Why workplace mentoring needs to go up your priority list

Mentoring is a word that’s been in use for centuries but what is it, when is it useful and why can it offer you a competitive edge?

What is it?

There is a wide expanse of literature that debates the definition of mentoring but in my opinion the best single word that defines a mentor is a guide. A mentor is there to help you when you get lost, they impart wisdom, experience, skills or knowledge to help you tread your path more quickly and often they have lived your experience themselves so can empathise with your situation. Mentors can act as your support, your sounding board, but can also prompt you to reflect using constructive challenge and feedback. A mentor’s role is to encourage you to learn and develop and to do this they call on a mix of skills like teaching or coaching in their quest to guide you towards your goal.

When is it useful?

In a worldwide study of SMEs, Sage.com found 93% of respondents saw mentoring as a key component of success (1). Mentoring is useful in many situations, here is a selection of its common applications.

Mentoring for onboarding - When you join a new company, at whatever level, there is an incredible amount to learn outside of the specific activities of your role. According to Tobin (2000), up to 80% of what we learn about our workplace is informal (2). This includes understanding the culture and internal procedures, as well as navigating the politics. Internal mentors can help you understand this new landscape much faster than learning on your own and help you avoid unnecessary pitfalls along the way. This is more important than ever in a virtual working world. It’s harder to rely on serendipity - ‘bumping into’ people we didn’t know we needed to know whilst making a coffee or sharing a ride in the lift. A mentor can help bridge that gap.

Mentoring for direction – Throughout your career, there are often several pathways to choose with multiple pros and cons for each. Mentors can help you decide on the best pathway for you and help you with decision-making, plus identify any barriers or enablers to success.

Mentoring for promotion – Often stepping up the hierarchy brings the need for a new set of skills such as when you first manage a team, when you manage several teams, when you manage several functions, when you manage global teams, if you transfer between departments or become a board member. All these roles need a nuanced change in skillset, so it can be helpful to be mentored by someone who has previously made a similar transition.

Mentoring for problem solving – We all experience issues at some point in our careers. Mentors can help shed a new perspective on a problem, offer an objective view of the situation and may offer tools that can assist in your issue resolution. According to the Harvard Business Review, 84% of CEOs accredited their mentors with helping them avoid costly mistakes (3).

Why can it offer a competitive edge?

Mentoring provides plenty of opportunities to offer your business a competitive edge - attracting quality candidates, speeding up onboarding, accelerating progression, strengthening employee commitment and reducing turnover.

1.     Attracting employees

Offering a mentoring scheme is suggested by the CIPD as having a significantly positive impact on recruitment. (4) The existence of a mentoring programme evidences a learning culture which is known to attract potential new recruits - 60% of graduates listed mentoring programmes as part of their selection criteria. (5)

2.     Effective onboarding

Mentoring makes onboarding faster and more well-rounded. New starters understand the unwritten rules and have a trusted resource they can turn to for advice to navigate their new workplace.

3.     Employee progression

The existence of a mentoring partnership can accelerate progression for both parties - mentees are five times more likely to be promoted and for mentors this is even higher - they are six times more likely to advance their careers (6)

4.     Employee engagement

Mentoring can increase employee engagement, in turn increasing productivity and profitability (7). Employees who are mentored report higher fulfillment and more job satisfaction (8). Both mentors and mentees report more commitment to their business and less intent to leave. (9)

5.     Employee retention

·       People value mentors as a tangible organisational investment in their personal development and 94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it offered them growth opportunities (10). Mentoring has been found to not only reduce turnover but also turnover intention (11). Mentoring has also proven to maintain diversity – more than doubling the retention of women and underrepresented groups when compared to non-mentored equivalents (12).

In their recent report on global learning and development, Linked In (2021) talk about the importance of internal mobility for increasing retention, “Not only are learners more likely to stay longer, but they are also much more engaged. Recent Glint data tells us that employees who have found new roles internally are three and a half times more likely to be engaged than those who haven’t. It’s a virtuous circle: 82% of L&D pros report that engaged learners are also more likely to participate in internal mobility programs. That’s a winwin-win for you, your learners, and your organization (p31)” (13).

Despite all of these benefits, only 37% of working professionals reported being in a mentoring relationship (14). Given current volatility in the workplace, retaining quality employees is a priority for many. North-52 Ltd are experienced in developing, enhancing and implementing successful mentoring programmes. We understand why mentoring programmes fail, and encourage approaches to maximise success. As an example, training both mentors and mentees can alone double program success (15).