Fueling Growth – Harness the Power of Mentoring

“If I have seen farther than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” - Isaac Newton 

Why Mentoring?

If you had to research and derive all the knowledge, information, and skills necessary to succeed in your given industry all on your own, failure would be inevitable. At the very least, you would need a library card or smartphone that gave you the needed information to succeed. But how would you know what data to consume first? 

Today, information is everywhere. We all carry a device in our pockets that allows us to access the world’s information. You can access the information of any Ivy League classroom from a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean if you have cell service. The problem is which information should you focus on to win in your given field? Which vital pieces of advice should you listen to and what data should be forgotten as quickly as it's heard? There isn’t enough time for a single person to study all the world’s knowledge let alone all the knowledge of a specific industry.

Following in the successful footsteps of someone who walked before can make all the difference. A career can feel like stepping into an uncharted jungle. A mentor can be the map, guiding mentees through to success.

Dedication, purpose, drive, passion, hard work, and intelligence all play a key role in a person’s success. But, if you take a step back and closely examine any successful person you will find that they didn’t do it alone. Success is a team activity. And a mentor can lay key touchstones that blaze the trail to success. 

Businesses today are jam-packed with knowledge. They also possess leaders and potential mentors who can shepherd employees through the jungles of confusion. There are successful, veteran employees within organizational ranks that know exactly which pages, in which books people need to read to be competent in their fields. They have mastered professional skills that are only garnered through years of trial and error. Skills that aren’t taught in any college classroom in America. 

Connecting mentors to employees fosters engagement, improves company culture, retains and attracts talent, and can unlock the true potential of any company through human connection. 

"The biggest asset of any organization is its people, and investing in them will always yield the greatest returns." - Richard Branson 

Businesses today face unique challenges. They each have their missions, strengths, and weakness that they are constantly grappling with as they strive to fulfill their purposes. From finance to logistics, the number of problems a large organization has to handle daily makes the brain creak. To rise to the occasion, it needs teams of people operating separately but simultaneously as an effective team to expand. But if the members of these teams are weak, if some of them are disengaged how effective are they going to be? 

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement According to Gallup, only 36% of employees in the United States are engaged at work. While narrowing down an exact monetary loss from employee disengagement is near impossible, Gallup estimates that it costs American Businesses between $450 billion and $550 billion annually due to lost productivity. 

Employee disengagement manifest in numerous ways. Not all of it is visible. Employees can “quiet quit” and work with low motivation and slow speeds. They can spend time scrolling through social media on the job for a few minutes at a time and these minutes can add up to hours of paid work hours. Absenteeism is a symptom as well as a general lack of enthusiasm. 

To meet company goals, employees need to show up to work for reasons other than the paycheck. The paycheck is nice, but it's not enough to engage a human being for every minute of the job. Employees need to feel like they are going somewhere and not running in a wheel. 

There are several reasons why an employee can feel disengaged. Company culture can be lacking so the work environment itself is stale. Another big reason is that many workers in large companies often don’t see how their actions contribute to larger company goals. Things go on and money comes in despite what they do or don’t do. And it can all seem above their pay grade and outside of their sphere of influence. 

Having a mentor can drastically boost employee engagement. 

A mentor provides a human connection. They act as a professional friend and coach. Mentors expose employees to facets of the organization they were previously unaware of and bring about new cognizance of how their work contributes to the overall mission of the company. An employee that is aware of what other employees are doing and has certainty on how his or her work contributes to the motion, is capable of being part of a team and has overcome one of the biggest obstacles to being consistently engaged. 

Large-scale mentoring programs also improve company culture. Connections are made throughout the entire organization and employees are exposed to leaders they would have never met before. The more fostered and meaningful relationships that exist within a company, the stronger its culture will be. 

Mentors also need guidance and supervision. Without a formal mentoring program and an Admin to gently oversee the process, mentors might not know how to go about transferring knowledge or where, to begin with employees. 

Company Culture and Talent Retention 

The traditional workplace structure has been tested and forcibly transformed over the past few years because of the pandemic. Businesses were forced into remote work. Some companies rose to the occasion and many disappeared. 

