How to Start a Mentoring Program: A 5-Step Guide
(Plus a Free Checklist)
Most HR and L&D professionals agree that a mentorship program improves organizational performance and boosts employee development. In fact, Harvard Business Review states that mentoring programs are so beneficial for organizational growth that they should be mandatory.
But not just any mentoring program will do. The key is to start a mentoring program that is easy-to-use, engaging, and efficient.
A majority of Fortune 500 companies in the US have mentoring programs. However, not all mentoring programs drive real impact. Many start off with good intentions, only to fizzle out.
Not surprisingly, at Together, we get this question a lot:
“I want to start a mentorship program, but I’m not sure where to start.”
At Together, we’ve helped hundreds of organizations launch successful mentoring programs using our mentorship platform.
We’ve taken the best practices from experts who are successfully running their own mentorship programs and distilled them into this simple 5-step guide. If you’d like, you can download the guide, plus a bundle of other mentorship program tools and templates, by downloading our Mentorship Superpack.
Top tips from mentoring program managers on how to create a mentorship program at work
The best advice on starting a mentoring program comes from experts who’ve, well, started a mentoring program. From top tips to best practices, you get it all in 5 steps.
Establish the goal of the mentor program
Before you start to put together a mentorship program, take a step back and think through why you are setting up your program and what you hope to achieve. This will help you build a mentoring program proposal for decision-makers at your organization.
In other words, a key step in starting a mentorship program is establishing the program's goal. Consider why you want a mentorship program and what you hope to achieve.
What are your objectives for your mentoring program?
This helps you articulate your program strategy with an objective statement and corresponding KPIs.
Examples of program goals
For example, your objective could be to “improve employee retention,” and your KPI could be the difference in retention rates between employees in the mentorship program versus those who are not in the program.
Retention rates are just one example. Your program's exact mentorship goals and KPIs can vary based on the context in which you are setting up your mentorship program. It is also possible to have multiple objectives and KPIs, like "attract top talent" or "build leadership skills."
Regardless of your goals, you must document them and hold your team accountable to them.
Questions to ask to refine your goals
Once you have defined your strategy, lay out how you will achieve it. To do this, answer the following questions:
- Who will be involved? That is, what are the eligibility criteria for recruiting mentors and mentees?
- Will the program be mentor or mentee-led?
- How many mentors will each mentee have?
- How many mentees will each mentor have?
- What will be the criteria for matching mentors and mentees?
- How often will mentors and mentees meet?
- Will sessions be 1-on-1 or group?
- How long will relationships last?
- What will you name your mentoring program?
Dr. Wendy Axelrod, author of 10 Steps to Successful Mentoring drives home the importance of determining the purpose of your mentorship program before you start building it out:
“Know what the purpose is and then build the program to that purpose… when you've determined where that need is and how you plan to support it, make sure you have support from the organization: people willing to talk it up, to participate, to be speakers.”
Dr. Axelrod has a lot of great advise for successful mentoring programs. Watch the full conversation between Dr. Axelrod and our CEO Matthew Reeves where they discuss what separates successful mentoring programs from those that flop.
Want to learn more?
Choose the type of mentorship program you need
When starting a mentoring program, you’ll want to consider the different types of mentoring models, and select the one that aligns best with your program objectives.
The traditional depiction of mentoring includes a more experienced individual passing down their wisdom to a less experienced person through informal conversations and guidance. While informal mentoring has its benefits, a formal mentoring program helps you maximize mentorship’s impact. There are different types of mentoring programs so pick the one that best serves your organizational needs.
So, what are the different mentoring models?
- Traditional 1-on-1 mentoring
- Group mentoring
- Peer-to-peer learning
- Reverse mentoring
- Employee resource groups
- Flash or speed mentoring
Let's take a closer look at each of these:
Traditional 1-on-1 mentoring
Traditional 1-on-1 mentoring is the most common mentoring model and what most people think of when they think of a mentor mentee program.
In this program, each mentee is paired with a mentor – usually a more senior employee or expert – who they will meet with regularly to discuss their career goals, receive advice, and build a relationship.
The key to this program’s success is finding mentors willing to commit to meeting regularly with their mentees and providing them with honest feedback and guidance.
This kind of connection can result in:
- More personalized attention.
- A strong, trusting relationship.
