Impact of Mentorship in the Workplace

Mentorship is the process where an experienced employee trains a fellow employee that has been deemed to be inexperienced in the fieled within the business. This is why one must possess expertise within field to be deemed a mentor. This is necessary in order to allow the mentee to improve his or her performance with ease. During the process of mentoring, there is usually a learning and development trend between the mentored and the mentor. During the program, a mentor can also give career advice and role modeling advice to the mentored. It is very important to start a mentorship program within an organization for mutual benefit among mentored, employer and the mentor (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2000, p. 265).

Types of Mentorship Informal

The type of mentorship normally occurs when an individual approaches a potential mentor who in turn agrees to offer such expertise as may be necessary to develop the skills of mentored. In this type of mentorship program, the mentee does the selection of a mentor willingly without being induced. The mentee may see this individual as a potential role model and develop a relationship naturally. In this case there need not to be any formal agreement to undertake the training (Daloz, 1990, p. 20).

Formal Mentoring

Unlike informal mentoring, a formal mentoring has structures and it is a deliberate effort by the employer to offer expertise to the employee. In most organizations new recruits are usually teamed up with existing employees so as to develop necessary skills to allow them perform their duties. The structure of the mentoring program contains measurement indicators to determine progress of an individual. The ultimate goal in this type of arrangement is to develop the employees skills, shape their career and to offer them confidence while performing duties (Odiorne, 1985, p. 63).

Reverse Mentoring

Reverse mentoring occur when the organization decides to introduce seniors to juniors so as to learn from the juniors a particular skill that may lacking. During reverse mentoring the junior employee is deemed to possess the necessary skills than senior who is experienced in a given field. Senior employees may not be privity to new skills such as technology. The success of this depends on ability of both the mentor and mentee to eliminate potential barriers (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2000, p. 270).

Team Mentoring

In this type of mentorship program, a single mentee is assigned to multiple mentors. The method ensures that the employee is able to learn within a given time or until the period allocated the project is up. The guiding principle here is whether the goal has been achieved and normally run for a given period of time. In this type of mentorship the mentee acts as the resource and must ensure that feedback on what is leaned is forwarded back to the organization. The relationship that exists is primarily the job of the entire mentors.

Group Mentoring

In group mentoring a number of mentees are assigned to one mentor who meets them on part basis that is multiple mentees at a time. In this case all the mentees have similar goal to acquire or fulfill. An organization may opt for this type of mentorship program where resources are not enough to allow everyone to be mentored. The main aim is to develop collective knowledge and to create culture of knowledge sharing (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2000, p. 272).

Benefits of Mentorship to Mentee Career Development

In cases where the mentoring program is set towards employees’ career then it leads to career growth within the organization hence an employee is able to achieve the long-term career goals. Junior employees are able to learn behaviors and skills from senior and expertise staff. It is thus possible to align the employees’ goals with that of organization. Employee will develop professionally and get more about their work.

Builds Employee’s Confidence

With enough skills to enable an employee perform his or her duty, the employee will feel motivated, a motivated employee has enough confidence to perform and even to interact with fellow employees regarding the work issues. It thus reduces isolation at work place thus able to share the knowledge learned during the mentoring process. The mentee also learn on how to accept feedback particularly on the vital areas such as technical skills, communication skills, leadership skills and change management (Daloz, 1990, p. 19).

Improves Productivity of the Employee

After the mentorship program, an employee equips himself or herself with necessary tips and skills on how to perform given tasks. In this connection, an employee improves his or her output. Once an individual output has increased, the organization’s performance too increases. It is thus necessary to undertake the program to ensure that (Odiorne, 1985, p. 65).

Benefits of Mentorship to Employer

It is no doubt that the overall goal of encouraging mentorship program is to improve on the productivity of the organization. After the program, few mistakes can be made this reduces losses within the business. It yields job satisfaction this creates more positive feeling towards work. Staff turnover rate may reduce as employees feel comfortable n their place of work. It is also possible to attract new employees with potential skills because of the program. This therefore helps in building good image about the company and its employees. It is a proof to the external world that the organization really values its employee and that is why they are willing to invest to ensure they are equipped with necessary skills to remain focus to the organization as well as to personal goals. It shows the level of commitment of the employer towards the employees and further proof that the organization is ready to put more effort by investing in its employees. It is one way through which an organization prepares junior employees for future leadership thus acts as a brooding ground. The overriding principle is to ensure there is unity and harmony within the organization (Ensher, Heun, & Blanchard, 2000, p. 276).

Benefits to the Mentor

As the mentors engage in their coaching, they too gain knowledge and experience. As the mentoring process occurs, mentor’s confidence too increases. This confidence helps in developing job satisfaction. It ensures that the mentor develop proper understanding of the mentees problems. The mentor and mentees also develop professional relationship that will beneficial to them from time of coaching to the future. The mentor can also have his or her interpersonal skills strengthen as he or she interacts with the mentees. The mentorship program Permits the mentor to share his or her knowledge with the mentees to assist in building the mentor’s sense of value worthiness.

References

Daloz, L. (1990). Effective Teaching and Mentoring. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Ensher, E., Heun, C., & Blanchard, A. (2000). Online mentoring and computer-mediated communication: New directions in research. Journal of Vocational Behavior , 63, 264– 288.
Odiorne, G. (1985). Mentoring - An American Management Innovation. Personnel Administrator , 30, 63–65.