Mentoring Programs - The Full Cost
- Every prospective client is concerned with the cost of software for the administration of a formal mentoring program. We are often struck by the short-sightedness of the cost question. From our perspective, the real cost is the damage of a poor match. A bad experience hurts the firm’s reputation, risks alienating mentor and harms the potential career of the mentee.
Mentoring programs succeed for many reasons, and these are as complex as human nature. The ability for two people to learn from each other is based on multiple factors. A match with good chemistry has more going for it than skills, competencies and functional areas.
In a great match, the mentor and mentee have similar motivations around “work” and what it means in their lives. They have personalities that mesh well.
In a mis-match, they may learn a few things, but they are unlikely to develop a friendship and a longer term tie that is potentially life changing. This is the product manager, who didn’t get the mentor who would broaden his or her thinking and didn’t influence their creativity. The result is less innovation for the company sponsoring the mentoring program – a loss that dwarfs the cost of the software.
In a mis-match, the organization’s money is wasted, as neither is able to use the experience to its fullest nor to maximize their personal potential. This is the first real cost – the lost opportunity for learning.
The second real cost is reputational. The mis-match often causes people to wonder why their organization gave them yet another meaningless task. Morale declines. Learning is stifled. Before long, the mentoring program has a bad reputation. Potential mentors beg off, saying they “are too busy.” Past mentors drop out because the experience isn’t enjoyable. In today’s hyper connected world, those negative experiences impact your potential employees. They can also cost an
organization it’s best people, if the competition has a stronger employee value proposition.
Mentor Resources is the premier provider of tools for formal Mentoring Programs. The key to our program is WisdomShare®, the matching algorithm, which is based on Ms. Wise’ 20 years of experience managing mentoring programs and advising administrators of formal mentoring programs. In addition to job experience and work skills, the cloud-based software evaluates over a dozen personality characteristics to find a Great Match.
The goal of all Mentoring Programs is to speed up the process of Sharing What Works. We
believe that the Mentee will accept advice and adopt strategies from a Mentor more quickly if they have similar strengths and communication styles. Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the Mentees in programs which use WisdomShareTM for matching report being well matched with the Mentor.
The web-based software has been designed for ease of use by the Human Resource Department or the Program Administrator. The software integrates seamlessly with existing corporate Intranet functionality.
So, what is the cost? We offer a compelling value proposition relative to other mentoring software providers and our pricing is very competitive. Call (415-380-0918) or email us (KWise “at” MentorResources.com) to discuss your needs and to recieve a proposal.