Why mentoring programs fail? Stop the rot!

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Despite the growing popularity of mentoring programs, a significant number of such programs fail to achieve their intended goals. This article explores some of the underlying reasons behind the failure of mentoring programs and provides recommendations to improve their effectiveness.

In their simplest form, mentoring programs are designed to support individuals in their personal and professional development, providing them with guidance, feedback, and advice based upon the lived experience and tacit knowledge beholden of a mentor.

The success of a mentoring process depends on the upfront attention given to all aspects of its structure, planning, and implementation. A lack of attention to any of these factors will jeopardise long-term success.

Successful mentoring programs are not delivered as a onetime event, in fact the most successful programs result from the creation of an organisation belief that fosters and embeds mentoring and learning as part of its cultural DNA. A way of working that supports peer engagement and continuous improvement as core values.

That said, the first reason why mentoring programs fail is a lack of alignment between the goals of the program and the needs of the mentees. When mentoring programs fail to consider the unique needs of individual mentees, they can become ineffective and mentees are become disengaged, leading to a lack of motivation and commitment.

Secondly, a lack of training and development for mentors is a critical reason why mentoring programs fail. Mentors need to have a clear understanding of their role and the unique qualities required of mentors, as well as the life skills and knowledge required to provide effective guidance and support to their mentees. Just the fact that you are maybe a supervisor or foreman in the workplace doesn’t necessarily equip you with the tools and skills to be effective in a mentoring role. Without adequate training, mentors may struggle to connect, build rapport and trust with their mentees, nor have the ?skills and capacity to provide meaningful advice and support.

The third reason for the failure of mentoring programs is a lack of clear communication and feedback structures. Mentees need to receive regular feedback and guidance from their mentors to make progress in their development goals. If mentors fail to provide this support, mentees may feel disengaged and may lose motivation to continue in the program. In this day and age there is really no excuse as there are a raft of APP’s and other technologies that can support a well structured mentoring intervention.

Lastly, mentoring programs may fail due to a lack of structure and accountability. When mentoring programs lack clear objectives, goals, and timelines, they can become ineffective and fail to deliver meaningful results. Additionally, when there is a lack of accountability, mentors and mentees may not take the program seriously, leading to a lack of engagement and commitment.

Regardless of the organisation type or size, a global conglomerate or an enterprising SME, the same principles apply, the only real difference been scalability.

The initial questions that need to be asked when setting up a mentoring program are these, “What are we trying to achieve with our mentoring program??What are the perceived impediments to building a strong leadership framework that supports the program while still running the business??What will stop our key people from building a portfolio of skills that can potentially change them, enabling them to be great mentors, and assisting them in growing further becoming a more valuable asset both personally and professionally???

In all organisations leadership attitudes and behaviours will impact on a mentoring programs success. Leaders need to champion and endorse the program. Without the active support of the business’s board and its leadership team, a mentoring culture will never be properly achieved.?Leadership is part succession (nomination), part risk management, part strategy implementation, and part cultural strengthening, but it needs to be embraced by all key stakeholders, particularly those who can influence and champion a mentoring culture within the organisation.

It is surprising how often I observe business leaders, owners and managers, who do not think about exposing themselves to a wide range of other experiences such as mentoring to assist them in broadening their own leadership capabilities. They often cite that they are time poor, too busy or its not a business (personal priority) and they delegate the role to others. Hmmm…no wonder that such programs fail. ?Nor do they see the need to do offer the opportunity to their best people – who often do not ask for it either. Mentoring becomes a HR issue or something that’s rolled out at the supervisory level, delegated to people without the knowledge or skills to maximise the program’s effectiveness.

Conversely, by capitalising on the existing talent and human capital within your organisation, mentoring can prove to be an ideal and cost-effective way to build a high-performance culture, really without too much resource (financial) investment. It’s more a matter of the organisation’s leadership wanting to own the process and to become champions of the mentoring program, its rollout and implementation.

In conclusion, mentoring programs can fail for various reasons, including a lack of alignment between the organisations culture, the program's goals, the mentees' needs, inadequate training, support and development of mentors, a lack of clear communication and feedback, and a lack of structure and accountability of both mentors and mentees.

To improve the effectiveness of mentoring programs, organisations must prioritise the needs of their mentees, provide adequate training and development for their mentors, foster clear communication and feedback channels, and establish a structure of accountability. By doing so, mentoring programs can be more effective in achieving their intended goals, that is to?support the development of their key asset (their employees) in the pursuit of personal and professional development.

As the business owner or manager, what you have to consider is whether you play a role as program champion – driving and supporting the mentoring process so as to make it happen, or more courageously, do you take a step forward and participate as an active mentor – a leader come mentor who shows the way of the path.?

If you would like to have a deeper dive and explore a 30-minute complimentary conversation to discuss Mentor Program implementation how to best integrate Mentorship into your business, tap into my Calendly diary here to lock in a time.?Mark Jones Calendar?

Direct Contact details are:

Mark Jones on Phone: +61 (0) 428 727 076 or email [email protected]