- Tailored advice and mentorship that is specific to the mentee's goals and experiences.
- Real accountability
Want to implement a 1-on-1 mentorship program? Check out our guide on 1-on-1 mentoring.
Group mentoring
In a group mentoring program, mentees are placed in small groups (usually 3-5 people) with a mentor who leads discussions and activities around a specific topic.
This type of program is beneficial because:
- It gives each mentee the chance to share their experiences with others facing similar challenges.
- It provides an opportunity for multiple mentors to get involved in the program.
- It can be less time-consuming for mentors since they are working with a group of mentees at once.
- It can be less daunting for mentees since they are in a group setting.
It can also be easier to maintain and monitor from a business perspective, making it a great option for organizations who want to start an enterprise mentoring program but don’t have the bandwidth to support a large number of 1-on-1 relationships.
Read our guide on group mentoring to learn about group mentoring and how to set one up in your workplace.
Peer-to-peer learning
Peer-to-peer learning is an effective way to share knowledge and best practices within an organization.
In this type of mentorship program, employees are paired with someone in a similar role, each taking on the title of peer mentor. Together, they work on projects, shadow each other, and provide feedback to help the mentee learn more about their role.
Peer-to-peer learning is beneficial because it:
- Is less formal than other types of mentorship programs, making it more accessible for employees.
- Encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing between employees.
- Can be adapted to different learning styles.
- Is a great way to onboard new employees, especially in large organizations where employees often feel siloed.
There's also real value in creating equal relationships among your employees, and peer-to-peer learning is a great way to do that.
Interested in starting a peer-to-peer learning program at your organization? Check out our guide on peer mentorship.
Reverse mentoring
Ever heard of the saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear?"
Reverse mentoring is based on this idea. In a reverse mentoring program, a more experienced employee is paired with a less experienced employee who can give them a fresh perspective.
For example, an older employee may be paired with a younger hire to learn about social media marketing, or a senior executive may be paired with an entry-level employee to learn about the company's day-to-day operations.
Reverse mentoring can help organizations in a few different ways:
- It helps with managing a multigenerational workforce, closing the generation gap by fostering collaboration and understanding between employees of different ages.
- It allows employees to share their knowledge and expertise with others.
- It provides an opportunity for senior leaders to develop new skills and gain new perspectives.
- It supports your diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Thinking about starting a reverse mentoring program? Get our top tips here.
Employee resource groups
An employee resource group (ERG) isn’t a mentorship program, but mentorship is often part of the group.
For example, an ERG for women in the tech industry or in engineering may provide mentorship and support for female employees who work in male-dominated industries. Or, an ERG for first-generation college students may provide guidance and resources for employees who are the first in their families to receive post-secondary education.
ERGs can benefit both the employees who participate in them and the organizations where they work.
Some of the benefits of ERGs are:
- Providing support for employees who may feel isolated or marginalized in the workplace.
- Helping to attract and retain top talent.
- Increasing employee engagement and satisfaction.
- Building a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
Check out our comprehensive guide to determine whether ERGs are the right path for your business.
Flash or speed mentoring
Flash or speed mentoring is a type of mentorship program that pairs mentors and mentees for brief, focused sessions.
Flash mentoring sessions are typically between 15 and 30 minutes long and can take place in person or virtually. The key is that they are shorter and more focused than traditional 1-on-1 mentoring relationships, focusing more on the breadth of relationships rather than depth.
One of the benefits of flash mentoring is that it can be less time-consuming for both mentors and mentees. This can be helpful for employees who are already busy with work and other commitments.
Another benefit is that it can help connect employees with various people, leading to a more diverse range of perspectives and experiences.
Want to start a flash mentoring program at your organization? Check out our guide to flash mentoring for all the details.
Cohort vs. Evergreen programs
A final consideration you’ll want to make when structuring your mentorship program is deciding whether your program will be Cohort-based or Evergreen.
Cohort programs
Cohort programs are fixed in length. For example, they may run for 6 months or a year.
These programs have a fixed registration period and participants will need to sign-up within that period. Once the period ends, the registration is closed until the next program.
Cohort programs strike a great balance of enabling deep mentorship relationships, while also providing a clear beginning and end date.
Evergreen programs
Evergreen programs run continuously, without a dedicated start and end date. The benefit of evergreen programs is that they allow participants to opt in or out whenever they choose.
