Millennials are flooding the workplace and now make up a majority of the entire workforce.1 And over 60% of them want and expect mentors or are already benefiting from having one. 2 So, you’ll want to consider implementing a viable mentorship program to attract and retain top talent in the years to come.
If you’re on the fence about implementing a mentorship program, you should keep in mind that such programs benefit mentors just as much as they benefit mentees.
Here are four valuable things mentors get from participating in mentorship programs.
1. Leadership Experience and Development
When mentors work with a mentee, they learn how to coach them and provide them with advice for navigating their careers, roles, and more. They gain hands-on leadership experience as they work with their mentees. And they learn how to develop mentees’ professional skills in both their current and future roles. When mentors gain more direct leadership experience and learn how to develop other employees, they become much stronger candidates for more challenging leadership roles, even if they aren’t currently in a managerial or other leadership role.
2. Self-Assessment, Reflection, and Career Growth
As mentors provide advice and coaching to their mentees, they’ll be encouraged to reflect on their own career trajectories and how they have acquired the skills and knowledge they have developed over the years. Not only will they be stronger candidates for leadership positions once they gain mentoring experience but also they’ll learn a lot about themselves, what they know, and where they want to go. They will have a stronger sense of their own strengths, where there are opportunities for them to grow, and will gain the motivation they need to pursue their own goals and aspirations.
3. Access to New Marketable Skills
When mentors mentor someone who is newer to the workforce or their particular organization, they encounter the opportunity to learn new skills that that individual brought with him or her. For instance, fresh college graduates have learned new skills in their more up-to-date college courses that they can share. And employees from outside organizations may have knowledge about certain newer industry practices and technology that your organization hasn’t fully embraced yet. Mentors will gain access to these newer and more marketable skills when they work with their mentees, making them a more competitive asset to any organization.
4. Stronger Workplace Relationships
When mentors work with mentees, each mentee could potentially work in other departments or divisions across the organization. So, mentors will become more aware of what’s happening across their organization and will be able to extend their networks through their connections with their mentees. And, it shouldn’t be forgotten that when mentors work with mentees, they will inevitably form a strong bond with them and everything that the mentees are trying to accomplish. They will feel as if they are a part of what the mentee is doing and, as an extension, will feel more connected to other work and groups across their organization.
Don’t forget some of the many benefits mentors will experience—listed above—as you develop your mentorship programs.
- The Rise of the Millennial Employee: Report. Accessed 3/10/2018.
- The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey. Accessed 3/10/2018.