Mentoring Drives Engagement

Mentoring is an often-underrated tool companies use to help employees—no matter their age or stage in their careers—adapt to a new culture, grow their careers, or improve their people skills.

With declining employee engagement, mentoring can help your team re-engage and reignite their outlooks and careers. Mentors work with mentees to discover their purpose and learn the intricacies of people skills such as communication and conflict management.

Traditionally, someone would have a mentor for their entire career. These days, it’s not uncommon to have several mentors from various backgrounds and for various reasons. This array of mentors is critical in today’s multigenerational workforce.

IBM discovered this. As the story goes, senior employees were asked to mentor new employees as part of onboarding. Company officials soon discovered that senior employees were not only mentoring but also receiving “reverse” mentoring from junior employees, showing them how to use technology and other tools.

But how can mentoring help improve employee engagement?

Becoming a mentor is a powerful way for experienced employees to give back for the mentoring and guidance they received early in their careers. If they didn’t receive that kind of attention, it’s a great way to break the cycle, lift others, and share their experiences.

Employees may struggle with becoming mentors. Most cite the amount of time they would need to devote to mentoring, and others are apprehensive, thinking they do not “know enough” or have enough experience to be a mentor.

First, let’s talk about the time involved. Honestly, the time is minimal. It can be anything from “hallway mentoring”—a chance encounter at work—to a more formal meeting for 30 minutes to an hour. And virtual meetings work just as well as coffee meetings or meetings in an office.

Second, people know more than they realize. Think of the answers to these mentoring questions:

• What is something a mentor told you that changed your thinking?

• What is something you learned the hard way?

• If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?

• If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

Have an answer for a question or two? Congratulations, you are a mentor.

Mentors help mentees become more engaged at work, learn new skills, and grow their careers. To be a mentor, you need to be curious, direct but kind, and, most importantly, provide a psychologically safe place for the mentee to share, grow, and learn. You are sharing your wisdom, your time, and your network with someone.

Mentors also have repeatedly shared how much they learn from their mentees, and these relationships can spark higher employee engagement for those who mentor.

Mentoring is a win-win for both the mentor and the mentee. Whether you want to grow or give back, mentoring offers a unique opportunity to do both. So why not take the first step? You might be surprised by how much you gain.

For a deeper dive, join me at the OrgDev Conference for session: Hire to Retire: How Mentoring Drives Connection at Every Step