We’re reintroducing mentorship programs after a period of dormancy and trying to find the best balance between implementing structure and encouraging organic growth. What have your most successful mentorship programs or relationships looked like?
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Hi Kat,
Building an organic and self-sustaining mentoring culture is definitely the dream, but when you’re just getting started we find that people thrive with constraints.
By which I mean - give them some guidelines to work within, and a structure to based their match and interactions on, so that they’ve got a starting point and can develop their own mentoring “personality” from there. Left to happen completely organically, mentoring will favour the bold - those already putting their hands up for development. By adding a little bit of structure and an opportunity to opt-in, you’re bringing people off the sidelines who might not otherwise have participated.
We’d err on the side of more control during a short (6 month) pilot initially, so people in your mentoring community know how to operate, and then you can relax control from there as it develops into an organic, always-on part of your company culture!
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Thank you Lucy! I appreciate the guidance!
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Hi Kat,
Good advice from Lucy there which I would agree with. One of the risks with structured mentoring programs is that they can start well but fizzle out. I put together a paper on Seven Reasons Mentoring Programs Lose Momentum Here it is in case it’s of interest https://www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/eBook-Seven-Reasons-Mentoring-Programmes-Lose-Momentum.pdf
Best wishes
Antoinette
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