I very much liked this BNET article by Jennifer Alsever on starting a mentorship drive (here). The article is rich with sources and tips, so check it out. The four basic steps are listed below:
Decide Why You Want a Mentor Program — Set your program up to succeed by defining goals and involving top execs.
Pair Up Proteges and Mentors — Create profiles and match people according to your goals.
Set the Rules for Engagement — Make sure people meet regularly — and know what to talk about when they do.
Keep Tabs on the Program — Make sure mentoring is providing the results you want.
Not that I’m looking to integrate mentorship into my group’s social media strategy, I appreciated the explicit decision and goal-setting advice. I’ve seen many explicit promotions of mentorship in people development efforts, but I’ve never had any real idea of what that mentorship was supposed to accomplish. Now that I have a chance to drive this topic, perhaps I can learn from those mistakes!
Filed under: Collaboration, Communications, Leadership, People Development, Performance Management, Skills vs. competencies, social media, Web 2.0 | Tagged: BNET, Career, coaching, Crash Course, Employee, Human Resources, IBM Corp., Jennifer Alsever, Leadership, management, Mentor, Mentor Program, Mentorship, Nationwide Insurance, Professional Development, Program, Recruitment, Relationship, Succession | Leave a comment »
