Mentoring introduction at the enterprise. Mentoring: how to minimize training costs and speed up adaptation. Mentoring model in the company - general principles

Training of young personnel- a labor-intensive activity, but undoubtedly effective. After all, the faster an employee understands and adapts, the sooner he will begin to benefit the company. You can, of course, give the new employee printed instructions and say: “Learn it yourself, brother.” And then wait a long time until he gets into the swing of things. Or you can assign an experienced specialist to the newcomer, who will transfer his own knowledge and skills directly during the work process. This is the essence of mentoring. Labor market experts spoke about how this method of training can be useful for an enterprise and in what cases to use it.

What is it, what do they eat it with?

is one of the effective methods of increasing the efficiency of company employees through their development in the workplace and providing assistance in resolving any work issues. This method is also used to reveal the potential of a new employee and its further implementation in the company.

“By mentoring we mean the assistance of one person to another in gaining new knowledge and increasing efficiency in work, not related to direct leadership. The main goal of mentoring is to help young professionals adapt to the team and provide timely assistance in professional development.”

Important point- the mentor is not a direct supervisor. If a manager is obliged by duty to ensure that new employees of his department organically integrate into the work process, then this is not included in the job description of the mentor.

So who is a mentor?

This is an experienced employee who takes the newcomer under his wing and helps him adapt to work in the company. The mentor is responsible for planning and organizing an effective professional development program for his mentee.

Who can be a mentor?

Not every company employee can serve as a mentor. Experienced assistants are employees who:

• In the process of work, they are guided by corporate priorities;
• Has teaching abilities;
• Are ready to take personal responsibility for the mistakes of the mentee;
• Able to motivate others;
• They have influence and trust in the team.

“Among the main responsibilities of a mentor are counseling a young specialist, determining the direction of his career growth, drawing up a professional development plan, monitoring the implementation of assigned tasks, adjusting the plan, conducting additional training events, helping in the application of knowledge acquired outside of work, demonstrating a positive role model.” , the expert adds.

It is impossible to force one or another employee to officially become a teacher for a newbie. Mentoring is entirely voluntary. The benefits of this method for young employees are clear, but why should experienced employees waste time and effort on newcomers? It's all about motivation. It also includes remuneration (in the form of a small increase in salary), but still rests more firmly on the intangible part - gaining additional knowledge (mentors attend courses and trainings to improve their qualifications), attention and approval from the management echelon, various insignia that raise authority in the workplace. in the eyes of the team, and so on.

“Mentoring allows you to increase the motivation and professional level of the mentor himself, acquire new skills, and also get the opportunity to move further up the career ladder.”

Terms of mentoring activities

The mentoring period is set depending on the need and the specific organization of activities at a particular enterprise. As a rule, it is several months. Thus, new employees are often required to serve a probationary period, which is often 3 months. And during all these three months, the mentor appointed by the management of the enterprise will have to fulfill the duties assigned to him.

When to use?

Launching and maintaining a project requires the expenditure of both financial and human resources. The need to implement this method is advisable in the following cases.

- If the team consists mainly of young specialists.

“The use of mentoring techniques as a special form of staff training is most relevant in companies where the team consists of young employees. Such a specialist, having arrived at his first job in a certain segment, does not yet have the necessary professional experience, so the mentor should become the person who can convey to him the entire set of knowledge and skills he has, helping him adapt to the professional environment. That is why, for the most effective cooperation between experienced employees and young ones, it is necessary to build a clear and streamlined system for organizing internship programs.”

- If there is a high staff turnover.

Hooray! It's working!

Individual for each company. The management of the enterprise independently decides how exactly to motivate mentors, determines the duration of training for newcomers, sets the project budget, and so on.

But for the most part, the implementation of mentoring comes down to three global stages: selection, training of mentors and evaluation of their work.

“We organized mentoring according to the following scheme:

• development of a project plan and procedures, budget formation, analysis of the experience of colleagues from subsidiary banks of the RBI group, adaptation of the necessary materials;
• selecting a pool of mentors and conducting their training, drawing up individual work plans;
• selection of pilot cities/bank branches;
• Conducting fresh-up trainings (sales and quality of service) for retail employees;
• the presence of mentors in pilot bank branches, monitoring the work of employees, feedback on the results of work, training in the elements of mentoring for branch directors (the pilot lasted five weeks, then we monitored the process);
• analysis of the pilot results, evaluation of mentors and trainees, adjustment of the mentoring system implementation plan.

