Many HR departments are in difficult positions. Unlike other parts of a company, their ability to show return-on-investment (ROI) is perhaps more ‘fluid’ than more direct profit centers. And yet, certain tools they employ, such as mentoring programs, are essential for the continued success and, attraction and retention of employees – which can also have a positive effect on ROI.

And while creating a mentoring program within your workplace can be difficult and/or complicated, there are certain benefits from running it and scaling it up when it needs to move to the next level. Here are some important areas to consider when ramping up your program and increasing its reach: 

Identifying New Participants – It’s important for HR and others running a mentoring program to build a mentor pool ready to work with others and engage in the program. Ensuring they are educated on the right objectives, what the program is attempting to accomplish and what organizational goals it will achieve are key to keeping mentors engaged and ready to work with people.  

And while you are building up that pool and giving them the tools to mentor properly, it’s important to give them reasons to do the job. Mentoring can be a two-way learning street (not just from mentor to mentee) and can help expand networks and improve leadership skills. 

Automate - One of the areas that can help streamline a mentoring program as you are scaling it up is through automation. Sometimes matching mentors to mentees can be difficult, time consuming and potentially expensive. As well, matching can be more of a science than an art if you are looking strictly at employee profiles. Things like matching software or other automation tools can help create profiles, that more accurately match mentor to mentee, while at the same time creating useful databases and resources for HR to use in future mentoring programs or dealing with employee engagement issues. 

Document Impact – At times, mentoring programs can lack structure and cohesion, and can be run in a haphazard way. By scaling up the program and documenting the pool, the resources, the matching etc., HR can better ensure cohesion and create a corporate memory of what works and what does not when moving forward with the program. Tracking results and outcomes can have positive impacts on retention, leadership readiness and skill building. 

Setting Your Timetable – Once you’ve considered the goals and objectives of your mentoring program, as well as the ways in which the program can be scaled up (see above), setting the timetable for the rollout is the next last important step. You don’t want to ramp up too quickly if you haven’t got the pool of participants in place or your tracking is not yet fully realized, for example. Ensure smooth and timely rollout for your program. This allows you to encounter speed bumps before they occur and without them even being noticed by participants.

A scalable mentoring program is a key component for today’s proactive HR leaders, offering a host of benefits to your employees and the company alike. So don’t lose sleep in 2019 over market forces you cannot control. Start the new year by taking a candid assessment of your mentoring program and get ready to scale.

By Mark Brodbeck, eMentorConnect®