How to Create Professional Mentorship Programs (+ Examples)

If you’re looking to excite and empower team members, new and old, then a mentoring program might be just what you need. Maybe you’ve just welcomed some young professionals on board, or maybe you’re trying to unite your organization across levels and divisions. Whatever the case, setting up a strong mentorship program can help your team members grow their skills by learning from one another.

Keep reading to explore the importance of professional mentorship programs. From what makes a good mentorship program to mentorship program examples, you’ll learn how these initiatives serve everyone on your team.

• Why does mentoring matter?
• What is a mentoring program?
• Key benefits of a mentorship program
• How to structure a mentoring program
• How to create a mentorship program: Key tips
• Run efficient mentorship programs with Fellow

Why does mentoring matter? 

Mentoring—which involves your more experienced team members sharing their skills with emerging professionals—encourages cross-functional learning, development, and growth among your team members. It can help mentors feel more secure in their roles and get mentees more excited about advancing their careers. The results include better employee retention, stronger team-wide relationships and rapport, and team members who advance faster in their careers.

On an episode of the Supermanagers podcast, Tara Robertson, Head of Customer Marketing at Sprout Social, spoke to the importance of mentorship.

“Different kinds of mentors play really critical parts to your career as a whole… there’s a lot of nuances in the way that we all work together.”

What is a mentoring program?

A mentoring program is an initiative through which leaders are paired with team members to identify their goals and build the skills needed to achieve them. Think of it as a streamlined approach to professional development. When you give the people on your team a chance to learn from one another, you’ll foster effective collaboration. 

There are many moving parts to building, running, and evaluating a mentorship program, but your main goal should always be to support everyone participating. If your mentorship program works for both seasoned professionals and industry beginners, your team will be better for it.

Key benefits of a mentorship program 

Below are some of the biggest perks of a robust mentorship program.

• Develop new skills
• Empower your team
• Hear fresh voices
• Build future leaders

Develop new skills

There’s no better place to pick up professional skills than from a mentor who’s done it all before. A strong mentorship program will allow your mentees to learn from the best. 

Mentors—who have experience in both the industry and your organization—can help mentees take their skills to the next level. Mentoring sessions give a human perspective to these sometimes-dry skills, helping your team members absorb things more quickly than they would by just reading a manual.

Empower your team

For all parties involved, mentoring can be a huge confidence boost. These meetings give mentors the chance to affirm their own skills and reflect fondly on their own professional journeys. For mentees, there’s no better feeling than receiving positive feedback from a mentor they admire and trust.

Hear fresh voices

A mentoring program is the perfect opportunity to invite—and celebrate—the diverse perspectives on your team. While everyone likes to bond over common ground, it can be just as meaningful to have some one-on-one coaching from someone of a different background. 

Whether mentor-mentee pairings have different professional or personal histories, the conversations between them can encourage your team members to make their voices heard. Plus, if this diversity of opinion or experience leads to friction, your team members can improve their problem-solving and conflict management skills.

Build future leaders

Between a success-oriented mentee and a mentor who spots their potential, the right mentorship program can be a hotbed for professional development. With the guidance of an experienced mentor, a mentee can set meaningful career development goals and feel confident during their quest to achieve them. 

Mentors are well-equipped to spot which skills—and which team members—make for great leadership. With a well-thought-out program, mentors will be able to recommend the right people for the job.

How to structure a mentoring program 

The following are the key steps for structuring an impactful mentorship program.

• Plan it out
• Introduce it to key players
• Get to mentoring
• Take stock

1Plan it out

Before you start your mentorship program, you’ll need a plan. To start, figure out which mentoring initiatives will work best for your team’s needs. For example, if you’ve got a large team, you might have to make group mentoring work. If your team is on the smaller side, you might be able to opt for one-on-one mentoring sessions that allow for more personalized support.

