All Effective Mentorship Programs Are Run By Senior Level Executives
How will you preserve and set up your best talent to lead? Mentorship program is one effective way to achieve your business goals. Many businesses have found providing a mentor for high performing employees not just causes them to settle into their job and business atmosphere, it further contributes to a decrease in employee turnover rate and higher job satisfaction.
A mentor primarily is a person who acts as a guide or adviser. Getting role of a mentor is a matter of honor. It is a sign that a business relies on the person’s abilities and has faith in him or her to have a positive impact on the situation. The employment of a mentor maybe an informal, short-duration situation or a formal, long-duration job.
Informal Vs Formal Mentorship Program
In an informal mentoring program the mentor normally helps the mentee for a short time duration. Guidance from the mentor may come as basic information on daily routines including tips on "do's and don'ts" not found in the employee manual; to helping the employee gain an understanding of work duties and prepare them, for future roles in the company. A mentors assigned under effective mentorship programs also answer questions and provide leadership development, thus saving time for the manager. Moreover, mentees normally feel more comfortable asking questions of their mentor than their manager.
In a program of this kind, mentors are usually volunteers. Forcing somebody who does not have any desire to work as a mentor to do so, can lead to immediate problems. Truly, somebody with a negative state of mind, who may urge a new employee to grumble and gripe, should not be assigned the role of a mentor.
A more formal variant of mentoring happens when a company selects a senior manager with broad knowledge and experience to undertake the role of a mentor, to a professional the organization feels has fantastic potential for growth. The role of a mentor normally lasts for longer duration of time. Effective mentorship programs should ensure senior level support right from the start, else it will fail to get the attention and support it needs to become a part of the company’s culture. Experience shows the best mentorship programs are headed by senior level executives, not simply the HR department.
Conclusion
Relationship between the mentor and mentee is a professional one, rather a personal one. This difference should be understood by the mentee.