Companies worldwide are looking everywhere they can for effective, high-impact employee retention and engagement strategies. Most now turn to structured mentoring programs to uniquely connect employees into active learning engagements that leverage the skills and experience of the mentor . In fact, our 2024 Mentoring Impact Report found that 98% of ALL US Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs, making mentoring a go-to strategy among the most successful companies. So why mentoring? Organizations commonly encounter several employee and talent-related issues that make mentoring a valuable ..read more

Personalized attention. Individualized conversations. Tailored activities. These are just a taste of what one can expect from a top-notch mentoring experience. Unfortunately, not all mentoring programs utilize this strategy. Mentoring is meant to be organic, and within that framework, personalization typically goes best. But how you define “personalization” can vary from program to program. To help you make your mentoring relationship a personalized learning experience, here are five elements to adapt to your needs and individual situation. What Is a Personalized Mentoring Experience? A person ..read more

Social media sites like LinkedIn and even Reddit are great places to learn about the employee life cycle, both from an HR leader’s perspective and from the employee’s perspective. It’s clear from both sides that the pathway from application to interviewing to new hire to tenure is never a straight line. It’s also never the same for every employee — although HR and talent development leaders can (and should!) formalize the life ycle in a way that is measurable and impactful for both employees and employers. Of course, it’s hard to really quantify and measure the impact of the employee life cycl ..read more

There are numerous types of mentors you could have. From our experience, however, you’re likely to run there are 7 big categories of mentors you’re likely to encounter. As you read through this list of mentor types, consider what type of mentor works best for you (or, if you’re the mentor, what type of mentor you want to be). START AT THE TOP: Need a more extensive explanation of mentoring? Try our complete guide to mentoring or explore our guide on the types of mentoring programs commonly used. Take it with you: Download your free guide to Building Trust in Mentoring Relationships Finding t ..read more

According to a MentorcliQ study on the impact and presence of mentoring at Fortune 500 companies, enterprise organizations run by female CEOs significantly outperformed other companies during the 2020 pandemic recession. Slowly but surely, we are starting to see cracks in the glass ceiling, with 53 female CEOs leading U.S. Fortune 500 companies in 2023—a record number! Supporting and advancing women into leadership roles often produces tremendous outcomes. One trend we often see when uplifting female workers to leadership roles is women mentoring women. Structured mentoring programs can help c ..read more

Among the many different mentoring formats that exist, group mentoring often arises as one that fits a very distinct need: mentoring capacity. Starting and scaling programs is difficult, especially when mentoring is voluntary. there’s often an abundance of interest from mentees, but only so many mentors available to meet that need. Group mentoring solves that mentor capacity issue by having mentors take on two or more mentees at the same time. Just as no two mentoring relationships are the same, group mentoring creates a significant amount of variety in the interactions between mentors and men ..read more

When I left teaching in 2014, most of my students were among the oldest crop of Gen Z students, ready to take on and change the world. Having taught both younger Millennials and Gen Z through my 10-year career, I can confidently state that Gen Z is built differently. There’s a reason why managers are struggling to understand the dynamics of engagement and mentoring Gen Z in the workplace. The generation has a vastly different relationship and expectations for what work and career development are supposed to look like. Change happens with every new generation. And in many ways, Gen Z, who are p ..read more

HR and talent development leaders often ask us about the difference between coaching and mentoring, and for good reason. Mentoring and coaching are incredibly similar concepts. They are often (but not always) 1:1 relationships between a learner (or mentee or coachee) and an individual (mentor or coach) with greater experience in either how to acquire or refine skills or in specific concepts or skills that the learner hopes to acquire. But when you whittle down the details, the mentor vs. coach comparison is less about “how are these different” and more about “which learning style does my organ ..read more

“People don’t want to work” is a common refrain right now as companies still struggle with low productivity rates and (outside a small handful of industries) high turnover rates. Often, though, the issue isn’t that people don’t want to work, but that they want to see where their work is going to take them. This is why career mapping is an essential way to boost employee engagement and retention. Rather than having unhelpful conversations about how no one wants to work anymore, employers — this is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow — should be focusing their efforts on supporting a workforce wh ..read more

The Great Gloom has followed last year’s Great Resignation and brought with it productivity declines, DEI strategy changes, and an increased need for upskilled and reskilled workers. While economic uncertainty has become a bit less uncertain and employee retention has stabilized, HR and Talent Development leaders are more concerned than ever about lower levels of engagement, decreased job satisfaction, and a skills gap that won’t stop growing. Three mentoring trends have emerged that will play an ever-increasing role in helping leaders address these needs. These trends include: Boosting Produ ..read more