations

are smart to be intrigued by formal mentorship

programs. However, there are many problems with

the existing models of corporate mentorship, leading

to a common misperception that formal mentoring

doesn’t actually work.26 Without sufficient upfront

planning, guidance to participants and a commitment

by leadership, they can fall flat and the benefits won’t

be realized.

Although these learning partnerships seem relatively

straight forward, they can’t be thrown together by

overworked, overwhelmed people with little or no

mentoring experience.

In fact, ineffective mentoring can be worse than no

mentoring at all. Studies have shown that the attitudes

and careers of protégés can be hurt if ineffectively

mentored. They can struggle with feelings of isolation

caused by extreme dependence on the mentor in the

case of a poor match.25 And negative feelings caused

by poor mentoring programs can translate into

negative feelings about a company.

39% of millennials say the biggest problem with their company’s leadership is their ability to develop others.

Source: Workplace Trends’ Millennial Leadership Survey, 2015


Let’s take a closer look at three big reasons mentorship programs flounder:

1. Failure to lay the right groundwork. Mentorship programs are not a quick fix. HR and

talent development professionals who want to

establish successful and sustainable mentorship

programs must understand that success won’t

be immediate and ensure the program is well

planned and not just another set of tasks and

checklists for participants.27

— Align mentorship with business goals to eliminate fuzzy outcomes. Consider the

objectives for your program. Are you seeking a

replacement for a busy executive approaching

retirement or need to reduce turnover?

Identifying corporate vulnerabilities on the

outset will make it easier for you to make

decisions and measure the effectiveness of

your program later.

— Get buy-in from senior leaders and participants. Executives and potential

participants must be educated on the

benefits and value of a mentoring program.

Consider how best to kick off the program

in a way that builds interest and support.

— Set clear expectations. Who and how

many participants will there be? When

and how often will they meet? How will

they communicate and keep discussions

confidential? What will they do if the

relationship isn’t working for either party?

How long does the formal mentorship last?

These are things that should be established at

the outset.26

— Appropriately match mentors and protégés. Pairing participants is not a

simple process. Matches can be based

on development goals, gender, job

function, record of success and various

personality traits. Two specific personality

traits—openness to experience and

conscientiousness—have been shown

to enhance the outcome of mentoring

relationships for protégés.28

Interaction frequency is one of the strongest indicators of mentoring success. If mentors feel they don’t have the time, offer support to free up some time.

2. Mentors and protégés are unprepared. The prevailing assumption is that it takes no

special talents, training, tools or resources to

provide effective mentoring. This isn’t true.

If people don’t have the mentoring skills to

be successful, all the bells and whistles of a

mentorship program won’t matter.1

— Training. Mentoring isn’t necessarily

intuitive.29 Successful programs train

participants on goals, roles and best practices

for communication—the foundation of all

mentoring relationships.30 (Some sources also

recommend that pairs be trained together.31)

It can take a delicate touch and keen insight to

give feedback, intervene in a timely manner,


offer the right words that nurture a trainee’s

confidence.32 This mentorship training

often doesn’t happen. Only 38 percent of

respondents in a recent mentoring survey

received any training and less than half of

those thought their training helped them

with skills needed to provide effective

experiences for learning and demonstrating

leadership standards.3

— Help mentors find the time. Interaction

frequency is one of the strongest indicators

of mentoring success.33 If mentors feel they

don’t have the time, offer support to free up

some time. Could an assistant help them

with busy work? Encourage and support

delegating where appropriate.

— Ensure commitment by all parties. Without incentives, support or

accountability, the commitment of a mentor

can fall. Goodwill has its limitations, even

among the most dedicated mentors. Quality

is compromised when mentoring goes

unrewarded and perceived as an add-on

duty.3 Incentives don’t necessarily need

to be monetary. Mentors can be enticed

by the chance to discover new ideas from

younger workers, better understand

generational differences, and learn more

about emerging technologies and social

media trends.10 Commitment also can

be increased when organizations make

participation voluntary and give participants

a chance to help define goals, agendas and

relationship parameters.33

Experts suggest check-ins at the two-, four-, six- and eight-month marks with a final meeting after the formal mentorship concludes.31

3. Failure to regularly assess. While the

responsibility for relationship building rests

with the mentor and mentee, it is HR’s role to

keep things on track. Are goals and objectives

still on target, milestones being recorded and

competencies being acquired? Experts suggest

check-ins at the two-, four-, six- and eight-

month marks with a final meeting after the

formal mentorship concludes.31

The challenges facing today’s business world are

triggering a resurgence in workplace mentorship

programs. For these learning relationships to work,

programs must be well planned and monitored,

participants must be trained in the soft skills suited

to mentoring, and leaders must be on board.


About the AuthorDave Fogleman, SPHR, is the Chief Learning Officer for SkillPath, leading and providing

the vision for the instructional design department. Dave is a chief learning officer known for

leading award-winning, best-in-class learning and development programs and functions

that nurture top talent and maximize organizational effectiveness and performance. He is

a collaborative, engaging leader who creates positive working environments where high

performers continually innovate and thrive.

Prior to joining SkillPath, Dave had a 25-year career at Sprint, where he created dramatic improvements in

performance, improved sales and employee satisfaction, and reduced employee attrition. He also led the

award-winning Sprint corporate university that has received national recognition from the Association of Talent

Development, the International Society for Performance Improvement, Training magazine, the Masie Learning

Institute and the Conference Executive Board.

To learn more about this topic or other workplace challenges, download additional free resources at skillpath.com/resources.

About SkillPathA leader in learning and development since 1989, SkillPath provides professionals worldwide with strategic and innovative training solutions.

Our mission is to provide the highest-quality

training for companies and businesspeople around

the world, so they can benefit personally and

professionally from the experience.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, our revenue

funds scholarships for students at Graceland

University. We have a long history of partnering

with programs that develop individuals’ leadership

and innovation skills, and our mission aligns with

companies that share a goal to invest in mentoring

and scholarship opportunities for students and

young professionals.


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