4 Ways to Gauge the Success of Your Professional Mentoring Program

As a seasoned business executive seeking to unlock the full potential of your employees, choosing to start a professional mentoring program at your company is a significant decision. There are numerous proven benefits of mentoring, but how can you really gauge the success of such a program at your company?

 

The key to a successful mentoring program is to be clear on the expected outcome, institute a strategy for reaching it, and implement practical ways to measure success. These markers of success can consist of things such as improving employee retention, increasing engagement, developing key talent, creating a diverse and inclusive company culture, and more. By carrying out regular check-ins and conducting participant surveys, you can determine the success of your program.

 

Have Regular Check-Ins

 

As your corporate mentoring program commences and progresses, it’s important to check in with your employees periodically. These check-ins will help you monitor the effectiveness of the program. Make sure to ask mentors and mentees specific questions that will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of the pairings. How well are individual mentoring relationships working? Do mentors and mentees feel well-matched? Are they having a positive, engaging experience? These types of questions, especially early on, will help to ensure that the program is creating individual growth and progress within your company.  

 

Follow Changes in Engagement

 

One of the many reasons companies decide to partake in a mentoring program is to improve overall engagement amongst their employees. A top priority for many employers, increased engagement is a valuable result of a successful mentoring program. Menttium’s Return on Mentoring report shows that 93 percent of mentees feel their company engagement has been positively impacted by our programs! If your company already conducts engagement surveys, consider breaking out your survey to include a control group compared against mentees who have completed your mentoring program.

 

Measure the Impact on Retention

 

Along with engagement, employee retention is a crucial statistic for companies who want to develop key talent and create future leaders instead of losing them to other corporations. If you are noticing a decrease in retention, something needs to change at your company in order to keep employees satisfied. Consider introducing a mentoring program and observing the changes in your current workforce. Menttium’s mentees report a 95 percent positive impact on retention! For more specific data, examine retention rates of employees who take part in your mentoring program versus those who do not. Comparing retention rates between the two groups will tell you whether the program has impacted your overall retention rate.

 

Conduct Participant Surveys

 

Conducting a survey at the conclusion of a mentoring program, as well as having those ongoing check-ins throughout the program, can give you significant insight into what it did well and what could improve the experience for subsequent participants. Asking thorough, specific questions is critical to understanding how employees saw the mentoring program and if they believe they significantly benefited from it.

 

Here are a few questions and points of interest you might include in a survey:

  • How engaged and committed is the employee toward both their work and the company?
  • What sort of level of excitement, motivation, and passion does the employee exhibit toward the company?
  • Is the employee satisfied with his or her career development?
  • How does the employee perceive company culture?
  • Allow for employees to provide feedback in order to improve future programs.

 

While you should focus on surveying those who participated in the mentoring program, consider surveying managers as well, asking if they notice key indicators of growth—such as improved engagement and communication—within their teams or department. Another important aspect to take into account when tracking improvement is the experiences of those in your target group who did not participate in your mentoring program. Analyze their responses against those who did participate. You may also consider surveying employees before they start a program, after they finish it, and perhaps once more six months to a year later. Conducting several surveys over a longer stretch of time allows you to better evaluate the lasting effect of the mentoring experience.

 

Mentoring Programs Through Menttium

 

Providing your employees with tools and resources is just one way to help them succeed in achieving their professional goals. Mentoring programs are the perfect way to leverage your key employees and unlock their true potential. But when it comes to mentoring, not all programs are created equal. With over 28 years of experience, Menttium has the ability to craft a mentoring program that best fits your company and your employees, providing you with a major return on investment. Menttium’s ROM, Return on Mentoring Report, is a key differentiator because it measures the impact of our mentoring programs so that you can share the return on investment within your organization.

 

By designing, facilitating, and administering cross-company and internal mentoring programs, Menttium can help you positively impact your employees. From business education webinars to one-on-one conversations, our resources can develop your high-potential talent and prepare them into becoming exceptional leaders. Contact us today to learn more about how you can make the most of a high-quality mentoring program at your company.