In our regional centers, to implement the mentoring system, we:

• determined the profile of the mentor (compiled an approximate professional and psychological portrait), selected mentors, trained in detail, tested and selected the best;
• trained retail employees (sales and quality) and heads of retail departments (sales and mentoring);
• introduced a mentoring system in a particular department and additionally trained the director of the department;
• constantly monitored the work of mentors and sales results.”

Implementation difficulties

Of course, organizing a mentoring system does not always go perfectly. The main problems that may arise when implementing this process:

• “Wrong choice of mentor pool. For example, we initially misjudged the expected workload and did not profile the mentor.
• Lengthy and expensive training for mentors. These employees must be the best at what they do and must also be proficient in some training techniques.
• Incorrect positioning of the mentoring system. Our employees initially perceived mentors as “overseers.” Motivation, especially among experienced specialists, was declining.”

Advantages of the mentoring method

Of course, the implementation of this method of personnel training is costly, because this project cannot be completed.

“The mentoring system is a way of life. Regular support for this process is required. If you do not control the implementation of the mentoring system, then the process “dies.”

Articles

Currently, when describing the mentoring system, they rely on one of the definitions. Yes, David Meister believes that mentoring is an investment in the long-term development of the organization, its “health”.

According to Gareth Lewis, mentoring is a system of relationships and a series of processes where one person offers help, guidance, advice and support to another.

In general, mentoring can be defined as the process of transferring knowledge and skills from a more experienced person to a less experienced person.

We are mentoring We will understand assistance to young specialists in adaptation and / or assistance to experienced company employees in changing their job responsibilities in the event of appointment to a new position as a result of career growth or rotation . Let’s call these categories of company personnel “ wards ”.

Elements of a mentoring system

The entire mentoring system in the company can be roughly divided into three components: mentors to the external and internal conditions of the business environment, them and subsequent support.

All of these processes can occur simultaneously and/or overlap each other. Even if the mentees have mastered a certain set of operations, when moving to another position or mastering a new area of ​​work, the entire process is repeated from the beginning, developing in a spiral. In general, the entire mentoring system is a tool for including employees in the company’s business processes.

Contents of mentoring system elements

System elements	Definition	Goals and objectives
Adaptation	The process of including new employees in the company’s external and internal business processes. Changing employee behavior in accordance with environmental requirements	Facilitate the entry of young specialists, new employees, and reservists into positions. Used to immerse them in corporate culture and business processes
Education	The process of mastering knowledge and skills	Use it to unlock the potential of existing employees and their further personal and professional development, for example, when moving to a new position or being included in the personnel reserve. Employees must acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to work in accordance with established corporate standards
Escort	The process of improving the quantitative and/or qualitative characteristics of skills or knowledge in a specific area. The use of already acquired knowledge and skills in a specific situation or for a specific purpose. Consulting and supervision	Bridging the gap between learning and achieving results. To become an important system element of the company, giving it a new quality of a self-learning organization in which employees constantly improve their skills

A study conducted by Grant Thornton shows how relevant the issue of introducing a mentoring system is in Russian companies.in 2016. It showed that Russian entrepreneurs began to think more often about finding qualified employees and personnel development. 35% of respondents said they plan to invest money in development, and 23% are thinking of introducing a system for identifying talent in the early stages of their careers.

As experts note, in recent years, Russian enterprises have changed their attitude towards employees. This is explained by the fact that many former managers of large companies, including international ones, came to small and medium-sized businesses and transferred the culture of running large businesses there. Management concepts borrowed by small and medium-sized businesses from large ones will only contribute to the growth of small businesses.

Company executives and owners agree that recreating and developing a mentoring culture within an individual enterprise does not require huge investments. And given the shortage of qualified specialists that medium-sized businesses have been facing for many years, this is also a good way to train and develop staff.

Case studies

All of the above is confirmed by our many years of experience in business consulting. At many Russian enterprises, mentoring has already become an integral part of the corporate culture. Constantly working with companies from different sectors of the economy, we are convinced that there are enough examples of the development and implementation of effective mentoring systems. Here are some of them:

Example No. 1.

In a regional restaurant holding with a staff of 750 people, up to 70% of the staff are line employees, namely: waiters, cooks, bartenders. These are young people, mostly students who have never worked anywhere, who came to learn a profession and work in the company for two to three years at most. There are only a few people with real practical experience. Therefore, one of the main tasks set by the holding’s management is to train employees in the shortest possible time so that they can solve the tasks necessary for the company.

