Definition of mentoring
Mentoring is one of the basic and, at the same time, most effective ways of developing talent within a company. While training usually addresses a group of people or even a whole company, mentoring always aims at one specific employee. This employee is assigned a mentor, typically a professionally more experienced individual, who is supposed to educate or train the given employee. It is a method of developing an individual talent and is meant for people with the potential to become an expert in a certain field or develop one of their specific skills.
Rules for implementing mentoring at your company
Now, when we know what mentoring is, we will look at the rules of how it should be implemented at your company in order to be effective.
- Clearly defined goals. Every mentoring programme should have clear goals that need to be defined in specific terms. You must know what you expect from the given programme and what the ideal outcome should be.
- Time frame. Mentoring should have a specific schedule and defined structure. It cannot be an ad hoc activity with no clear rules and goals.
- Agreement of those involved. It is no use doing mentoring if participants have doubts about it. Make sure both trainee and mentor view the opportunity in a positive light and will try to get the maximum out of it.
- Time allocation. A frequent problem is that mentoring is assigned to a mentor in addition to their existing agenda and thus they do not have the time to pay full attention to the mentoring sessions. Temporarily reduce the mentor's responsibilities so they will have time to devote themselves fully to the trainee.
-mm-