You can create an enriching mentoring program with any resources as long as you know your team. Maybe your new team members could use career mentors to help them lock down their aspirations, or maybe they need more short-term guidance. In any case, you’ll need to tailor your mentorship program to your mentees’ needs while keeping your organization’s long-term goals in mind.

2Introduce it to key players

With a strong game plan, you’ll be ready to introduce your mentorship program to all your mentors and mentees. During this stage, mentorship pairs and groups can plan initial meetings where they’ll discuss their hopes and expectations.

If you opt for a set structure, mentors and mentees might start by finding common time on their schedules and getting on the same page. But if you make your program more open ended, each pairing will need to lay out ground rules around communication, timelines, and confidentiality. Whatever these initial meetings look like, they’re bound to be a key opportunity for mentors and mentees to begin building meaningful relationships.

3Get to mentoring

Meetings and training sessions make up the bulk of the actual mentoring process, which follows the introduction of your program. If all goes well, mentors will be an invaluable resource for mentees whether they’re seeking advice on daily tasks or input on their long-term careers. 

4Take stock

Once you’re running your program, you should regularly make sure that it’s succeeding. Holding routine mentoring program quarterly check-ins can help you learn what’s working with your current program and what still needs improvement. You’ll learn how to best support mentors and mentees while giving them space to be heard.

When it comes to measuring how your program is going, you have plenty of options. You might, for example, send out surveys or hold feedback discussions to keep tabs on everyone’s thoughts. However you choose to take stock of your mentorship program, doing so can help program organizers and participants move forward with confidence.

How to create a mentorship program: Key tips 

Below are some of the best ways to ensure that your mentoring program will be a home run.

• Choose the right people
• Set short-term expectations and long-term goals
• Make a guidebook

Choose the right people

Mentors can make or break a mentoring program, so be sure to choose them wisely. You’ll want to choose mentors who are enthusiastic about the program and willing to impart their wisdom to a new crop of professionals. It’s also important to set complementary mentor-mentee pairings, so make sure you’re familiar with everyone in your program.

Let’s say you’re building a software engineering mentorship program and you’re unsure of your new hires’ different learning styles. It’ll make all the difference to find mentors who are adaptable enough to adjust their mentorship approaches to their individual mentees’ unique needs.

Set short-term expectations and long-term goals

When it comes to building a mentorship program, clear expectations are key. Make sure you know what skills your team members should get out of the program and how these skills will serve your organization’s big-picture goals. For example, try telling all your mentors exactly how to structure mentor meetings. Consistent structures across all your mentor-mentee pairings can ensure that you optimize your program for your organization’s objectives.

For example, in an engineering division, one of your long-term goals might be to improve employee retention rates. A great engineering mentor, then, will focus on giving their mentees the tools they need to succeed within your organization. They can advise them on how to improve their current skills and work toward higher-level roles. Your mentees might wind up feeling more excited about what their future at your organization holds.

Once these goals are set, you can use Fellow’s Objectives and Key Results tool to set, review, and track your progress of achieving those milestones. They’re seamlessly integrated into everyone’s meetings, creating a culture of collective accountability.

Make a guidebook

While you want to make yourself available to answer questions, your mentors should also have a point of reference for their meetings. By making a guidebook for your mentor-mentee relationships, you’ll be able to anticipate and answer any common questions about the program’s structure. You’ll also give your mentors some building blocks for fostering productive, supportive relationships with their mentees. For example, you might share some templates for giving feedback, scheduling meetings, and measuring mentees’ progress.

Run efficient mentorship programs with Fellow 

Planning mentoring programs for your business doesn’t have to be intimidating. Whether you’re brainstorming new mentorship programs or elevating pre-existing ones, you can use Fellow’s meeting management software to take mentorship to the next level. Helpful for everything from planning a mentorship meeting and leading it in real-time to checking in on your mentorship program, Fellow’s tools keep you moving forward.

With Fellow’s AI solution and wealth of resources for leading effective meetings, including meeting agenda templates, you can bring your mentorship program to new heights. Your team members—both newcomers and seasoned pros—will thank you for it!