A formal mentoring program is not only beneficial for employees, but also companies. What many people don’t realize is that a mentoring program can boost profits, improve company culture and help a business thrive.
Here are 5 reasons why every company should have a mentoring program:
One – Develop New Leaders.
"Finding great leaders is a constant challenge for any company. The best leaders are not just good at managing people and processes, they are also great communicators and motivators who can inspire their teams to achieve great things." - Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
You can never have enough leaders. You probably are short executive caliber talent. Most businesses have executives at the top who are overworked and have dizzying amounts of traffic on their plates. Even the best MBA programs on the planet can’t provide the kind of hands-on support that a mentor can provide.
Through mentoring, you can sift through your workforce and find leaders. You can utilize mentors to teach skills in leadership, teamwork, self-awareness and vision to new and up coming talent.
If building a leadership pool is a goal of your company, a mentoring program can be tailored to start building one up.
Two – Increase Diversity and Inclusion
Having a mentoring program creates a diverse workforce. Mentoring allows for underrepresented groups to receive guidance, support and career development from experienced colleagues. It can’t be overstated how effective this simple action can be towards creating an environment where everyone feels valued and supported.
Mentoring also opens up doors to building a network. It breaks down unconscious bias in the workplace and connects employees that maybe would never had interacted with each other.
Three – Retain Existing Talent
"Talent retention is not just about compensation and benefits. It's about creating a culture where people feel valued and supported, and where they can see a clear path for their career development." - Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors
Retaining top talent has never been more important. It has also never been more difficult. The job market is cooling, but it’s still a worker’s market. It’s so easy for employees to test the market and find equal or better pay.
Offering monetary compensation is not enough. It’s also not always possible if a company can’t afford it.
The best way to retain talent is to create a positive company culture. If employees enjoy where they work; if they feel there is a future at their current place of employment; if they know their careers are being developed they are significantly more likely to stay with the company.
A mentoring program can drastically boost retention rates. Employees can actively engage with their opinion leaders, receive career advice from someone who has “made it” and get invaluable guidance not only personally but professionally. In such a rich environment, what employee would want to leave?
Four – Employer Branding
"The image of your workplace is crucial in attracting and retaining top talent. A well-designed and inviting workspace can help to foster creativity, collaboration, and productivity." - Ginni Rometty, former CEO of IBM
Reputation and image is everything. A successful mentoring program can help brand an organization as a top place to work. When there is a mentoring program, it shows that a company is willing to invest in its employees. This attracts candidates and talent to the company.
Five – Secure the Future
Succession planning is an often overlooked, vital action of management. An executive wants to retire, a vital employee decides to go elsewhere...and when they leave so do all their invaluable experience and skills. Skills and nuances to the job that aren’t documented, that aren’t passed on to someone else can go lost to the company forever.
Mentoring solves this. A mentoring program facilitates and promotes skill transfer. When you have mentoring, you increase the chances of skillsets multiplying throughout the organization and builds stability for long-term growth.
Having a corporate mentoring program can be a powerful investment for any company that wants to take its business to the next level. It can help create a strong and diverse workforce that can lead the company to new stages of growth and stability.
Mentor Resources can help any company or government agency to leverage technology to create tailored career development programs that are cost-effective. Our mentoring software - Wisdom Share is a cloud-based program that is simple and comes with guided workflows. Included are tools for administrators to attract, enroll, connect, and guide participants. We also provide analytics to ensure you can monitor your employee development program and easily see ROI metrics.
Reach out to us today for a Free Demonstration of our software.