Invite employees to be mentors or mentees
When creating a mentorship program, you’ll also want to consider how to promote it in order to drive participation among both mentors and mentees.
The best promotion campaigns get people to take action. They make people aware of the details of the program, and clearly communicate the benefits of joining, motivating them to register.
In our Mentorship Masterclass on promoting your mentorship program, Together’s Program Expert Lauren Pazzano walked attendees through key tactics for promoting your mentorship program. They are:
- Finding champions
- Hosting a launch event
- Sending mass communications
- Following up with participants
Let’s dig into each of these in turn.
Find champions
Champions are leaders, managers, or culture carriers who have a vested interest in seeing their peers thrive. They can act as recruiters and ambassadors for your program. Engaging them boost all other promotion efforts.
Host a launch event
Use a dedicated L&D events tool to have a dedicated launch event, or have the launch coincide with another event where it makes sense (for example, some professional associations have annual conferences, which is a great time to launch a mentorship program.)
Send mass communications
Mass communications help raise awareness, drive engagement, and keep your program top of mind for all participants. Use tailored campaigns, multiple communications, and diverse channels to make full use of this strategy.
Follow up with participants
Your employees are busy, and it may require one or two additional touch points to get them to register.
In terms of a response rate that you can expect, it depends on the context of the program. However, as a rule of thumb for voluntary programs, you can expect participation rates in the range of 25 – 45% of your organization for initial sign-up.
Be prepared. More often than not, we find that program administrators get a higher response rate than they expected. Take diversity mentorship programs, for example:
- A study documented that 74% of employees from ministry backgrounds participated in mentoring programs when they were offered. And,
- 32% stated their mentoring relationship was “extremely important” to them.
Match mentors and mentees and support their relationship
Once mentors and mentees are paired, your job as the program manager isn’t over. Cohort mentoring programs run anywhere from 6-12 months so there’s plenty of time for program managers to help mentors and mentees develop meaningful relationships.
Here are three things program managers can do to set up their pairings for success:
- Match mentors and mentees
- Provide learning resources
- Send tips to mentors and mentees
- Follow up with pairs
Match mentors and mentees
Successfully matching complementary mentors with mentees is the true magic of a mentorship relationship. While a great match can drive career growth, employee well-being, and a bond for years to come, a bad match can completely sour the mentorship experience for participants. The matching process, therefore, is integral to the success of your program.
Carefully matching mentors and mentees based on complementary skills, experience, and goals is an administrative burden—if not downright impossible—when done manually, especially for enterprise organizations who may have hundreds, or even thousands, of participants. Mentor matching software can create pairings based on a questionnaire that participants fill out during the registration process, tailoring matches to your specifications.
You will also want to decide how you manage mentor-mentee matching. Broadly speaking, there are two ways to make a mentor match:
- Mentee-led
- Admin-led
Mentee-led matching means that mentees choose their own mentors from a pool of possible matches. Mentees often prefer this strategy because they have the power to decide who is the best match for them.
Admin-led matching allows program managers to choose mentoring pairs. Although this puts more control in the hands of the program administrators, it can add additional manual effort to the pairing process.
Some other best practices for matching mentors and mentees include:
- Goal alignment: When registering, encourage mentors and mentees to reflect on what they want to get out of the program. Ensure that your registration questionnaire captures these objectives, ensuring that it’s a consideration in the matching process.
- Diversity and inclusion: Promote an inclusive environment by considering diversity across gender, ethnicity, and location. A diverse pairing often fosters richer interactions and perspectives, enhancing the overall mentoring experience.
- Industry and topical expertise: Match participants based on specific areas of interest and industry experience. This ensures discussions are relevant and valuable, facilitating knowledge transfer and professional growth.
- Practical considerations: Ensure that logistical factors like time zone and language are considered in the matching process.
- Leverage mentorship software: Implement platforms that support customizable matching criteria. These tools can automate the matching process by considering participants’ preferences and requirements, increasing the likelihood of successful pairings.
- Rectify poor matches early: Not all matches work out, and that’s alright. It’s important to address bad matches quickly so that both the mentor and mentee can still get the most out of the program.
Provide learning resources
It can be awkward to start a mentoring relationship. Program managers can help mentees and mentors kick it off by providing session agendas or discussion topics or tips on being a great mentor or mentee.
