Create a Culture of Mentorship Instead of a Mentorship ‘Program’
Companies are jumping on the mentorship bandwagon in an attempt to better support their young professionals. Wanting to show their employees they value them, formal programs are popping up everywhere. I believe formal programs aren’t effective and miss a critical opportunity.
When I was in charge of creating a mentorship program as an HR professional, here’s what I learned:
Most people wanted the same few people as mentors. They weren’t interested in the other people we tapped on the shoulder to be mentors. Having a mentor is a very personal proposition.
People didn’t feel they could say ‘no’. No, they didn’t want a mentor. No, they didn’t want (or have the time) to be a mentor. No, they didn’t want that particular person as their mentor or mentee because there was no personal connection.
Some people got mentors, some didn’t. Some were asked to be mentors, others weren’t. This created the ‘in group’ and the ‘out group’. What was meant to bring people together separated people out.
After the initial kick-off meeting things quickly fizzled. And being in a position to constantly remind people that they needed to meet with their mentees was a terrible position to be in. You can’t force meaningful relationships.
Who says a mentor needs to be The older?
I currently have an exceptional mentor who is 25 years younger than me. Her advice and support have changed the trajectory of my business - and my life.
Make it organic.
What if instead of creating a ‘program’ we introduced the idea of a mentorship culture? I recommend you use these questions as a starting point to the conversation.
Script: “We all have the capacity to be a mentor to someone in need. Help that person with something they don’t know or aren’t aware of. A mentor could be someone older than you or younger than you.”
What if we created a culture of mentorship?
What would be the point of these partnerships?
What could it look like?
What would it feel like?
How would it change the way we work together?
How would it change what we produce, how we innovate, how we evolve our organization?
How could we do this naturally, and organically?