Professional mentorship usually involves pairing an industry junior with a senior (although it can also be done in a group setting). The two work closely together over a number of months to help the mentee achieve a set of predetermined career goals.
The mentor can be from the same organisation as the mentee, but that’s not always the case. In fact, Westney says they don’t even have to work in the same industry.
“Sometimes the most appropriate mentor will be somebody within your profession who’s doing what the more junior employee wants to be doing,” he says.
“Or it can be somebody who isn’t connected to the profession, but who perhaps has a lot of experience in general business and can bring the mentee a different perspective and broaden their business understanding.”
When done right, professional mentoring can be a win-win-win situation:
It assists the mentee with their professional and personal development
It introduces fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking to the person conducting the mentoring
Best of all, it’s a boon for the business. As well as facilitating collaborative learning, the diversification of skills and the sharing of knowledge, it increases employee engagement, builds future leaders and improves new-hire retention rates – research indicates that these are 25 per cent higher for employees who participate in company-sponsored mentoring.
Productivity is up to 2.5 times higher in organisations with employee-development programs