Mentoring
Consultancy
Supporting in-house company mentoring programmes
Training for mentoring relationships
"If you cannot see where you are going, ask someone who has been there before." — J Loren Norris
In a professional services industry commercial success is achieved by its people. Whether it is for the company or for personal development, people in the workplace benefit from support from various directions; mentoring is one type of programme that can help individuals reach their full potential and therefore by default the company will prosper.
What is mentoring?
Definition:
“a relationship in which a more experienced person shares their greater knowledge to support the development of an inexperienced person”
CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) 2021
Types of mentoring
There are different types of mentoring styles emerging in the corporate environment depending on the stage and circumstances of the mentees. Below are a sample of some typical types adopted in the workplace.
Traditional : Role model shares knowledge and experience
Sponsorship Mentoring : Master and Protégé relationship
Developmental mentoring : Empowering
Cascade mentoring : Being both a Mentee and Mentor
Reverse mentoring : Flips the traditional model.
Consider which type would most suit your company or your colleague’s current situation. Note mentees may have more than one mentor in their career depending on what they need help with at a particular time in their career.
In-house mentoring programmes
Setting up an in-house mentoring programme supports a positive company culture and increases staff motivation. It demonstrates the business’s approach to their social values, supporting the growth of all members of the company. It strengthens internal leadership. It provides the opportunity to hear new ideas and perspectives that may improve business practices.
Benefits
For the mentors:
Helps develop leadership skills. Improves communication skills. Learning from someone else. Supporting another person.
For the mentees:
Helps guide and shape careers. Helps achieve their full potential. Helps them to achieve their goals. Creates greater confidence
For the company:
Fosters a positive company culture of learning, nurturing, and growth. Provides cost-effective professional development Improves employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention. It can help develop a stronger, more sustainable business.
Success
Success will depend on carefully planning the programme and clarity of the vision for the scheme.
There are a number of stages which need to be considered over the first 12 months:
1. Pre-planning: create the vision, define the purpose, design the programme
2. Initiation: introduction to the company, invite applications to participate
3. Training: Conduct training sessions to understand the etiquette of mentoring
4. Implementation: matching the candidates,
5. Review: reflect on what went well and what can be improved, measure the success
A Mentoring Consultant will assist in the roll-out of the programme based on knowledge and experience: a mentor to the business!
Results
Successful mentoring is about empowering mentees to be confident and encourage independence in the future. It is having a critical friend who has experience and is knowledgeable about the mentees’ issue enabling the mentee to develop their career in a sustainable way. Having someone to be accountable to ensures goals are achieved.
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg