Today, organizations in both the private and public sectors are competing to attract and retain top talent. The baby boomers are retiring and a brain drain is on the horizon. The up and coming leaders, the Gen Xers, are pragmatic, self-reliant and individualistic. They appreciate a casual, friendly work environment with flexibility and opportunities for continuous learning. The in-coming millennial workforce is a group that requires constant feedback, recognition and career development. They offer a lot of potential but can be very demanding. They prefer a work environment that is structured and supportive, and they have high expectations of their employers.

If you want to compete in this labor market and win the best talent for your teams, you need to offer the perks that focus on what the newer generation of workers wants. Providing a formal mentoring program is an extremely effective, low-cost way to attract and retain top Gen X talent.

The benefits of a successful mentoring program are numerous. Mentoring helps organizations to:

• Retain high potentials
  
• Improve morale
  
• Project a strong employer brand
  
• Build the skills of employees
  
• Groom leaders
  
  

There are some basic steps to creating an effective mentoring program:

1. Establish the Mentor Program Objectives

The first step is to identify the organizational goals that you want to support as a way to clearly define the program objectives.  Key questions to consider include: Is the program being offered to improve retention, deal with major organizational change, foster succession planning, assist new employee orientation, bridge competency gaps, or develop technical people into managers and leaders? Your answer will have significant impact on the program design.

2. Identify Protégés

Knowing what you want to achieve, you can develop a “Protégé Profile” to identify candidates to be mentored. Organizations sometimes make the mistake of thinking that someone who is intellectually or technically brilliant will make the best protégé, but this is rarely the case. Mentoring is really about development, so the qualities of an ideal candidate need to consider attitude and capacity as well as competence and capability.  For example, does the person actively seek out personal and career development on their own? Do they have good listening skills? Can they reflect on feedback? Do they have a history of taking action in response to what they learn?

3. Identify Mentors

Too often, organizations will choose mentors based on seniority, assuming that people with the most experience in a particular department or field will be the most qualified. However, development of an employee can be assisted by peers as well as those in more senior positions. It is important for mentors and protégés alike to understand that mentoring does not mean “duplicating” or “cloning.” An effective mentor will share information, relevant experience and learning. The mentor should be a good listener and should be able to question the protégé’s decision-making without judgment. In short, a good mentor will be someone who can support the overall growth of a protégé.

4. Matching Individuals

There are many ways to match mentors with protégés and visa versa. The mentoring relationship is unique and can provide for rich learning opportunities that benefit both individuals. It is therefore important for both mentors and protégés to understand that sometimes the best mentoring experiences are born out of differences as well as similarities. The ideal relationship is one that focuses on building strengths rather than overcoming weaknesses.  Mentors and protégés are encouraged to stay open regarding their matches.

5. Establish Guidelines and Expectations

Clarity is a key success factor when it comes to building a Mentoring Program.  Guidelines might include the length of the mentor/protégé relationship, defining the roles and functions, timing and location of formal mentoring meetings, accessibility of the mentor outside of formal meetings, confidentiality, reporting structure, anticipated outcomes, and the structure for how goals will be measured.

6. Assess Outcomes and Success

The most effective Mentoring Programs include a formal assessment process to measure outcomes. For example, there may be a specific set of competencies that the organization expects the Protégé to acquire through the experience. To support this, there are Web-based tools available that can assess a protégé’s competencies before and after the program. In addition, there are many organizational measures to gauge success, such as retention rates, productivity, customer satisfaction, 360 degree surveys, etc. It is important to define ahead of time what kinds of assessments and metrics will be used to determine the success of an individual mentor/protégé relationship, as well as the success of the program as a whole.

Keep in mind that new mentors and protégés need to be oriented on how the program works and the expectations for measuring success. Organizations also can increase their potential return on investment by offering executive coaching for new mentors. This will help to ensure the success of the program and create a mentoring culture, which will dramatically increase an organization’s ability to attract and retain top talent.  

About Edizen

Edizen provides collaborative design and delivery of mentoring and related career-development programs, building on a program’s past successes, improving upon and enhancing existing programs and building new programs to meet the ever-changing needs of today’s organizations. To learn more about how Edizen can help your organization to attract, retain and develop high potential employees, contact Gail Finger at 866-334-9362 or gfinger@edizenco.com.

EDIZEN Insights #28
© 2008 by Edizen Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
For feedback or comments: feedback@edizenco.com.
Feel free to call Edizen at 413-788-0077 / Toll Free 866-334-9362.

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