It’s no secret that great leaders consistently place a high value on mentoring others. Mentors help budding leaders gain important insights, give them much-needed honest feedback and serve as a blueprint for success to their mentees. Sometimes these mutually beneficial relationships between more experienced, upper-management individuals and younger employees happen organically; other times, they may spring up by chance, through existing networks or even between supervisors and employees who just click together.
I can personally attest to the value of mentorship – in my career, spanning over 20 years, I’ve had many informal mentors. I was lucky to have great leaders who took a special interest in me and my development. Even though these relationships were not part of a formal mentorship program, they were transformative for me.
And if informal mentorship is beneficial, you can bet that formal mentorship adds value to the individuals and organizations participating. After all, formal mentoring programs can help avoid the risk of unconscious bias, and provide the structure needed to maintain the mentoring relationship even when both parties are busy. Here are a few reasons why I think they’re well worth considering.
Fruitful feedback
You don’t have to take my word for it – compelling research from Development Dimensions International illustrates some of the key benefits of a formal mentorship program. Its 2018 Global Leadership Forecast represents the responses of more than 25,000 business leaders and 2,500 HR professionals in a range of industries. According to this study, businesses that implemented a formal mentorship program saw:
- a 20% lower turnover rate
- a more holistic understanding of the business from all employees
- deeper connections and higher-quality networking opportunities
- 46% higher quality leaders
- an increased likelihood of wisdom remaining in-house
- 23% more critical roles could be filled immediately
- a silo breakdown between functional groups
A robust mentorship program is one way businesses can ensure that top talent stays, develops and thrives in-house while providing meaningful opportunities for senior execs to witness their tangible impact.
Millennials and mentorship
The Pew Research Center recently noted that millennials are now the largest generation in the U.S. workforce. They’re not just the largest chunk of the workforce; your high-performing millennials also will be either the future leaders of your organization – or someone else’s. And one theme keeps cropping up in conversations about what millennials value: mentorship.
In fact, a 2016 Deloitte study found that millennials who planned to stay with employers for more than five years were more than twice as likely to have a mentor (68%) than not (32%). And 20-somethings aren’t the only ones who value credible feedback and wisdom – workers of all ages understand the benefits. When well-executed, mentorship programs engage your millennial employees and elevate the entire workforce.
Success stories
Some of the world’s most financially successful organizations have a formal mentorship program, including such Fortune 500 companies as GE, Intel and AT&T.
In GE’s “leader in residence” program, top executives rotate responsibilities. During their residence time, they spend a week mentoring, teaching and coaching managers and employees. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Raghu Krishnamoorthy, GE’s vice president of executive development and chief learning officer, said, “By giving leaders access to deeper levels across the organization, and, in turn, providing participants access to senior leadership, we have created greater cohesiveness throughout the company.”
AT&T leaders mentor their workforce in topic-based groups called “leadership circles.” Within these circles, members communicate both online and face-to-face. The program allows for a single mentor to take on a few mentees at a time, but in a group setting, two or more leaders can collaborate and mentor several mentees together. The groups are self-organized, free-flowing and champion tenets such as teamwork and trust. This program suits the telecom giant’s workforce needs, and AT&T saw an increase in the quality of peer-to-peer mentoring as a result.
No matter the size or scope of your business, formal mentorship programs offer valuable insight and opportunities for both the mentor and mentee. If a rising tide lifts all boats, mentorship initiatives that make space for honest feedback and meaningful connections can ensure everyone floats a little higher.