Mentors in companies: how to implement mentoring program in your company

In the battle for the best young talent, companies have to motivate and promote their own employees in an increasingly targeted manner and come up with something to retain them over the long term. At the same time, they have to attract digital talents that drive the digital transformation process.

Mentoring programs are becoming increasingly popular and differ from classic coaching. Not only the individual employee, but especially companies benefit if they promote internal mentoring programs. Driven by advancing digitization and demographic change, companies must create a work environment that takes into account all generations of employees. They all have different strengths, skills, knowledge and experience. And they all have individual requirements, needs and wishes for jobs, workplaces and managers. The consequence:

• Companies have to make their own employees fit for the challenges of increasing digitalization

• Organizations must secure the knowledge of older generations of employees

• As an attractive employer, companies must motivate, promote and retain their own employees in the long term

• Organizations must attract new talent in the fight for the best talent in order to be successful in the long term

However, because many young talents do not want to work in analog companies, they first have to understand how Generation Y and Z tick. Companies have to combine the strengths of the different generations of employees and use them optimally to ensure their long-term success.

Every company is only as good as its employees. Therefore, a functioning human resources development in companies is now essential. This is where mentoring comes in.

Start of a mentoring program in the company

Does your organization have a mentoring initiative and would like to improve it? Or are you considering starting a mentoring program in your organization - but are you worried about the pitfalls? The following practical and critical recommendations for mentoring programs that steer your mentoring program in the right direction:

The development and implementation of a mentoring program consists of the following steps:

Concept development: determination of goals, target group and format

Application phase: Find the right mentors and mentees

Matching phase: tandems that fit together lead to success

Implementation phase: Successfully manage the mentoring program

Make a well-defined plan before you implement your program.

By creating a comprehensive, results-oriented program plan, you steer your mentoring program in the right direction right from the start. Within the plan, it is important to answer certified questions about coaching training, such as: Why mentoring is crucial for a specific employee audience in your company and how the program contributes to achieving business goals. Develop a plan that is as effective as possible.

Define specific and relevant measurements of program success.

Take the time to ensure that your mentoring program achieves specific goals and identify a list of key success metrics that you can track throughout the program. Metrics should correspond to mentor activities, mentee activities and development, as well as overall organizational goals.

Just don't let anyone participate in your program.

The best mentoring program means having the best mentor-mentee pairs to achieve the program goals. Target the target group that is contributing to and benefiting from this program. This means defining key criteria for ideal mentors and mentees in your program and setting up a process to select a group of desired participants from a larger pool of applicants. Implementing a mentoring software solution can make this process easier.

Make sure that participation in the program is voluntary.

The easiest and most important way to build lasting, productive mentoring partnerships is to maintain voluntary participation in the program. In this way, mentors are motivated for the right reasons and the mentees experience the full benefit of the program.

Don't be trained by mentors, mentees, and managers.

Regardless of what your organization needs or what type of formal mentoring program you want to implement, it is critical to ensure that everyone involved is fully prepared for the program.

Enforce mentee-driven partnerships in your program.

It is a common misconception in many organizations that mentors should lead meetings and discussions. Mentees who are motivated to drive their own development will benefit much more from the program than mentees who rely on their mentors to tell them how to develop.

Adjust program management practices as your mentoring program requirements change.

As your mentoring program grows and evolves, monitor the program regularly to see if you need to change or improve certain aspects. Example: If your program has grown rapidly and too many participants have to be managed manually, you should use mentoring software to simplify the program, automate processes and save time.