There are literally hundreds of benefits of mentoring and reasons why your company needs a workplace mentoring program, but here are our top 5.
By far one of the benefits of mentoring is that these programs have an enormous return on investment.
So, what are the main benefits of mentoring for companies?
They are the most cost effective way to improve morale, boost skills, create leadership pathways for (and retain) key talent, import innovative thought, and build strong supportive teams. All of which leads to an increase in your bottom line and a reputation as an employer of choice. That’s a whole lot of wins for such a small outlay.
Improve morale
Providing emerging leaders with one-on-one mentoring is a great way to show that you value their contribution and that you are interested in their career goals. This is not only a confidence booster, but an enormous morale booster as well. Employees who feel valued will be more engaged in their work and contribute more readily towards both the team’s and the company’s goals.
Boost Skills
Mentors have the experience and expertise to upskill your employees in key focus areas such as team leadership, strategy and execution, and building external partnerships. When you use an external workplace mentoring program, the pool of mentors is vast and your employees are matched with a mentor specific to their individual requirements in order to create the most impactful partnership. Even better, they will be learning from someone with lived experience rather than a theory in a textbook. It is also a far more cost effective way of learning than a business course, as the mentoring is one-on-one and personalised rather than general information presented to a mostly passive large audience.
Create Leadership Pathways
This can be especially helpful for companies that are looking to impact their diversity and inclusion strategy and support more women into leadership roles in a meaningful and cost effective way. Providing emerging leaders and high potential talent with a mentor early in their careers will support their journey with the company. A workplace mentoring program will build loyalty and engagement, helping you to keep your key talent for the long term.
Import Innovative Thought
Again, this is a key benefit of using an external workplace mentoring program. Having mentors from not only outside the organisation, but also outside of the industry, introduces entirely new ways of looking at problem-solving, strategising, and team building. In the age of disruption, companies that fail to become more innovative and agile will fall behind.
Build Strong Supportive Teams
The employees who are receiving the direct benefits of your workplace mentoring program will be inspired to give back. They will do this by being a more supportive and engaged leader, helping their team members to:
- set goals and be accountable
- overcome any obstacles to success
- support each other to achieve as a team
- reach out and ask for assistance when needed.
A workplace mentoring program, when properly managed, is a valuable and cost effective tool to boost productivity, engagement and profits. Rare Birds has been successfully running workplace mentoring programs for 5 years and has the data to prove the impact. Put simply, it’s a game changer.
So the question is: can your company afford to NOT have a workplace mentoring program?
The team at Rare Birds can talk to you about your company’s specific needs and have a mentoring program up and running within weeks. Contact us for a chat today. hello@inspiringrarebirds.com
