Why your mentoring program isn't working (and how to fix it)

So, your mentoring program isn't delivering the results you want. There could be various reasons for this and this blog will identify some of the more common ones. Hopefully reading these will help you diagnose where your issues may lie and give solutions to correct it.

Firstly, lets talk about the 4 pillars that make a mentoring program successful. These are; a mentoring program needs to be Simple, Sustainable, Effective & Engaging. When a program isn't working, it's nearly always one or more of these pillars that has failed.

• Simple = no overcomplication. Keep it purely about mentoring.
• Sustainable = The program will not fall over due to someone leaving.
• Effective = Program needs to have structure, training and direction.
• Engaging = Needs to be enjoyable for the participants.

Signs your program is starting to struggle

Before we get into the reasons, it's worth a quick gut check. Here are the signs that a program is starting to struggle. You've probably spotted one or two of these already.

• The pairs have stopped meeting, or the sessions keep getting pushed to "next month".
• The meetings have drifted into a general catch up over a coffee, with no real direction.
• Your mentors have gone a bit quiet, and one or two have hinted they're flat out.
• If you asked people what the program is actually for, you'd get a different answer from each of them.
• Sign ups for the next round have dropped, or you're having to chase people to fill it.

If a few of those feel familiar, don't panic. It is almost always fixable, and it is almost always one of the ten reasons below.

The ten most common reasons a program is floundering

1. Mentors and mentees did not opt-in

A good program is where the participants have asked to be part of it, rather than being told they are on it. On the flipside, a program that forces people to be part of it will always struggle. This is the case with both the mentors and mentees.

For the mentors, one example could be where a promotion to a certain level requires evidence of mentoring. Sounds good, but it means that some of the mentors sign up purely for selfish reason to ensure they get that promotion.

Another example could be when a senior leader makes the decision that all their direct reports will also sign up. It's well-meaning but some of those reports probably don't have the time or desire to do it, but feel they have to because their boss told them to.

Mentees are the same. Individuals may get identified as being suitable for the program, due to various positive reasons. But you still need to give them the option of saying no as it may not be the right time for them… they mostly will say yes anyway.

Solution: Always have participation as an opt-in process for both mentees and mentors.

2. The program tries to do too much

Does your registration process have 20 pages of free-form text?

Do you make everyone do a personality test to help with the matching?

Every month, do you run additional sessions on leadership training?

Do participants have to write reports on what they have done or goals they have achieved?

It is easy to add more items into a mentoring program, thinking it will add additional value. Very rarely does it do that… it is more likely to add a layer of complexity that isn't needed. It also will frustrate the participants.

Have a look at all the "extras" - those things that are not directly related to mentoring. Challenge the need for them.

Solution: strip the program back to purely mentoring. Bin the rest of the "nice-to-haves".

3. No executive sponsor

You may have the budget to run the program, but if there isn't someone at the top championing it then it can easily be taken away. There needs to be someone at the table who is positive about the program and its future impacts to the workforce.

Solution: always have an executive sponsor.

4. Expecting too much in the first year

Certain people think that making the decision to run a mentoring program is the hard part and everything else will just work. Because who wouldn't benefit from mentoring?

And when the results from the first year come in, and they are a mixed bag, someone makes the conclusion that mentoring doesn't work and stops the program. The reality is that your first program will be good, but there will always be room for significant improvement.

Solution: ensure everyone has the mindset that the first program will be good, the second program will be great and the third program will be outstanding. Also make sure you are getting feedback from the mentees and mentors at the start, middle and end of the program, and use this feedback to make the right improvements.

5. Limiting what can be discussed

I have only seen this once, but one of the rules of a program was that the pairs could only talk about work related items. Now, this may have been well-meaning, trying not to burden a mentor with mental health issues that mentees may have due to life.

However, work and life are so intertwined, that mandating a person not to talk about personal stuff means that you will never get to the core of a lot of issues or blockers the mentee is experiencing.