After an adaptation period, two paths are open to young specialists. The first is to remain, for example, waiters, be good sellers and receive decent remuneration for your work. And the second is to develop further and become mentors. It is the mentors who are included in the personnel reserve, provided that they have successfully trained a certain number of trainee waiters, completed the appropriate corporate training program and have high levels of personal effectiveness.

Then the development of mentors occurs in a spiral: they are included in the personnel reserve for managerial positions, then transferred to the “novice manager” level, where they have mentors of a different, higher level, etc. Thus, they can reach the position of manager of a cafe or restaurant.

Example No. 2.

There is also a view on the mentoring system in interregional development company with a staff of 130 people. This company is truly socially oriented and one of the main values ​​it promotes is caring for its employees. A practice that has proven itself is that from the very first days they strive to surround newcomers with attention, support, a warm atmosphere and give them effective tools so that they can quickly join the team and get comfortable with business processes.

The personnel management system is structured in such a way that middle managers are interested in the further development of employees and are responsible for their subsequent personal, professional and career growth. They are the ones who form and train the company’s personnel reserve, including for their positions.

According to the HR service, up to 80% of top positions are occupied by employees who grew up within the company. In the “Project Managers” category, 100% of managers began their careers in engineering positions.

Thus, the company operates on the principle of a self-learning organization, which allows it to effectively respond to changes in the business environment through the creation of innovative construction technologies and the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

Example No. 3.

At a large production enterprise of the military-industrial complex employs more than 8,000 people. After the hard times of the 90s of the last century, they recreated the Soviet mentoring system almost piece by piece, taking the best from it and adapting it to the laws of the market.

Today, work with personnel is carried out in three directions:

1. • Accelerated adaptation of newcomers to the production process. This work is built according to individual development plans and under the guidance of specially assigned mentors. Mentors participate in assessing the success of their mentees in completing the probationary period. They express their opinion, which is decisive, on the advisability of further work at the enterprise for new employees;
   • Conducting regular advanced training in the form of trainings and internships for existing employees. This allows the company to effectively develop a new generation of engineering and technical specialists;
   • Systematic formation and development of the personnel reserve. It includes the most motivated and loyal employees of the enterprise who have the necessary set of competencies to occupy management positions in the future. As a rule, the period of stay of specialists in the personnel reserve is no more than 2–3 years.

To prevent staffing gaps, the enterprise successfully implements the following practice. At least 2 years before reaching retirement age, each manager is obliged to choose a specialist capable of taking his position and begin to immerse him in the specifics of his activity. If the manager cannot decide on a successor, the HR service offers candidates from the personnel reserve. She also carries out all subsequent coordination and control over the mentoring process.

Also at this enterprise there is a system for replacing old specialists with new ones, in which the former employee becomes an expert or advisor. At the same time, he retains his full salary, and his place is taken by a new employee, trained by the old one for additional remuneration. This system allows the older generation to painlessly give way to their younger colleagues.

From the above examples it is clear that Russian companies, different in their specificity and scale, use a systematic approach to mentoring. This allows them to develop in employees the ability to independently and efficiently perform the functions assigned to them. And also quickly adapt to working conditions and the corporate culture of the enterprise.

It is safe to say that mentoring is one of the oldest methods of knowledge transfer, which is still widespread today in the practice of personnel training and adaptation of new employees. In human resources, mentoring refers to a method of training staff directly on the job. Recruitment agency "Favorit" organizes internship programs for beginning specialists.

The learning process takes place in a real working environment, examples are real professional tasks that the student solves under the guidance of a highly qualified specialist with the opportunity to ask for the expert opinion of an experienced professional. Mentoring is used to train employees, whose level of training can vary from a complete lack of any professional knowledge to completely competent specialists with a solid reserve of knowledge. In the latter case, this method is used to help newly hired employees adapt to a new workplace, get to know the team, master the specifics of working in a given organization and adopt the company’s corporate culture.

Mentoring as a method of staff training has become especially relevant in our time due to the emergence of such a concept as a learning company. Such a company achieves success in the market and in the fight against competitors through a timely response to changes in the business environment. The management of such organizations creates and implements new technologies and takes care of the professional development of their employees. Severe competitive conditions in the market require the integration of new developments for the practical activities of the company in the shortest possible time. This, in turn, dictates the need for continuous training of employees.

