Many organizations have a hard and fast work culture. Employees come in, work hard, complete the work quickly and leave. Much of the training is on the job with various colleagues and managers instructing employees to learn as much as possible. Very few organizations bother with a Mentorship Program, and those that do, reap the benefits of better trained employees.
A Mentorship Program is nothing like a Buddy Program. Many organizations have a Buddy Program, but its aims are quite different. The Buddy Program works towards a new employee acquainted with the roles and responsibilities in the organization. It’s a way to ensure that new employees do not make mistakes. But employees are subjected to a ‘sink or swim’ system.
A Mentorship Program aims to achieve more than that.
Better Training
A Mentorship Program does not just apply to a newcomer, it can apply to everyone. Senior managers, who act as mentors, have more experience can train employees better than a colleague.
You probably have employees who are talented, whose skill needs to be polished. An attentive mentor is able to do just that. Employees will be fed the right information to deal with various crises instead of trying new things before settling on the right method.
Improved Productivity
A mentor does not just watch over the employee, but the work and projects he handles too. He reviews the employee’s working style and suggests changes to improve them. Hence, work submitted by the employee will be done faster and have better quality.
Leaders in Training
Any large organization needs effective leaders who can manage and lead their employees well. Many organizations look at their own workforce to find them, but fail because their employees lack the skills to qualify as leaders.
A Mentorship Program solves this problem. Mentors have leadership and management skills that will transfer down to their mentees (mentor’s students). This way your organization has competent employees who can step up to management positions. Additionally, you don’t have to look outside the organization and save on hiring costs.
Increase Synergy
As the relationship between a mentor and his mentees increase, they develop a synergy. Because of a mentor’s special attention and teaching, they develop a good rapport that allows them to accomplish more than others. There is a great level of understand on between a mentor and his mentees that allows this.
Employee Retention
Employees with mentors have a higher level of satisfaction, better opportunities for career growth and have a good relationship with their mentors. For these three reasons, employees are willing to stay in the organization rather than drop up.
A mentorship program will give your organization a capable workforce that can effectively handle small-scale daily problems and those once in a blue moon, major crises. If you want to build an organization with well trained employees who can rise up the ranks and provide competent leadership in the future, it is then that you should implement a Mentorship Program.
