Women In The Workplace: 5 Things To Consider Before Launching A Mentoring Program

It’s a known fact that high-achieving women are good for business and leading-edge organizations are proactive in their efforts to attract and retain them. These same companies are actively committed to their success, and one resource that is critical to their efforts is an effective mentoring program.

While there is rarely a shortage of women seeking a mentor, identifying and forming the most efficient and beneficial mentoring relationships is not an easy task.

Before moving forward with plans to launch a program in your organization, consider the following criteria to ensure optimum success:

1. Volunteers, anyone? There are significant advantages to having a program that consists of qualified volunteers. Few things create problems faster than forcing someone that the organization has deemed to be a great mentor, into a role that he or she has no desire to occupy. The mentor will ultimately become disengaged, at a minimum, and the mentee will likely feel as though they are a burden if not worse.

2. A perfect match. Designing a useful pre-selection assessment tool and having an interview process, will help to determine the qualifications and commitment of the prospective mentor, identify the needs of the mentee, and subsequently match him/her with the individual most capable and willing to serve as their mentor.

3. Dare to be innovative. Incorporating your company’s diversity and inclusion mission into the foundation of your mentoring program would be an excellent way to demonstrate that there are genuine “teeth” in the messaging. To grow as individuals and professionals in the workplace, it helps to take individuals at all levels outside of their comfort zone. Women are capable of mentoring men and vice versa. Therefore, so that a variety of perspectives are shared in business relationships, the option for cross-gender mentoring relationships, as an example, are my preference.

It’s been referenced in numerous publications, including Time Magazine, that according to researchers from Harvard Business School and Stanford University, the racial makeup of a significant number of large, U.S. based private-sector workplaces remains relatively homogenous and even more divided than they were in the 1970s. If we are to ever make strides in enhancing diversity in the workplace, the time is now, and an innovative mentoring program would be a great place to begin implementing change.

Women and minorities are leaving tech companies at astronomical rates and the costs associated with this turnover are estimated at more than $16 billion a year, according to a report in a recent USA Today article. Implementing a mentoring program that focuses on retaining talent, as well as actively seeking to eliminate the complex set of biases and barriers that inarguably exist in most organizations is ideal and good for business and branding.

4. Clarity Helps. An effective mentoring program should be in alignment with an organization’s strategic business plan. Having unclear and loosely defined goals and expectations will inevitably lead to a failed program. Provide a concise, formal description of the role of the mentor and the commitment expected of all involved. Require that each participant sign off on an agreement so that there are no misunderstandings or misinterpretation of what is expected throughout the mentoring relationship.

5. Consider rewards. Having an incentive plan attached to the program to attract qualified mentors might also prove to be beneficial. While you don’t want individuals participating for the sole purpose of receiving some form of compensation, money and other tangible rewards do serve as motivation for some. Utilize surveys at the conclusion of the mentoring relationship (where applicable) as well as an assessment of a mentee’s growth and performance to aid in determining whether there is a reasonable ROI.

It behooves an organization to not haphazardly launch a program for the sake of saying that one exists. The success of the program should be contingent upon how satisfactorily the agreed-upon goals and expectations were met.

If appropriately designed and implemented, a well-run, successful mentoring program will be a coveted employer offering, with employees (and prospective ones) clamoring to be a part of it-mentees as well as mentors.

Jacqueline Miller is a certified life coach, speaker, grief support facilitator, blogger and career and leadership consultant for high-achieving women. A former senior human resources executive, she is also skilled in helping leading- edge organizations to boost their success factor, by delivering essential business and personal development skills training, designed to cultivate a workforce of high-performing talent. She is the author of a #1 Amazon bestseller, Get Your Life Back! Your Guide to Guilt-Free Happiness Outside of Motherhood.