The above circumstances require the learning organization to create a highly effective training system that would combine methods of training personnel outside the workplace, as well as a number of techniques for transferring knowledge directly in the workplace. Theoretical training is carried out through the creation of an internal school, in which classes are held in the form of lectures, seminars, trainings conducted by our own trainers or invited specialists. The implementation of the acquired theoretical knowledge into practical activities occurs mainly through the mentoring method. At the same time, the role of teachers is no longer played by trainers, but by more experienced employees of the company itself. Such teachers can be managers of all levels, highly qualified and experienced specialists.

In companies where internal schools are organized, theoretical training and retraining courses take place approximately once every six months. All conditions are created for new employees to undergo a course of lectures, seminars and trainings in the first three months of their work. Beginners immediately, in the workplace, consolidate their acquired theoretical knowledge.

Mentoring is designed to solve a whole range of problems

Firstly, this method is an effective system for transferring the experience and knowledge of the most qualified specialists to new employees. Secondly, thanks to the personal approach to mentoring, corporate values ​​quickly spread throughout the team. The mentor can also monitor the success of his mentees’ mastery of theoretical knowledge.

In addition, mentoring performs a motivating function, since for experienced employees the position of a mentor is recognition of their professional merits and helps to increase respect in the team.

On the other hand, the position of a mentor places special demands on such specialists. They need not only to be able to professionally perform their job functions, but also to be able to convey them effectively and intelligibly to other employees. For this purpose, companies are developing entire systems for training mentors. In internal schools, mentors undergo special training, the purpose of which is to understand the importance and uniqueness of the mentoring system, familiarize themselves with the methods of training trainees, and also acquire mentoring skills.

Not every person is capable of becoming a mentor. In addition to excellent mastery of professional skills, mentors must have a number of personal qualities, of which, first of all, it should be noted a sense of responsibility, dedication, responsiveness, patience, a sense of tact, mastery of communication techniques, and high self-organization.

The task of a mentor is not only to always be close to the mentee and support him, but also to demonstrate by his own example the correct approach to work. In the first days, the mentor devotes more time to the theoretical preparation of the trainee, bringing to his attention all the necessary information useful in solving professional problems. Then the mentor introduces his student more and more directly into practical activities. Various role-playing games can be used here to help practice various work situations, followed by their analysis and discussion of the pros and cons of the decisions made by the trainee.

It is important for a mentor to be able to captivate and interest his student. This significantly increases the motivation and efficiency of the learning process. Even after the internship period has successfully ended and the student has begun to work independently, the mentor must monitor him and be ready to help in difficult situations.

For performing additional duties as a mentor, a company employee receives a number of privileges. These include trust from the company's senior management, the status of leaders in the team and the growth of reputation. Financial remuneration for the functions of a mentor is also important, the amount of which depends on the success of the trainees in passing exams. All employees of the organization who have proven themselves in the role of mentors are included in the company’s management personnel reserve.

In turn, the company also has a number of advantages from using the mentoring method. Firstly, thanks to this system, the organization has its own team of internal trainers who can convey not only professional skills, but are also carriers of the corporate culture of this company. The company receives loyal employees who create its image. As already noted, from among the mentors you can select well-prepared employees to occupy leadership positions.

Mentoring has proven its effectiveness over a long period of its existence as a method of training staff. The attractiveness of this method lies in the fact that it benefits all parties involved in the process: the trainee, the mentor and the company itself. Therefore, despite the emergence of new developments in the field of personnel training methods, mentoring does not lose its relevance today.

The idea of ​​the article, as well as the training, was born from observation and analysis of the situation with training in many modern companies; there is a need for systematic staff training. The training itself provides knowledge and some skills, and the skills are developed independently in practice. If the completed training is not supported by anything, then it may turn out that the skills will not be developed, the knowledge will not be used and forgotten, and then the completed training will not give any result. And how to evaluate the effectiveness of training in a company? Knowledge and continuous learning have become critical components of success today.

Increasingly, staff are required to have a commitment to mastering knowledge and skills on-the-job, as well as a willingness to create special relationships between those who have already mastered new approaches and those who are looking for help to master them. The most effective tool for solving assigned tasks is a mentoring system.

If we look at the definitions, then:

Mentoring - this is a system in which the key link is the mentor. A mentor is a person who is responsible for integrating a new employee into the company's business process.

