How to Start a Mentoring Program in 2020

It’s not unusual for organizations to seriously consider launching a mentoring program during Q1. 

To that end, we wanted to share six free resources that can help you develop and launch a successful program.

Note: several of these resources are also good refreshers for anyone involved in a current program (particularly the best practices and the strategies for recruiting mentors and mentees).

1. So Your Organization Needs a Mentoring Program. Now What? Many companies realize they need a formal mentoring program, but don’t know where to go from there. This guide offers insights regarding three specific next steps: determining a budget, program size, and short-term and long-term goals.

2. Understanding Different Business Mentoring Models. Mentoring isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s important to have a sense of which model or models will work for your organization. This guide reviews the most common types, including one-to-one, group, self-directed. 

3. How to Create a Pilot Mentoring Program. Before launching a formal company-wide program, consider starting small and building from there. This piece explains how to get a pilot program off the ground. 

4. Coaching and Mentoring: What’s the Difference? This is our most popular piece of content and no wonder. Coaching and mentoring are complementary, but they are NOT the same thing. If you want a true mentoring program, read this so that you’ll know if your program is starting to look more like a coaching program. 

5. Effective Recruitment Strategies for Getting Your Program Off the Ground. You can’t have a mentoring program without participants. This piece offers ideas for recruiting mentors and mentees. 

6. Mentoring Best Practices. All successful programs have these things in common.