In her book, Coaching, Counseling & Mentoring: How to Choose & Use the Right Technique to Boost Employee Performance, author Florence M. Stone states that as a mentor, “your focus is to share your experience, wisdom and political savvy to enable your top performers to take on tasks beyond those designated in their job descriptions”.

Sounds like a tall order – both for the mentor and the protégé!

Maybe so, but the reality is that mentoring relationships and programs can work, and they can work extremely well when done properly. Mentoring is a relationship – it is a two-way partnership characterized by commitment, knowledge-sharing and positive results. Mentoring can help a protégé get on the path to success and remain loyal to an employer, while helping a mentor gain valuable leadership experience. The opportunity can also give a superstar an intangible reward in place of a promotion or raise in the event of a career plateau.

Whether you're seeking to shape future leaders, provide career-building or managerial opportunities, or leverage the experience and expertise of senior-level staff before they opt for retirement, mentoring can strengthen skills within your organizational and provide an excellent boost to people performance.

Informal vs Formal Mentoring Programs

Mentoring can be informal, where a protégé and mentor select each other on their own terms. Since people often choose a partner who shares similar career aspirations and personality style, these relationships have a good chance of working out well because the two people are a natural match. The relationship will typically evolve over time, and doesn't necessarily have a set structure that outlines the activities, goals and outcomes that are to be achieved. Personally, I have witnessed greater success in informal mentoring than in formal programs. This is no way indicates that a formal program isn't worth pursuing as long as the significant pre-work required to ensure its success is completed.

In a formal mentoring program, protégés and mentors are carefully selected and paired based on organizational needs including succession planning, and best-practice programs include critical professional development, training, learning, advocacy and professional experiences. Setting up this type of initiative typically requires executivelevel sponsorship and involves the work of the Human Resources department and a dedicated coordinator. There is a structured course of action, a discussion of expectations, goal-setting, determination of schedules that work for both people, and evaluation of outcomes.

Before any formal mentoring program is contemplated, a full-scale organizational assessment should be conducted to ensure the program would be successful. Is the company receptive to it, and will the initiative be supported once it’s off the ground? What will be the benefits to the company? What are the goals of the program? How will the organization measure if the goals are accomplished? How will the program support the company's vision, strategies and financial mission? How will you choose mentors and mentees? Who will be responsible for the day-to-day operations? Developing a fullscale proposal will help to answer these questions up front.

A Must: Selecting the Right Mentors & Mentees

Informal or formal, the mentoring relationship can only be successful when the individuals are well-suited. On the mentee side of the relationship, the protégé must put forth an effort to maintain the professional tie, including eagerness and a receptiveness to being coached. Traits of a successful protégé include: • Positive attitude • Desire to advance career • Commitment to mentoring relationship • Willingness to take initiative • Openness and responsiveness to feedback

What makes an excellent mentor? The mentor’s job is to coach, facilitate, counsel and network to help the protégé advance their professional skills. Not everyone is cut out to serve in this capacity. Traits of a successful mentor include:

• Extensive knowledge of the profession
• Strong leadership skills
• Willingness to be responsible for someone else's growth and advancement
• Well-networked within the professional community
• Ability to communicate with protégé in an open and honest manner about development needs and performance.