The application should only include the information you need for matching, and we suggest using no more than three matching criteria so the application does not become tedious. Make sure to accompany the form with terms and conditions so mentors and mentees are aware of the expectations placed upon them, including payment details and time periods.
In your marketing efforts, include a summary of the benefits each party will receive as a result of joining the mentoring program. Previous participant testimonials are also great to use in marketing materials. To strengthen your message, try to include written testimonials or video clips from past mentees or mentors. Now that you have participants for the mentoring program, the next step is to decide how potential mentors and mentee will be paired. If your program design involves administrator matching, here are some options:.
A common mistake in program design is to overlook mentor and mentee training. Training helps mentors understand their role and helps guide mentees toward getting the most out of the program.
Support throughout the process is important to monitor progress. Try to get feedback from every participant and check on participant progress at least once or twice during the program. Mentoring program manager is a demanding role that requires you to be well-connected, with strong communication, organization and project management skills. Some of your key roles and responsibilities include defining the objective and success criteria for the program, overseeing all aspects of implementation and quality management, giving honest and constructive feedback, providing appropriate resources to participants and maintaining financial control over the program.
Mentoring has a huge ripple effect that often results in mentees going on to become mentors to others later, paying it forward and passing on the benefits of these valuable programs. For more about mentoring, contact your Boxwood account manager or email us at mentoring boxwoodtech. Eryn Underwood, Naylor Association Solutions Mentoring programs can be worthwhile experiences for both industry up-and-comers and seasoned veterans.
In this article, we share our top tips for keeping up with the seven stages of your mentoring program life cycle: Pre-evaluation and research Getting ready Design Recruiting Matching Training and support Evaluation Designing and executing an effective mentoring program takes a good bit of love and attention. Experts say mentoring relationships are three times more likely to be successful when there is advance training for participants.
We believe that the companies that are most successful view corporate mentoring as an organic process, meaning that they understand that mentoring programs evolve and grow. Our experience demonstrates that the difference between mentoring success and failure lies in the ability to build capacity and integrate learning continuously. In order to create a successful mentoring program, you should answer 20 questions. What are our business reasons for developing a mentoring program?
You should develop a mentoring program if and when you have solid business reasons, such as to speed up the development of future leaders or to share organizational knowledge. Do your homework. Look at employee retention rates, the percentage of senior managers who will reach retirement in the next five to 10 years, current bench strength, and developmental objectives. What organizational support exists and what needs to be developed? Successful mentoring initiatives require visible support and involvement from the highest levels of the organization.
What are our criteria for success? Do set long-term goals that will help your company, such as making your organization a better place to work, increasing productivity, making people more savvy about managing their careers, connecting people, increasing diversity, and building trust and communications.
Who needs to be involved in developing our program? Create an advisory team of employees who represent a cross-section of the company in age, gender, roles, departments, views, and values. Do give everyone on the team an equal say and an equal vote.
Make certain that each member is committed to the project — not just assigned to it. Assign someone to be the dedicated point person and mentoring coordinator to keep progress going between team meetings. The mentoring coordinator should manage the marketing plan, coach and train mentoring partners, see that the program is evaluated, and make continuous improvements to the program. Do use team members to help develop the program, to champion the program, and to evaluate progress. Who else needs to be consulted?
What other information do we need? Do benchmark the practices of other successful mentoring programs. Schedule time for mentoring advisory team members to discuss books and articles about mentoring and to learn about cutting-edge programs at other companies.
Consider the limited use of outside consultants to advise and provide feedback to the team. Choose your consultant carefully. What mentoring is already in place? Do build a program that supports the informal mentoring relationships that are already going on. People in the company know that mentoring is authorized and encouraged.
How will we communicate to employees about the mentoring program? Do publicize the program in a variety of forms and forums.
Develop a strategic internal marketing plan just as if you had a new product to introduce into the marketplace. Use the mentoring briefings to introduce your mentoring program, explain the benefits, and tell employees how they can get involved. Enlist many program champions.
Ask senior staff to designate mentoring facilitators. Prepare the facilitators to answer questions about the mentoring program, steer interested people to the mentoring program coordinator, and broker mentoring partnerships. Provide training and recognition for the mentoring facilitators. Ask senior executives to promote mentoring in company speeches, and provide them with materials to make advocacy easy. Write articles about mentoring success stories for internal publications.
Create written questions and answers to explain the mentoring program, how to get involved, how to set goals, what the phases of a mentoring relationship are, and strategies for success.
How quickly do we want to roll out our program? Do start with small numbers and increase your program slowly. Start with those locations or sites where you expect the most support and participation. Be careful in the beginning; a false start can decimate even the best-planned mentoring program. Once things are rolling smoothly, schedule additional briefings and include mentoring briefings in new-employee orientation programs. The answer to this depends on the goals of your program.
Our experience at Brown-Forman shows that self-initiated pairings between employees from all levels and divisions works best. We found that mentoring relationships work best if they are voluntary and confidential.
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