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Les
McKeown, President and CEO of Yellowbrick, regularly
assists organizations of all sizes implement mentoring
programs. In completing Yellowbrick's seven-part online
training program, 'How To Be A Great Mentor...in
under 30 minutes', Les had to take into account
the fact that not everyone knows why a mentoring program
has been started in the first place:
Julie
and I just returned from a great few days in San Jose.
While there we had an opportunity to work with some
folks who wanted to REFRESH a mentoring program that
wasn't getting the results.
The
more we looked at it, the clearer it became that the
reason the program wasn't 'getting the results' was
because the mentoring program had no CLEAR GOALS to
start with!
It's
hard to 'get results' if no-one knows what the results
should be...(As my mother used to say: 'If you aim
at nothing, you'll hit it.' Typically Irish - it's
not really meant to make sense,
but it does...).
How
do you make sure your program 'gets results'?
1.
Make Sure You Know Your Mentoring Or Coaching Program’s
Primary Function.
There
are 16 potential Primary Functions your program could
have - choose which one (or two, at most) applies
to your program:
- Enhancing
Recruitment Activities
- Enhancing
Retention
- Getting
over a learning curve
- Dealing
with major organizational change
- Bridging
competency gaps
- Converting
training to results
- To
encourage personal individual growth
- To
facilitate internal hiring and transfers
- To
accelerate the development of high performers
- To
increase the representation of minority interests
- To
help low performers improve
- The
development of management
- To
provide succession and for the development of emerging
leaders
- For
new hires
- To
help re-vitalize mid-career executives
- To
assist employees obtain formal qualifications
2.
Set Clear, Quantifiable Objectives For Your Program
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By
setting quantifiable objectives, you will end up with
very clear, identifiable and above all, realistically
achievable goals for your program.
Relate
all of your objectives to the program’s primary function
and to a realistic time frame.
Added
bonus: by doing this, you will be able to prove the
validity of your mentoring or coaching program should
one of the ‘powers-that-be’ threaten to pull your
program and its budget...
3.
Tell The Mentors And The Protégés Why You're Doing
This
One
of the 'Duh...!' moments we had in San Jose was working
out how best to communicate the program's goals to
the mentors and the protégés.
Many
companies don't even consider this step - the program
is designed and implemented without sitting down with
the mentors and protégés and clearly explaining:
'This
program is aimed at increasing employee retention
from X% to Y% over a three year period - we're doing
this to keep you here.'
Or:
'This
program is designed to increase the percentage of
jobs we can fill by internal hiring from c% to d%
over 18 months. We're doing this to broaden your skill
set, so we can offer you a broader range of career
options within the company.'
(Or
whatever specific objective you've set.)
Think
about it...how can the program participants help you
achieve your program goals - if they don't know what
they are?
4.
Ask The Line Managers
The
people best placed to tell you if your mentoring or
coaching program is working are the LINE MANAGERS
of those involved in the program...
...not
the mentors, or the protégés (although their views
are invaluable in other respects), and not, you'll
be pleased to know, you (the program co-ordinator
is too close to the program to give a wholly independent
assessment).
Give
your line managers the written objectives of your
program (as arrived at above), and agree a simple
mechanism by which THEY will monitor and report on
the program's success in achieving its objectives.
Make it simple to ensure their involvement.
J.
Leslie McKeown, is the President & CEO of Yellowbrick.
Yellowbrick
provides employee development solutions for organizations
of all sizes, particularly in the areas of retention,
orientation & mentoring and coaching.
| If
you have busy managers that you'd like to see
developing as mentors, then ‘How To Be A Great
Mentor...in under 30 minutes’ is exactly the
resource you need – view a free preview right
now at Deliver
The Promise. |
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| 99
out of 100 executives say that mentoring is essential
for employee development, retention and morale.
Yet
99 out of 100 companies have no mentoring program
- usually because of cost, complexity and lack
of time.
Not
any longer.
The
Complete Guide to Mentoring and Coaching
(TCGTMAC) is your key to being the one organization
in a hundred with a successful, vibrant mentoring
program - quickly, simply and inexpensively.
Learn
More...
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In
addition to being the author of 'The Complete Guide
to Orientation and Re-Orientation', 'The Complete
Guide to Mentoring and Coaching', and the ‘Deliver
The Promise Retention MasterClass', Les travels
widely, speaking and consulting on issues of employee
development and corporate strategy.
Learn
more about Yellowbrick....
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