Mentoring- this is an individual approach to the student.

Mentoring - this is the method training.

Mentoring - it's a process which can be roughly divided into three components: adaptation - training - field training - field support.

Field training is a process aimed at developing employee skills through teamwork.

Field support- this is demonstration, assistance and control of the implementation of periodic business tasks by an employee through joint work.

Main goals of mentoring:

Adaptation of new employees.

Continuous training.

Bridging the gap between learning and achieving results.

Personnel reproduction.

Managing the process of changes in the business environment.

Preservation and reproduction of the company’s corporate knowledge.

Employee motivation and team building.

Increasing employee loyalty.

The mentoring system includes the following components:

Identifying employee training needs.

Planning, selection, development of training and development programs for employees.

Conducting the training itself.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the training provided.

The modern trend of training in business is training in professional knowledge, skills, abilities and development of competencies. Where

Knowledge - it is a complex of information contained in the head.

Skills - This is the ability to consciously apply knowledge in practice.

Skills - This is the unconscious (automatic) application of knowledge in practice.

Competencies - These are typical patterns of human behavior in certain situations, resulting from his experience, knowledge and internal attitudes that contribute to the successful implementation of business goals and correspond to the company’s values.

It is customary to divide competencies into corporate and professional.

Corporate competencies- these are behavioral models that are welcomed and promoted by the company as reference standards for employee behavior.

Professional competencies- behavioral models that ensure maximum success of an employee in a given function (position).

Corporate competencies are the same for all employees, but the competency model for each position is different.

Identifying training needs.

Various methods and techniques are used to identify training needs:

1. Analysis of the candidate assessment results when applying for a job.

During the interview and testing, areas of development of the employee being hired are identified. Typically, this work is carried out by the HR manager, but information about training and development areas is important information for the mentor and is transmitted to the training department.

2. Questioning of department heads.

You can create a questionnaire based on competencies or training topics. The questionnaire should be designed in such a way as to adequately assess training needs, and the results of the questionnaire will help determine. Who and what needs to be taught.

Advantages of the method: efficiency.

3. Simulation of the situation.

Cases, role-playing games, business games - these techniques will help create a working situation and evaluate employees.

Advantages: reliability, low labor intensity.

4. Interviewing managers and employees.

The survey will identify problems faced by employees and their managers. This method is good to use in conjunction with others. It is especially good to use when the company frequently encounters conflict situations or dissatisfaction from customers. This method not only determines the need for training, but also for solving strategic issues of the company. Training, for example, could be a team building event.

5. "Evaluation training".

As a rule, it is carried out by the mentor himself, according to company standards. In this case, the company must prescribe the “Evaluation Training” methodology.

Advantages: clarity and reliability of the results.

To assess the effectiveness of training, it is necessary determine employee evaluation criteria(assess their knowledge and skills). The mentor conducts “assessment training” using a behavioral competency scale.

Assessment training allows you to:

Measure competencies and identify areas for their development.

Evaluate the effectiveness of the training provided.

Determine the level of competence of employees.

Motivate to learn.

Make the learning process transparent, systematic and easily transferable to other mentors in the company.

Today, there are various scales for assessing employee competencies: “7-point scale”, “binary system O-1”. Each scale is good in its own way.

It is on the basis of competencies that the mentor develops programs for training, development and assessment of employees. This model allows you to see at what stage the employee is and what skills he needs to develop.

Ways to develop an employee.

After identifying the areas of the most important development of an employee, you need to choose ways to develop him. To begin, identify sources of information on the area that requires development:

material sources: educational materials, books, videos, company materials;

human resources: mentor, colleagues, training department, guest trainer;

internal training: product knowledge seminars, skills training, self-study programs. Selected fragments of the training: round tables, role-playing games, group discussions, business games, metaphorical games;

external training;

distance learning.

Ultimately, learning policies must answer the questions: “Whom to teach” and “What to teach?”

Mentoring is a method individual training. There are two approaches to training a mentor: “Do as I do!” and "Coaching".

The “Do as I do” learning process: story-show-practice-feedback.

1. Story. Explain to the trainee what will happen and how,

For example, you can use the “I - We - You” technique:

I I’ll tell you about the technique of effective presentation...

We Let's practice role-playing together.

You practice this technique.

2. Show.

Demonstration, as a stage, shows that something you want from the student is actually feasible.

Demonstrate a new action or skill.

Follow the sequence you presented in the explanation step.

