This month, we’ve been sharing ways to improve company culture through outside-the-box professional development. The value of mentorship has come up more than once, and today we want to explore it a little further. Your company’s mentorship initiatives might be structured programs, like our onboarding process, or they might be a casual part of the culture. Either way, the themes of mentor-mentee relationships are the same.
If your company lacks internal mentorship, there are some ways to encourage it. You might consider officially matching senior leaders to newer employees when they begin, or you might simply make it known that such relationships are a valuable, recommended part of company culture. If you choose the latter, consider hosting an after-work event to get conversations started between people who don’t usually interact. Things like round-robin information gathering games help the less experienced step out of their comfort zones to connect with company leaders.
No matter what approach to mentorship works at your company, it’s wise to recommend that the matches set clearly defined goals and approach the relationship methodically. That way, the person with more experience can help their mentee find solutions to problems they’re facing and actively grow.
Company experts are the perfect people to pass along technical skills relevant to your industry that they’ve had years to develop. Mentees should develop specific questions and identify weaknesses to seek help.
The mentors at your company are most likely natural leaders of some sort. Encourage mentees to talk to them to explore what leadership means and develop those qualities in themselves.
Mentors can be great confidants. If the relationship takes off, inexperienced employees are given a safe place to discuss workplace issues and career plans. At work, that trust is valuable.
Whatever life or career questions a mentee is asking, chances are the mentor has asked them before. Encourage these relationships at your company, to provide a personal sort of professional development employees can’t get anywhere else.
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