Did you know January is National Mentoring Month?
Though National Mentoring Month began in 2002 to promote youth mentoring, we think it also gives those in the business community a chance to look at our own efforts in mentoring others–particularly our efforts in mentoring women.
Mentors are often unsure about how to become a mentor or wonder if they have enough experience. And on the other hand, a potential mentee might be asking, “how do I find the right person to be my mentor?”
According to the Association for Talent Development, only 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and a quarter of small companies have some type of mentorship program (WSJ). Maybe your company already has a process in place for workplace mentoring and can easily answer your questions and guide you through mentoring. We also know though, many companies or organizations are working to put such a mentoring program into place.
The fifth item in our ElevateHER Corporate Challenge is to “Establish a Leadership Development and/or Mentoring Program for women.” If this is an area your company is working to improve, you may be searching for a guide on how to start a high-impact mentoring program.
Here are some resources we found that might be helpful:
For a very comprehensive guide, Chronus.com offers a free downloadable National Mentoring Month Kit to help you get a high-impact mentoring program off the ground or just becoming a more successful mentor. We were impressed by the variety of materials in this kit and can see how it could be very useful.
Article: How to Start a Mentoring Program – Inc.com
https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/04/start-mentoring-program.html
Article: Business Mentoring Matters: How to Start a Mentoring Program
http://www.management-mentors.com/about/corporate-mentoring-matters-blog/how-to-start-a-mentoring-program