Together’s mentoring platform provides program managers with several session guides on goal setting, problem-solving, job shadowing, networking, and more to keep conversations on track and fruitful.
Likewise, Together has a mentor handbook and mentee handbook that gives participants handy tips for building strong mentoring relationships.
Establish relationship guidelines
One of the first steps for mentors and mentees is establishing clear guidelines about how the relationship will work.
Provide your participants with defined mentor and mentee expectations to equip them to get the most impact out of their mentoring relationship.
Follow up with pairs
You can't just let the program function without constantly monitoring it. Using mentorship program survey questions, ask both sides of the relationship for feedback regularly, at least once every two weeks. This will help you adjust the program as needed and identify any issues that may arise.
Conducting check-ins also allows program managers to hear about the successes of their mentoring relationships. These stories can be used to encourage other participants or even shared externally to promote the benefits of the mentorship program.
At Together, we've built the feedback function directly into the platform by making it incredibly easy to send out a survey follow-up. The feedback process is streamlined and effortless with templates to choose from or a custom builder to design your own.
Signups
Goals
- The number of employees who have completed their goals
- The average time it takes to complete a goal
- The percentage of employees who reach their goals.
Anecdotal feedback
Keeping your finger on the pulse of the mentorship program through regular, anecdotal feedback can give you some great insights.
This could be in the form of:
- One-on-one conversations with mentors and mentees
- Group discussions with all participants
- An anonymous survey sent to all employees who have participated in the program
Anecdotal feedback should always be taken with a grain of salt but can help to uncover any issues that aren’t being picked up by more formal methods of evaluation. For example, an employee may not feel comfortable writing down their feelings about a particular mentor but would open up in a one-on-one conversation.
Session feedback
This is the more formal feedback that you’ll get from each mentoring session. A simple form can be sent to each participant at the end, and data can be collected on a program-wide basis for future improvement. This data helps to:
- Determine the effectiveness of the matching process
- Identify which topics are being covered in sessions
- Decide whether the format or frequency of sessions needs to change.
Business outcomes
Capturing data that links your mentorship program to business results is an impactful way to get buy-in from senior leadership and other decision-makers. Measuring the ROI of your mentorship program can also used to secure funding for future initiatives.
Some examples of this could be:
- An increase in sales for mentees who are in sales roles
- A decrease in turnover for employees who have been through the program
- An increase in productivity for all employees who have participated.
Monitor metrics regularly
It is not enough to just collect this data. You need to establish a system for monitoring it regularly and reporting on progress. This will help you make necessary adjustments to the program and ensure that it remains relevant and valuable.
Evaluate the metrics to determine whether they accurately measure the program's success. This step is crucial for ensuring that your program can demonstrate real, lasting results.
Additional tips for creating your workplace mentorship program
In addition to the above, you can apply these mentorship programs in the workplace best practices that we have curated from our own experience and from talking to successful mentorship program admins.
Get leadership on board to start a mentoring program
Depending on how your mentorship program idea originated, it may be required to get leadership buy-in on the business case for mentorship. If the initiative to start a mentorship program came from the top, that’s great, and you may be able to skip this step.
If it didn’t, then you’ll need to put some additional work in to ensure your program has the support from leadership it needs to succeed.
Buy-in from the top is critical for several reasons.
- First, in most cases, your mentors will come from the senior ranks of your organization. There must be a positive message around the mentorship program so that you can recruit these mentors as participants.
- Second, most mentorship programs at least require some business resources. At the very least, this could be the dedicated time of an employee to administer the program, but in many cases, it may require some budget to support things such as learning materials or mentorship software.
Put together a business case
To get the buy-in, you’ll need to put together a business case to present to leadership. Don’t worry; you have already completed much of what you need from the previous step. Rather, what’s required now is packaging your plan into a compelling story that:
- Communicates the impact your program will have on your business or organization.
- What resources it will require.
Calculate the impact with a forecast
In creating your business case, it is important to focus on the impact that your program will have. While this will vary from program to program, it should tie back directly to your objectives and KPIs. Moreover, it is important to quantify the impact whenever possible.
You can use our online calculators to quantify the ROI of mentoring programs. As an example, you can calculate how much you'll save on employee turnover below.
Calculate how much mentorship can save you in turnover costs
Identify the value a mentorship program can have on your organization by increasing retention rates.
