The benefits of implementing a mentoring scheme in your workplace

Whether it’s a parent, a friend or an inspirational figure, we all benefit from someone shining a light in the dark. Ultimately, we all need someone to look up to: as an Employer, your aim should be to provide your staff with the right role models to motivate and engage them to learn, develop and grow with the business.

For a mentee, the benefits of one-on-one learning and continual guidance from a professional in your field can be invaluable. Increased confidence and a sense of direction will boost job satisfaction and encourage Employees to further their skills. For a business, this can only be good news. By implementing mentoring schemes in the workplace, Employers can expect to enjoy a raft of benefits:

Encouraging engagement through career development

A lack of learning and development opportunities are blamed for stifled engagement within the workplace - but that should come as no surprise. When Employees are unable to progress beyond a certain level without taking matters into their own hands, it’s not hard to see how they could lose interest and start looking elsewhere.

As an Employer, your objective is to understand the ambitions and aspirations of your staff and find a way to align them with organisational goals. Establishing a mentoring scheme within your workplace will not only ensure that new entrants can hit the ground running but further enable loyal staff to learn new skills and advance their careers.

Improving talent retention

Retaining top talent in a competitive landscape requires unwavering commitment from leaders and managers to the development of their staff. It’s not rocket science - it’s just human nature. As Employees, we are more likely to stay loyal with a company if we know they are invested in us as individuals and have committed time and money into helping us reach our potential.

Provide your staff with the opportunity to hone their skills through hands-on support from a dedicated mentor and you are effectively underlining the value of their contribution. Beyond this, the constant safety net that a mentor offers can encourage Employees to experiment with new skills in a comfortable setting: soon, they will feel confident contributing new ideas that could be critical to the innovation of your products or service.

Preparing the next generation of leaders

Beyond employee engagement, a well-thought out mentoring initiative can play a pivotal role in nurturing individuals who show potential for future leadership positions. Regrettably, many individuals who demonstrate leadership qualities early on are often held back by a lack of self-belief. As Oprah Winfrey said, "a mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” Implementing a mentoring scheme within the workplace can bring out the best in Employees and inspire them to aim higher.

When it comes to hiring for management positions within your firm, you can thank the mentoring scheme for providing a number of loyal Employees who are ready to step up to the mark.

Creating a learning culture

Mentoring may begin with one-on-one guidance, but the influence of experts goes much further than this. Time and time again, mentoring has proven effective in organising, creating and distributing knowledge throughout the business.

How?

Because, just like Chinese Whispers, useful tips and tricks travel fast. Considering that 80% of workplace learning is informal in nature, mentoring schemes can empower learning in ways that textbooks, e-learning courses and even state-of-the-art learning apps simply can’t. By shortening the learning curve, workplace mentoring can enhance productivity and increase the flow of knowledge within teams and between departments.