Now with the majority of workers returning to work, opinions on what workplace culture should be have drastically changed. The picture of everyone showing up exactly on-time to work 9-5 within rows of cubicles is a nightmare for most workers. Now more than ever, employees want flexibility and to work remotely more often. 

It is not always possible to meet these demands. And there is almost always another company offering a bigger and brighter carrot in terms of pay or flexibility. 

Businesses need to pivot. Instead of forcing on-schedule enforcement or the structure of the workplace, emphasis should be put on production. If an employee produces what is needed at home with a laptop, does it matter if he is in the office or not? The answer is no...the problem is can you trust employees to do the work from the comfort of their living room or do they need supervision? And therein lies the problem. Some employees can be trusted to perform at high levels remotely while others can not. 

Building company culture with mentoring is an economical way to ensure employees are productive and trustworthy. 

With a thriving company culture, employees don’t need much supervision. They mostly need guidance. Motivation is organic and people bring their best effort to the table every day because deep down they want to be part of what the company is doing. 

If mentoring is catching fire in an organization then learning, and employee development becomes an inherent part of the company culture. Employees who are constantly improving are naturally more attached to the company they are part of and care about what happens at work. There is meaning in their work. 

90% of employees are willing to forgo higher pay to remain with a company where they feel their work is meaningful. If your talented employees are actively being mentored properly then the result will inevitably be improved company culture, more productive and meaningful work being done across the boards, and boosted retention rates. 

Burnout 

Employee Burnout is growing in today’s workforce. Statistics reveal that a staggering 75% of employees have recently experienced burnout, leading to decreased productivity and increased turnover. 

Burnout extends beyond the workplace and follows employees home, impacting their physical and mental health. The consequences are far-reaching. Employees who experience burnout suffer from exhaustion, reduced motivation, and decreased work performance. All this ultimately impacts the company's bottom line. 

It sounds cliché, but happy employees are profitable employees. 

Mentoring is a holistic solution where everyone wins. Mentoring cares for employees by giving them the needed crutch and support system to thrive in the workplace. It is not possible for a large corporation to individually address the exact issues each employee is facing. But it is possible to give each individual a mentor who can make strides to make their work life happier. 

We spend the majority of our time in the workplace. When our work is meaningful, when it's fulfilling and full of victory instead of continual losses, the rest of our lives are drastically improved. 

Wisdom Share Mentoring Software

Our powerful software seamlessly integrates mentoring into any organization. It can be tailored to handle any unique challenge. It offers a range of key features and benefits designed to drive measurable results. 

1. Customizable Matching Algorithms: Wisdom Share employs cutting-edge matching algorithms that efficiently pair mentors and mentees based on shared goals, interests, and expertise. This ensures optimal mentor-mentee matches, facilitating productive and impactful relationships right from the start. 

2. Seamless Communication and Collaboration: Our software provides user-friendly communication tools, including chat, video conferencing, and virtual meeting spaces, enabling mentees and mentors to connect and collaborate effortlessly. This seamless communication fosters a sense of belonging and support, facilitating valuable knowledge transfer and growth. 

3. Goal Tracking and Progress Measurement: With Wisdom Share, mentees can set clear objectives, track their progress, and receive feedback from their mentors. This feature enhances accountability, motivates mentees to strive for their goals, and enables mentors to provide valuable guidance and support along the way. 

4. Resource Library and Knowledge Sharing: Our software offers a comprehensive resource library, housing a vast array of valuable materials, articles, and best practices. Mentees can access this centralized repository to expand their knowledge, gain insights, and continuously develop their skills, promoting ongoing learning and growth. 

5. Data-driven Insights and Analytics: Wisdom Share provides data-driven insights and analytics that offer a deep understanding of mentoring relationships, program effectiveness, and the impact on key metrics. These actionable insights empower organizations to make informed decisions, optimize their mentoring programs, and measure the tangible benefits they bring to employee engagement, retention, and overall company performance. 

Reach out to us today for a Free Demo of Wisdom Share and start using mentoring to harness the true power of your business.

Mentor Resources can help any company 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.