Mentoring: Encouraging Success

Once you establish your own company, we have a tendency to look at our previous experience and how it has encouraged your employee's success – to notice what worked and what didn't. One of the essentials of a flourishing business is the openness to share your wisdom and enthusiasm of doing what you love with others. One of the easiest ways is to create a mentoring program. Mentoring doesn't always mean you are "grooming' new employees for their rise in the corporation; it also means mentoring students toward gaining much-desired skills in the work place.

I would like to share with you a few of the advantages of how establishing a mentoring program can encourage your small business to be even more successful while also touching on how setting up a mentoring program in a small- to medium-sized organization can help you develop your human resources and use these resources in the most efficient manner possible.

To begin, let's identify the key advantages of mentoring programs.

REDUCED LEARNING CURVE
When an organization establishes a mentoring program, it can prove to be individually one of the most important resources for employees in their initial learning phase or the new hire period. When a member of staff is transferred or promoted to a new department, having an adviser supports a less-demanding or stressful work environment.

When the learning curve is reduced, so too is the amount of overhead investment needed to have the employee fully up to speed and working efficiently at his new duties. We all know that when employees are happier, their work performance improves – and so too does your bottom line.

As a small business, if you take on a high school student for example, as an adviser you are empowering that student to embrace new skills that will be transferrable after she leaves high school and enters college. These new skills can help reduce her anxiety of learning in a new situation, which translates into supporting a positive educational experience and creates the potential for encouraging a better grade point average. How? When she's comfortable asking questions and clarifying responsibilities with you as a "boss," she's more confident in asking teachers and professors questions to clarify assignment requirements, thus empowering her to produce a better paper or project.

LOWER ATTRITION RATES
When a business embraces mentoring programs, there are reports that demonstrate the employees' satisfaction in their jobs increases. When an individual feels supported and enjoys his job, he is less apt to leave his place of employment. And when his loyalty rises, the costs associated with your new hire is directly and positively impacted.

As a small business embracing a mentoring program with young individuals, your company is seen in the local community as a supportive one. As business owners take an interest in ongoing education and employees' futures, customers and potential clients immediately and automatically view your business with greater respect and in turn are more apt to support these kinds of businesses.

IMPROVED SKILLS
With recurrent interactions as the mentor, you share your experiences and wisdom with your mentees. You improve their confidence as well as your own. Your management qualities improve, and as a result you feel appreciated and respected by your co-workers. This self-confidence and self-importance carries over into your own regular duty, which once more improves your efficiency and effectiveness.

Small businesses working with the future workforce also see a rise in effectiveness in their normal job duties as the appreciation articulated by the younger generation supports your moral and ethical decision-making competence. And again, your company will gain good will in the community and you'll be viewed as a leader.

SUCCESSION PLANNING
This step is more applicable to those organizations considered mid-size or large-size business where the leadership team needs to ensure it's proactively planning the succession of the team itself. Mentoring programs help senior management spot the best talent and groom those people for better roles in the business. In effect, it assists the organization in retaining talent and enables the employees to develop in their careers.

Succession planning is not merely for large companies; those of you who are starting your company can begin allowing for your own success and begin to identify at what point your business will take on a life of its own. When this happens, will you as the entrepreneur be prepared to hand over the reins, and to whom? As you are mentoring the students, you can be identifying what important skills, qualities and work ethics would be necessary for your company to go on surviving once you hit retirement.

REDUCED STRESS LEVELS
A well-established mentoring program gives a means to workers to discuss their professional and occasionally personal matters that are affecting their professional lives. This assists employees in dealing with their tension better, and organizations in turn are able to preserve high levels of worker efficiency.

Encouraging open interaction between the mentor and mentee will additionally strengthen your foundation of the "whole" person when they work for you. As a small business owner you are able to provide the similar type of open communication with the student mentees with whom you are working. This open communication will support their ongoing success in school and their work careers.

ENCOURAGE TEAMWORK
A mentorship program encourages collaboration and permits each person to focus on what he does best. Often employees get stuck when they're confronted with tasks that go further than their skill levels. A good mentorship program can take care of that by providing employees with regular feedback and guidance, thus making sure they are able to do to their potential.
When working with a student mentor program, teaching and encouraging teamwork reinforces the understanding necessary to be successful in whichever profession they are looking to work. Collaboration is a skill set that will not be undervalued and is always transferrable from one situation to another.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
The most essential advantage of mentoring programs is possibly knowledge management. In most organizations when key people leave, they take the information and knowledge they possess with them. By establishing a mentoring program, organizations can ensure this knowledge is passed on from the mentors to the mentees.

High school mentees may not be taking your small business owner's "knowledge" to immediately sustain their own business, but the practice for you to share your knowledge yet again reinforces the key information that is needed for your company to continue to run without you and how to plan for unexpected events.

Knowledge is power, but the power of your knowledge is restricted and reduced when it is not freely shared with others. This doesn't mean you give away your trade secrets, but it does mean that by supporting others and empowering them to be successful at any job to which they may applying themselves can and will support your overall business success. Mentoring others is something I truly enjoy, as it enables me to empower others to move into their full confidence and truly hear their inner wisdom, thus enabling them to follow their hearts and true purpose in life.