Mentoring in a workplace is not a new concept, but most people don’t know what it is or how it improves individual and team performances.
A mentor is a person who offers guidance to an employee with lesser experience. They are role models who share advice and knowledge accumulated over years of experience and earned credentials and helps a mentee grow as a professional. Listed below are some benefits that both employees can gain with such relationships.
During mentoring, the mentee has the chance to gain knowledge and professional foresight from a more experienced and knowledgeable person. The ideal mentorship does not require the mentor to spoon-feed the mentee and do their job for them. He or she guides them through the solution to problems and provides useful feedback on the work done. Moreover, a mentor can help reduce the sense of isolation that an employee may have at work and encourage him or her to interact more with others.
Additionally, mentoring combined with coaching assists in gaining a better understanding of not only the individual and their barriers, but the common workplace issues specifically effecting the mentee.
The Workplace Benefits
The end result of a good mentorship program is overall better employee relationships. The senior employees work (or gel) better with the new recruits, and supervisors and managers gain greater insight into common employee issues. As a result, productivity increases in the workplace and fewer mistakes are made. Teams work better and employees experience greater job satisfaction, resulting in positive and healthy work environment. In addition, employee turnover will reduce, loyalty to the company will increase and workplace communication improves.