One of the most powerful ways to develop and retain talent in an organization is by providing mentors to high potential employees. Mentors can play a multifaceted role in accelerating employee development, flexing and adapting to each protégé’s specific development needs. Research has shown that people who have mentors  typically have stronger commitment to their careers, commitment to their organization, and satisfaction with their jobs overall. While some employees will take the initiative to seek out and spend time learning from a mentor on their own, many don’t know how to initiate a relationship or even feel that they cannot take the time away from their day job to be available for mentoring. A facilitated (formal) program can help those employees access the mentoring they desire.

Our work on facilitated mentoring programs focuses on achieving two primary goals:

Creating Thoughtful Pairings

When left to find their own mentors, employees typically only look at their immediate environment to find someone to guide them. While sometimes they might find someone who has the patience and perspective to be a great mentor, often the mentor who would serve them best is not in their immediate network. A well designed, facilitated mentoring program can match protégés with mentors whose strengths match what the protégé wants to learn and who may be outside of their day-to-day interactions. In fact, these mentors can provide the third-party perspective that facilitates accelerated learning. We work with organizations to design programs that create new connections that would not form on their own and create partnerships that are tailored to each protégé’s needs.

Preparing Mentors and Protégés for Mentoring

The other stumbling block many protégés and their mentors experience is knowing what to do to make the experience most enriching for both parties. Mentoring is an active growth experience that is best driven by the protégé working with a mentor who knows how to ask the protégé thought-provoking questions to draw the best ideas out of the protégé. Some organizations create formal mentoring programs that merely put two people together without teaching them what their roles are or the skills they will need to make the experience meaningful. A well designed program will provide instruction up front to help mentoring partnerships get off the ground as well as provide ongoing support to help them take their mentoring experiences further.