7 ways to improve your mentoring program (from good to great)
You are already running a mentoring program, and it's going well.
Well done! It is not an easy thing to make a mentoring program, that seems simple on paper, work well.
If you are looking for ways to make it even better, here are seven ideas that you can bring into your program, if you are not already doing it.
Here is what we will cover:
- Make it exclusive
- Goals coaching session
- Consistent training for mentees and mentors
- Structure for the meetings
- Recurring meetings
- Mid-program group sessions
- Mentee involvement in choosing their mentor
1. Make it exclusive: cap the places so it becomes oversubscribed
If you limit the number of participants such that its over-subscribed, then you create a program that people feel lucky to be part of. This is especially the case with mentees.
And when they feel lucky to be part of the program, they value it more and will not give up on it. You will see a noticeable uplift in the program.
2. Goals coaching session
It is always good for the mentee to have goals when going into the program. To understand what do they want to get out of the mentoring program.
But this is sometimes not the case, normally because they have never prioritised taking the time to think about what they want. Even if they have thought of goals beforehand, I have seen a lot of these goals are not actually the goals they need to work on.
The goals coaching session is when someone neutral, with coaching skills, sits with the mentee and mentor to work out what the mentees goals are. The session is all about challenging the mentee to define and then refine their goals until they have something that matters. Normally the first goals created are not exactly the right goals, and this is where additional probing helps bring out the right goals.
The mentor's main priority in this session, is to listen to what the mentee is saying. This helps the mentor understand what the mentee is really wanting and where they can help best.
I have run 90+ goal coaching sessions, and mentees score this as one of their favourite things of a program. If you would like to know more about this service and how to bring this into your program, then please get in contact.
3. Consistent training for mentees and mentors
Sometimes, mentors do not receive any training because there is a belief they should already know how to mentor. The more senior the mentor, the more likely they won't get training. This belief is wrong and all participants should get training to ensure consistency in the program.
The training you provided both sets needs to do several things; allow each participant to understand their role, what they need to do, and to maximise the value they get from the program right from the start. The training you give to the mentees needs to be different to the training you give the mentors because their roles are different.
An additional benefit of ensuring all participants go through the training is you can be confident that everyone has the same base level of knowledge of mentoring and their role.
4. Add structure to the meetings (the ABCD framework)
There are 2 ways to make each mentoring meeting even better.
The first is to have goals you are working towards, which we have discussed earlier.
The second is to have structure to the meetings. To do this, I recommend using the ABCD framework, which is a 2 x 2 matrix.
A = Activities. What have they done over the period since they last met.
B = Benefits. What benefits have come to the mentee.
C = Concerns. What is bothering the mentee, what are they worried about etc.
D = Do next. What they intend to do over the next period.
The mentee takes the time to complete this before the meeting, which forces them to self-reflect on what they have done. They then give it to the mentor before the meeting, to allow them time to read it and make notes on what they think should be discussed in the session.
This small exercise is what makes a mentoring relationship thrive rather than fizzle out.
5. Recurring meetings
A simple thing is to force all the pairings to set up a monthly recurring meeting. This prevents the situation where one meeting is finished and someone is meant to book in the next meeting, but then forgets to do it due to workload / life and the relationship stops.
It also acts as an anchor in the mentor and mentees calendar, forcing them to book meetings around it.
6. Mid-session deep-dives: get your mentees together mid-program
Mid-way through your program, it's a good idea to get all your mentees together in a session to share their experiences and to work out what could be done better in the program. Not only is it great for increasing their network, it also helps those that may be struggling or not valuing the process to learn from others that are succeeding in the program. This helps lift the overall experience for everyone.
A similar process should be done for all the mentors, for the same reason.
7. Mentee involvement in the selection process
If you want the mentees to value the program even more, then let them have some ownership of who they choose as a mentor. The impact on doing this is the mentee feels that its "their" mentor, rather than one given to them, and will therefore not give up the relationship as easily.
For example in the programs we run for clients, we make sure each mentee gets 4 suitable mentors to choose from, and to allow them to rank the mentors in their order of preference. They may not get their number 1 choice, but normally get either their 1st or 2nd.
Introducing some or all of these will lift your mentoring program from good to great. You can see the results it brings by checking out our Department of Water & Environmental Regulations case study.
If you would like a hand bringing any of these into your program, that is what we do best.
And if you have landed here but your program is not actually going as well as you would like, that is a different read entirely. Please complete our 2 minute mentoring program snapshot to help you determine whats your next steps.
