Developing a mentoring culture – Part 1

A mentoring culture should be an integral part of a company’s learning and development strategy, ideally offering mentoring to all employees in a supportive and non-judgemental, open environment that values individuals and recognises their importance to the business.

Who can benefit from mentoring?

The strategic purpose of mentoring in an organisation is to transfer the skills and knowledge of more experienced and senior individuals to those with less experience.

It can help to:

- Develop individuals or teams in specific areas

- Support individuals stepping into a new role

- Nurture talent

- Prepare individuals to step up into a bigger role

- Help individuals and teams through challenging situations

It is worth noting that mentoring is successfully delivered through virtual sessions, enabling it to be offered throughout an organisation irrespective of location.

Mentoring through change

Mentoring is particularly useful in periods of change, which are common in most organisations as they strive to become more efficient and successful in what they do in an increasingly global market, or at times of major change such as those imposed by the impact of external factors such as Brexit or significant events like the global pandemic.

Mentoring can greatly assist by identifying areas for development in individuals or teams to maximise performance in the ‘new world’ brought about by the change. It can also help by providing the support needed to enable employees to cope with the change itself and the upheaval and challenge it brings both personally and professionally, which in turn will assist in accelerating adaptation to the changed circumstances.

However, it can only succeed if the organisation is open and supportive and provides the resources needed such as time, money, education, processes and frameworks.

Things to consider

Organisational context

For mentoring to succeed it should be seen as a positive and constructive tool that can help maximise the performance of individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole, rather than as a remedial tool to improve under-performance. 

Mentoring should align with and support the organisation’s strategic direction by linking delivery of individual goals and objectives to the strategy and using mentoring to support their achievement. It can have far greater impact when embedded into the organisation - rather than being seen as an ad hoc tactical intervention - by developing the skills, knowledge, performance and behaviours that best support delivery of the organisation’s objectives.

Strategic Framework

If an organisation plans the introduction of mentoring and the embedding of a mentoring culture in the same way as any other key business initiative, it will need a framework to support it.

The framework should be used to determine such things as the purpose of mentoring within the organisation; how it links to the delivery of the overall business strategy and objectives; sponsor or sponsors (i.e. CEO/the Board); who mentoring is available to (preferably all employees); how it will be implemented i.e. face-to-face or virtually; attention to mentor/mentee matching; supporting processes and procedures; budget allocation; metrics and reviews to determine effectiveness and ROI.

Without such a structure, it could easily become a temporary ‘solution’ that fails to embed within the organisation’s culture.

Developing a mentoring culture requires an ongoing commitment, which should be recognised and accepted by the organisation at the outset, signalling its importance and providing the necessary resources to enable it to succeed.

Developing a Mentoring Culture – Part 2

In Part 1 we explored the setting up and embedding of a mentoring culture within an organisation and some of the things to consider.

Probably the most important consideration is the investment the organisation needs to make if mentoring is to become a successful and sustainable part of its strategic development.

There is a cost to mentoring which must be taken into account and which is likely to have an impact on the approach that is taken. Costs – either ‘actual’ or ‘hidden’ - include investment in developing systems and processes; training; delivering, managing and assessing the impact of the mentoring programme. When any major cost is incurred in an organisation it will seek to justify that expenditure by looking at the return on investment: in the case for mentoring, cost-benefit analysis and/or a pilot could demonstrate the clear benefits of mentoring compared to other L&D interventions.

Internal vs External Mentors

Mentoring can be provided by internal or external resources – or a mix of both. External mentoring resources will come at an actual cost which needs to be budgeted, and the use of internal mentors will be a ‘hidden cost’ in terms of time and other resources.

There are pros and cons to using internal vs external mentors and it comes down to what feels right for each organisation, often based on the number and diversity of employees’ knowledge, skills and experience aligned to the amount of time, effort and money it is able to provide to support delivery. 

Internal mentors

Advantages

·   Lower cost – the internal mentor is already being paid by the organisation

·   Internal mentors have an inherent understanding of the organisation and        its culture

Disadvantages

·   Mentors may be encumbered by the organisational culture and structure

·   Systems and processes to be set up, mentors identified, trained and              monitored

·   Mentors need to be allowed time for mentoring duties

External mentors

Advantages

·   Provide an independent external sounding board, unencumbered by                internal politics and company culture

·   Potentially broader specialist knowledge and experience not available            internally

·   Professional mentors are specialists in their field, trained and qualified

·   Requires little internal management resource

Disadvantages

·   Budget and the need to demonstrate ROI

·   Sourcing and matching mentors to mentees

Controlling the quality of mentoring

When introducing a mentoring culture, an effective monitoring process should be included such as self-reflection on behalf of the mentee, views on progress against their goals, 360 feedback at beginning and end of the programme, staff surveys, external evaluation.

Documented processes will be needed to support delivery, including agreement of the mentoring contract; how, when and where it will take place; a clear explanation and understanding of what mentoring is and what it can offer to the mentee (and explained to any stakeholders); records of the sessions and agreement of any actions as well as recording the outcomes against objectives. Support processes provide and enforce a common approach, which in turn safeguards the quality and professionalism of the intervention.

Once everything is in place, attention should be paid to the introduction and launch of the mentoring programme to enable a smooth rollout with full acceptance and understanding.

Set up properly with due care and attention, together with clear buy-in and support from the top down and a robust means of evaluation, mentoring can be established as a worthwhile L&D investment for the benefit of the whole organisation.