Business mentoring: what is it and how to implement it?

Business mentoring can be a transforming element for your organization, creating the right atmosphere for knowledge and experience, as well as helping you to evaluate internal talent. 

Therefore, it is an effective tool to enhance people’s professional success while reinforcing their commitment to the organization. 

Implementing a mentoring program is less complicated than other training systems as long as you know the business mentoring definition and how to implement it.

What is business mentoring? 

Business mentoring is a personal development relationship of teaching and learning between two people. One person has the expertise to act as an advisor or guide, and the other person learns from and prepares for better future performance in the company.

This kind of exchange can arise spontaneously, but to get the most out of it, it is advisable to implement business mentoring programs through a precise methodology that aligns the company’s strategic objectives with the development objectives of the person being mentored. 

This type of practice enhances team capabilities and helps you manage human talent.  

Mentoring also improves internal communication, conveys your company’s values, and helps you consolidate equal opportunity strategies. 

The mentee can be the owner of the company or one of the executives if you hire mentoring for entrepreneurs or one of the leaders. 

In this case, you hire the services of a specialized external person to help you establish and achieve the organization’s objectives in its creation and to consolidate it. 

Before proceeding further, it is essential to clarify that mentoring does not seek to establish a relationship of dependence of the mentoree concerning the business mentor but seeks that the mentoree develops professionally and can achieve specific objectives thanks to the knowledge and experience of the business mentors.

How to implement corporate mentoring?

The key to business or corporate mentoring is to transmit knowledge and experience with a previously designed plan to promote learning that can provide value as soon as possible.

As we have said before, to implement business mentoring in the organization, the Human Resources (HR) department –or the mentoring company you have hired- must design a program following some guidelines we share below.

Establish an internal communication strategy

For the mentoring program to succeed, it is essential to develop effective internal communication to make the entire organization aware of its implications and benefits. 

Keep in mind that the business mentors transmit their knowledge and own experience in the company, so, in parallel, you must improve the employee experience.

Design a preliminary selection of mentors and mentees.

Ideally, mentoring is expressly requested by an employee, but this is only sometimes the case, so the selection of mentors and mentees must respond to the company’s actual needs. 

The mentor and the mentee work together on the mentee’s development plan to identify their needs to achieve the objectives set at the beginning. 

According to experts, it is advisable to avoid any hierarchical or functional relationship between mentor and mentee so that their relationship is not distorted.

Characteristics of the mentor

Business mentors must have the following characteristics: 

• Have the necessary experience to assume their role and empower the mentoree by responding to their needs.
• Have the desire to share their vital and professional wisdom. 
• Have the time to be able to develop the necessary continuity. 
• Have the necessary skills to provide constructive criticism and appreciate the mentee’s evolution. 

Translated into skills, the mentor must use active listening and be motivating, inspiring, and confident.

Characteristics of the mentee

Regarding the mentees -also known as mentorees-, the first requirement is that they must be motivated, in addition to: 

• Have unique skills detected through a correct talent assessment strategy. 
• Recognize the mentor’s figure and be grateful for the time they dedicate to them. 
• Be able to accept criticism. 
• Be open to the change necessary for learning. 
• Have the ability to set goals and develop a clear vision of their future in the company. 

The mentees must also have active listening and critical thinking skills.

Establish a business or corporate mentoring program

Once the mentor and mentee have been selected, you must attend to its different phases to implement the mentoring program.

Definition of objectives, planning, and implementation of the process

For the mentoring program to succeed, you must set business objectives and match them with the expectations and goals of the mentee.

You can rely on SMART objectives: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound goals. 

Following that, the business mentoring program participants should establish a frequency of contact and define the actions and means to achieve the pre-established professional development goals.

Follow-up

HR must carry out a follow-up of the program that allows you to measure the satisfaction of those involved and help detect blockages in the process.

Final evaluation and mentoring closure

At the end of the mentoring term, you should evaluate the goals achieved, the satisfaction level compared to initial expectations, and the milestones reached.

E-mentoring

E-mentoring is an online mentoring modality that innovatively facilitates the adaptation of the process thanks to its accessibility, ubiquity, and possibility of an objective follow-up.

However, you must keep one thing in mind: your online environments must offer the necessary trust between participants to develop online mentoring programs, environments that ensure, for example, confidentiality between online business mentors and mentees.

You can achieve this with our proctoring products. Respectful monitoring tools that ensure full Eurpoean GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)  compliance and provide you with customized reports. Request your free demo now and discover why we are leaders in the industry.