Solution: the mentee and mentor are two adults, treat them this way and allow them to decide what is on and off the table for their own, private discussions.

6. The person running it has other things to do

You are running the program or given it to someone in your team to run. No doubt you have other things you need to do as well, so it's a task that has to compete with all the other tasks you have.

You have never built a mentoring program before so don't really know what's the right thing to do, but you try your best. Somethings will work and somethings will not.

At the end of the program, you have put in some serious hours and got zero benefit from it…. You are not even part of the program so get no mentoring. And where you even thanked.

So when the chance comes again to run it the next year, do you really want to do it?

(Note, I use the word you, but if you have someone else running it, this is how they may feel).

Solution: reward the person running it regardless of if it's a success or not. Better still, seek external, experienced resources to run the program, to keep your own resources free to do other things… or to at least have a manageable workload.

7. Giving no or limited training

Mentees seem to get training in most programs I have heard about, but for the mentors is more hit and miss. There seems to be a belief that if the mentor is a leader in the company then they should already know what to do and don't need training. The more senior the leader, the less likely they will get training.

If you ask the question "what is mentoring" or "what is a good mentor" to your group of mentors you will probably get different answers. A lot of people confuse mentoring with coaching (which share similarities but are also very different), others think they need to "teach" their mentee, always have the right answer or make the mentee follow the exact path they have walked already.

And with the diversity in understanding, you will get wildly different results from the pairs. Some mentees will get full value from the program while others will hit struggle-town very quickly.

Solution: ensure all mentors get the same level of training regardless of their rank. This allows you to know that all of them have the same base knowledge. All mentees should also have training, that is different from the mentor.

8. Letting the groups just be: why pairs fizzle out when left alone

You spent all the time creating the program, matching participants, giving training and kicking it off. You then just let the groups "go do their mentoring". This is a recipe for a program that fizzles out in 3 months. All that effort wasted.

What happens is they do meet up, and the first sessions are great. But the next one is not as good as they have talked about most things, and the one after that is even worse. Then either the mentee or mentor starts to prioritise other things and the sessions just stop.

What you need to do is ensure that each session is in a calendar and that there is a level of structure to the sessions that keeps them coming back for more. But how?

Solution: 3 things make a huge difference.  Firstly, make sure the mentee has goals that they are working towards. Secondly, make sure the mentoring pairs have set up a recurring monthly meeting such that its anchored in the calendar. If one of them has to make the change then its on them to find a new date. Thirdly, make sure the sessions have structure to them rather than just being a coffee chat.

9. The mentee had no say in choosing their mentor

Who decided the mentoring pairings for your program? Was it the mentee or the mentor? Or was the company that decided who should be paired.

If it's the later, then this is probably one of the reasons the mentoring pairings have stopped working. Being "assigned" a mentor means the mentee has no ownership of the process. And when they have no ownership of the process, they don't respect it as much and are more than likely to let it fizzle out after a few months.

Solution: let the mentee have a level of involvement in selecting their mentor. This is probably the best thing you can do to ensure the mentee continues to turn up to meetings and puts in the effort. 

10. It lacks gravitas: an internally run program can feel too familiar

You may save money running a mentoring program internally, but this could mean it lacks gravitas. We have all been on internally run programs before, and probably know the facilitators well. "That's Bob from HR running it, I cycle with him on the weekend". This can cheapen the program somewhat, because of the familiarity.

We have also been on externally run programs before. There is something more professional about these, regardless of the competence of the facilitator. Just having it outside means more people turn up to the sessions. They honour it more

If people are not respecting the program, then it may be due to the fact that it lacks the right level of gravitas.

Solution: if this is your issue, start to bring in external resources. It doesn't mean they run the whole thing, but perhaps do specific training sessions, or run workshops at key stages in the program.

None of these are fatal. Most of the time a few changes in the right places are enough to get a program back on its feet.

If you want to see how the pieces fit together, have a read of the framework.

If you want to see what results a good mentoring program can bring, have a read of the DWER case study.