Number of participants (mentors + mentees)
Average employee salary
Average annual employee turnover rate
Cost of employee turnover (% of salary)
Reduction in turnover from mentoring
Cost of employee turnover (annual)
Value of mentorship (annual)
Employee Turnover Cost Calculator
Be upfront about the resources you need
In your business case, you will also want to be clear about what resources you need to make the program successful. If you do plan to use software, you may want to involve IT so that you can properly budget for their time in your business case.
You should also think of presenting an ROI for the program by dividing the impact by the cost of the program. For businesses, this usually means presenting a monetary ROI.
12 common program mistakes to avoid
Mentoring is not something you can drop into every business and guarantee success. It requires thoughtful consideration, design, and execution to deliver the benefits you’re looking for.
When done poorly, mentoring can create more problems than it solves. Some common mistakes organizations make with mentorship programs can cause them to fail.
- Not defining the purpose or outcomes of the program: A mentorship program without a defined purpose is like a boat without a rudder—it will flounder and eventually fail. You need to know what you want to achieve with your program before you can design it or measure its success.
- Poor screening of mentors and mentees: Not all employees will make good mentors or mentees. It’s important to screen participants for qualities that will make them successful in the program, like emotional intelligence, communication skills, and willingness to learn.
- Inadequate training: A mentorship program is only as good as the mentors and mentees involved. If they don’t have the skills or knowledge to be successful, the program will suffer. Make sure to provide training on how to be a good mentor or mentee, as well as specific topics related to your organization or industry.
- Not enough support: You can't just let your participants try to figure it out themselves. They need support from you and each other. Provide resources, like a mentorship manual or online forum, and make yourself available to answer questions.
- Wrong pairings: A mentorship relationship that isn’t a good fit can be frustrating and unproductive for everyone involved. Be thoughtful about who you pair together and make sure they have complementary skills, interests, and goals.
- Failure to monitor progress: This is not a set-it-and-forget-it proposition. You need to check in regularly to see how it’s going and make changes as needed - both to the overall program and the individual pairings.
- Poor expectation management: If you set the bar too high, your participants will feel like they’re falling short. If you set it too low, the program won’t have the impact you want. Be realistic about what your mentorship program can achieve and manage expectations accordingly.
- Insufficient feedback: The feedback street goes both ways. Mentors need to give feedback to their mentees and vice versa. But you also need to give feedback to the program participants and provide them with specific, actionable steps to improve.
- Lack of respect for confidentiality: Everything discussed between a mentor and mentee should be kept confidential. If there’s a breach of trust, it can damage the relationship and discourage others from participating.
- Insufficient time devoted to the program: Like anything else, a mentorship program takes time to develop and grow. You need to be patient and give it the attention it deserves if you want it to be successful.
- Absence of an evaluation plan: How will you know if your program is successful? You need to establish metrics and benchmarks ahead of time so you can measure progress and make improvements.
- No networking: Mentorship is not a static relationship. It should involve networking and regular contact with other mentors and mentees to share ideas, resources, and support. Without it, the program will stagnate.
These are just a few potential pitfalls you need to be aware of when starting a mentorship program. By planning and designing your program carefully, you can avoid these mistakes and set your mentees up for success.
Grab your FREE checklist here and keep it handy as you roll out your mentoring program:
Launch a world class program with Together
Running a mentorship program is arguably the most effective way to strengthen your company's culture and leverage all employees' diverse experiences.
Together’s platform offers several key features to help you along the way.
- Registration: Instead of sitting down with every potential participant to try and coax out the necessary information, Together quickly collects all relevant data from questionnaires or existing HRIS data.
- Matching: Together’s algorithm makes the administratively-taxing task of matching mentors and mentees easy, efficient, and scalable by automatically matching complementary candidates.
- Scheduling: Setting up connections is a breeze as Together integrates with existing email and calendar software to keep everyone up to date on the next scheduled meeting.
- Reporting: Quickly view insights and track progress with a customizable dashboard that gives you the most relevant data right away. These detailed reports can also help you make a business case for senior stakeholders.
- Elevated user experience: With a scalable platform that can grow with your mentorship program, Together offers in-app and email support for all participants, phone support for administrators, and implementation support to get you started.
Elevate your mentorship program today
Schedule a personalized demo with our team of experts, or take a self-guided tour.
