It's been proven repeatedly that quality mentorship programs work. The goal is to pair mentors and mentees that develop relationships based on mutual trust. When trust is established, the mentee's professional development advances quickly and in a direction benefiting everyone involved. However, not all programs provide those results. That's where mentoring software enters the picture.
In many instances, pairing mentors and mentees is difficult. Personalities don't always match and neither party may feel they're benefiting from the relationship. Most organizations simply assign a mentor for a specific mentee, and that's not always the best way to proceed. Research has consistently demonstrated mentees who have a say in the selection of their mentor do better and get more from the relationship.
By the same token, mentors who are randomly assigned mentees may feel they've gained another responsibility without any reward attached. Since a mentor should also benefit from the relationship, assigning mentors without carefully considering the benefits to both the mentor and mentee frequently leads to issues later.
Many mentor/mentee relationships never get off the ground. One or both the parties may fail to contact the other as needed to build or maintain the relationship. HR departments are notorious for failing to follow up and guide or monitor mentor/mentee relationships. That means no one, including the company, enjoys any benefits.
Employee performance is always important, but so is the company's retention rate. It costs money to replace employees, and projects suffer when team members leave. Mentoring programs minimize those issues, and mentoring software is designed to be a major contributor to keeping replacement and training costs low.
A number of leading companies use mentoring software and report high success rates. That's because the software is flexible and designed to work well in virtually any environment. When you're looking for a mentoring strategy that delivers on its promises, consider mentoring software.
Before deciding on a mentoring software provider, it's always important to clearly understand the benefits of the software solution and how it will fit into your company's culture. If you're still undecided on how to proceed, make sure the software you're considering contains the following features and benefits.
Depending on the type of organization and the mentor and mentee, there are other advantages to using mentoring software rather than relying on face-to-face meetings. At the same time, the company also benefits.
Companies make an investment in any type of mentoring program and need to see a return on that investment. When mentoring software is used, there are numerous advantages a company can enjoy.
Since every organization has unique needs, it's important to tailor the mentoring program to meet those needs. Mentoring software has templates to use, but the best software can be modified to match the company's requirements.
The mentoring software selected must also make enrollment simple for the company, mentors, and mentees. Look for a software solution that makes the setup process easy for everyone. That means mentor and mentee profiles must be relatively detailed to improve the odds of mentor/mentee matches being successful
If your organization has no formal mentoring program or an existing program isn't functioning well, now is the time to consider how mentoring software can benefit your company. Follow the lead of numerous major corporations and discover the many ways mentoring software can generate greater productivity and enhance relationships.