How Do You Start A Mentoring Program At Work?
Create a purpose and set goals
The first thing to do when creating a mentoring program is to ask why you’re doing this. Then, you need to figure out goals to fit that purpose. These goals will depend on who your employees are, what you need them to learn, and what motivates your employees. What will success look like for the mentees and mentors? To attract people to the program, finding out what will motivate them is key to designing a program that will deliver value.
Don’t make assumptions when setting goals for your mentoring program. Find out the key reasons why your employees would want to get involved in mentoring. What are they (or your company) hoping to achieve by signing up? This allows you to design a program that will fit your business needs and the needs of your employees. Garnering input from potential participants in advance will do wonders to attract participation.
The next question to ask is what you’re trying to achieve as an organization when initiating a mentoring program. Think about how you’re going to measure your success as well. Develop those goals into specific, attainable, relevant objectives that you can measure. These key performance indicators (KPIs) will allow you to define the success of your program.
Design the mentoring program
The next step is design. When you sit down to design your plan of action, you’ll have several things to think about. You’ll want to have a mentorship program that is both structured and flexible. Structure helps participants progress toward defined goals, and flexibility is crucial to encompass a variety of individual mentoring needs, goals, preferences, and learning styles.
Make sure to ask these questions when creating a mentorship program:
- Who will be able to participate? (all employees or invite only)
- How will you launch the program?
- How are mentors and mentees matched? (one on one, a group, project)
- How long will the mentoring relationship last? (weeks/months)
- What are the expectations of mentors and mentees?
- What will the mentoring style be? (traditional, flash, reverse)
- How will you monitor progress and report success?
Many of the questions you’ll be asking at this stage will depend on the type of organization you have and the objectives you’ve identified for the program. Try to be as detailed as possible when mapping out your workplace mentoring program by providing details on key actions, timeframes, resources, and criteria for moving to the next phase. Mark areas that will require some flexibility to support employees. Not everything will go as planned, so be sure to give yourself some room in terms of time and expectations!