A Five-Step Guide to Creating a Mentoring Program
Want to learn how to develop a mentoring program? That’s great. Mentoring is a proven approach to drive rich learning and development for both mentees and mentors. Mentoring also benefits the sponsoring organization. For employers, mentoring increases retention, promotion rates, and employee satisfaction. At universities, student mentoring is proven to improve student retention, boost job placement rates, and increase alumni engagement when tapping alumni as mentors.
A thriving, impactful mentoring program is within your reach. But great mentoring programs don’t just happen. They are built through thoughtful planning and sustained commitment to guiding participants through the mentoring process while continually improving the program.
Deciding to implement a mentoring program is a great strategy for improving employee metrics like retention. A report from PeopleFluent shows that 78 percent of millennials said being a part of a mentorship program made them feel more engaged with their organization. In addition, BambooHR found 56% of new hires thought assigning “an employee buddy or mentor” was one of the most important things a new employee needed to get up to speed and begin contributing quickly.
As with any major project, proper planning is crucial to achieving your strategic goals. Mentoring programs can be highly impactful, but there are many factors that are critical to the success of your program. We’ve distilled our guidance into a video outlining the five key strategies for starting a high-impact mentoring program.