Why even consider a Mentoring Program for Your Business?
[#1 in a series of 9 articles]
Series compiled by leading business-mentor, Michael Donovan –iMentor-pro
Retention The most measured benefit for organisations lies in retention. Research data suggests that only one in five executives go looking for a new job or a new post in the same company (they usually look outside for opportunity); for those with a Mentor, the figure rises to four out of five. Seventy-seven percent of US companies report that mentoring programs were effective in increasing employee retention (the largest and most thorough research as yet undertaken anywhere).
Recruitment Having a mentoring program is a significant factor in selection of an employer. Mentors also provide a very cost-effective resource to re-capture talented executives who have moved to other organisations. When these executives are ready to move again, the first person they often talk to is their former Mentor, if they have had a good mentoring relationship.
Induction into the organisation is typically improved by mentoring. People become acclimatised up to twice as fast as normal. At senior management levels, where the track record of success in external appointments is not high in general, mentoring is believed to make a substantial difference in acceptance of the new executive and getting that persona up to productive speed.
Other key areas of organisational benefit include:
Promotion Mentoring programs play a key role in a Senior Executive’s career advancement and, for women in particular, is one of the most effective ways of enhancing their advancement. Almost no one makes it to the top without a Mentor of some sort.
- 75 percent of executives point to mentoring as playing a key role in their careers. (Source: American Society for Training and Development [ASTD])
- 44 percent of senior executives up to the CEO list mentoring programs as one of the three most effective strategies to enhance women’s advancement to senior management. (Source: Dr Belle Ragins for Catalyst)
- 80 percent of senior executives, in a recent survey undertaken in the UK, stated that having a mentor was one of the keys to their success. (Source: Clutterbuck Associates, UK)
- CEOs state that one of the top three factors affecting career growth was mentoring. (Source: AccountTemps survey of Fortune 500 companies)
Personal and Professional Development The majority of executives who have been mentored cite mentoring as one of the most important aspects of their development:
- More than 60 percent of college and graduate students listed mentoring as a criterion for selecting an employer after graduation. (Source: MMHA)
- 76 percent of Fortune 500 companies top 25 companies offer mentoring programs. (Source: Fortune)
- 96 percent of executives say mentoring is an important development tool. (Source: AccountTemps)
Productivity Productivity increases significantly as Mentees feel much more motivated when they are being mentored.
- Managerial productivity increased by 88 percent when mentoring was involved, versus only a 24 percent with training. (Source: ASTD)
- 71 percent of Fortune 500 companies use mentoring to ensure learning occurs in their organisation. (Source: ASTD)
- 95 percent of mentoring participants said the experience motivated them to do their very best. (Source: “The War for Talent” by Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones & Beth Axeirod)
Succession planning Many organisations find that mentoring provides a clearer picture of the talent pool available, and helps people position themselves more clearly against the likely needs of the business.
Diversity management Mentoring has proved to be one of the most important elements of diversity programs. When an organisation has a strong cadre of effective Mentors, it has an extra impact upon the overall culture of the organisation. A number of organisations have used mentoring as the starting point for changing from a culture that was hostile towards learning, to one that is very supportive of learning behaviours (HPC).
Benefits for the Mentee These are very wide, but the most commonly reported are:
- Greater clarity about personal development and career goals - Being able to discuss, in an open and unthreatening environment, issues about their career and development - Improved networking - Practical advice on organisational politics and behaviour - The opportunity to be challenged constructively - Transfer of knowledge and, in particular, judgement - Having a role model Various research data suggest that Mentees achieve greater confidence in their own potential and ability, feel more secure in their role (especially at senior levels) and earn more than their non-mentored counterparts. There is also data to suggest that having a Mentor is a critical factor in the career success of 80 per cent of UK senior executives.
Benefits for the Mentor The most frequently cited benefits for Mentors are:
- Their own learning (often Mentors report as much or more learning than Mentees)
- The opportunity to practise good developmental behaviours outside their direct line responsibilities - Development of their own self-awareness - Greater understanding of other areas of the business and/or of other cultures Recent research among women leaders, who are being mentored by more senior males, indicates that more than half of the Mentors feel more secure in their roles.
Benefits for the Supervisor Supervisors in effective mentoring schemes typically comment upon:
- The value of a “second opinion” — someone the Mentee can take issues to, who does not have a direct involvement - Improvements in the Mentee’s relationships with peers and the Supervisor him/herself - A clearer sense of purpose and direction on the part of the Mentee The bottom line for mentoring is that it achieves a great deal of change for a cost that is relatively small in comparison to remuneration and mitigated risk.
The content of ideas, concepts and experiences that make up this series of nine articles have been contributed from a number of sources and authors. Assembly by leading business-mentor, Michael Donovan, Managing Director, iMentor-pro 1300 720 190
Why even consider a Mentoring Program for Your Business - To learn more about this author, visit Michael Donovan's Website.
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Michael Donovan
(Visit Michael's Website)
iMentor-pro is an alliance of former
CEO’s, Senior Executives and Company
Directors who have
an interest in keeping fresh, involved and
of assistance to others who are currently
in the ‘hot
seat’ as the leader, part of the leaders
team / direct reports or in the line of
succession within a
business or a business unit. They will
share their experience unreservedly toward
your success
and that of the business you lead. Led by
Michael Donovan, former Asia-Pac CEO for
global
business-mentoring business Merryck & Co.,
the alliance offers its services
individually or as a
pool-of-talent to organisations like the
Australian Institute of Company Directors
to underpin the
AICD, Coach and Mentor Connection, the
Amazing Results CEO90DT, 120CEOP and
ETBMP
Programs. The alliance participants form a
Guild of Mentors. Each have working
portfolio
interests and all are still actively
involved in business either through their
mentoring,
directorships, advisory or other roles.
Find out more about - iMentor-pro –
International Mentor Professionals at www.imentor-pr
o.com
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iMentor-pro Values | iMentor-pro
Services | iMentor-pro Guild of Mentors
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