If possible, explain what you are doing during the demonstration.

Use role-playing games.

After the demonstration, check the trainee's complete understanding of the task.

3. Practice.

Give the trainee an opportunity to try what you have demonstrated.

Do a role play and observe him.

4. Evaluation/Discussion.

This stage should immediately follow the practice stage in order to be of maximum benefit to the trainee.

Focus only on the specific skill you are practicing today.

The assessment should take place in steps, first the trainee gives feedback, then the mentor:

- The trainee points out things that went well, then points out areas that can be improved.

- mentor according to the same scheme: what worked well and what to improve.

Feedback is a very important tool in the hands of a mentor and is necessary during training.

Evaluation of training effectiveness.

The most common method for assessing efficiency is the D. Kirpatrick model.

The approach is quite easy to use and allows you to quickly collect and analyze information about learning outcomes.

The essence of the Kirkpatrick approach is to assess learning at four levels:

1. Level: General reaction of the participant (emotional satisfaction).

2. Level: Knowledge gained (assessment of knowledge level measurement).

3. Level: Application (behavior change assessment).

4. Level: Business result (assessment of performance results).

Control and monitoring of the mentoring process.

A well-thought-out system of control and monitoring of the entire mentoring process is a very important factor in the success of the program. Creating a control system consists of two stages:

1. Selecting someone responsible for coordinating the entire process.

2. Creation of documentation regulating the entire mentoring process.

Regulations on mentoring

Employee profile

Instructions for the mentor

Schedule of activities for employees to master a new position

Employee work plan

Employee evaluation form

Real profile of the employee (after the “assessment” training)

By development we mean all processes that contribute to the full development of employees' potential. The main elements of the personnel development system are the acquisition of experience, training and mentoring. The institution of mentoring is not new: the idea became widespread in our country back in Soviet times; it is very popular in Western countries too. Today, for many organizations, mentoring is becoming an integral part of the corporate culture.

Mentoring is an investment in the long term
development of the organization, in its “health”.
David Meister

In general, mentoring can be defined as a way of transferring knowledge and skills from a more experienced person to a less experienced one. In a broader, modern meaning, a mentor is a qualified specialist with sufficient experience in a company who:

• helps new employees adapt to the organization;
• promotes their professional development and career growth;
• participates in evaluating the results of their activities.

The mentor, on the one hand, represents the interests of the employee in relations with the company, and on the other, is its representative for the employee.

The need to implement a mentoring system is especially obvious for rapidly growing organizations. However, despite the fact that the mentoring institute is an almost free resource, not all companies use it as actively as trainings, internships, etc. Often this concept is associated primarily with the process of employee adaptation to the company in the first three to six months work. In order to further develop employees and unlock their potential, this tool is not used so widely. But for professional services companies, this mentoring component is key. Professionals are focused on career development, and it is mentors who can help them with continuous professional development.

Who needs it

Who is more interested in the implementation and development of a mentoring system? Experience shows that all participants in this process benefit:

• Mentor develops management skills, increases his status in the company, gains a reputation as a professional and the trust of colleagues, takes part in the formation of a professional team (this is very important, since the effectiveness of the entire team depends on the performance of each of its members).
• Employee receives timely assistance at the stage of integration into the company, support in professional and career development.
• Company stabilizes the size of the team (reduces staff turnover), forms a team of highly qualified, loyal employees.
• HR service receives a powerful supporting resource: in companies with a developed mentoring system, mentors are involved in almost all major HR processes.

When implementing a mentoring system, questions naturally arise: “Do all categories of employees need a mentor? When is his help especially important? Practice shows that a mentor is needed primarily in the following cases:

1) newcomers who have joined a well-coordinated team - they need not only access to information and learning new skills, but also simply human help and support;
2) employees who have great potential for professional growth - in the future they will be able to lead the team to new achievements;
3) employees with low labor efficiency - the overall performance of the entire team depends on this.

In organizations where career orientation is at the core of the corporate philosophy, every team member needs a mentor! For example, in our company every employee has a mentor - from the first day of work, regardless of their job level. This helps us never stop in our professional development.

Who can become a mentor

A mentor should occupy a position at least one or two levels higher than his mentee: such a “gap” ensures effective interaction and effective transfer of knowledge. (It is not always possible to follow this rule - but we must strive for it.) Starting from a certain job level, mentoring can (and should) be one of the requirements that determines the further career growth of the mentor himself.

It is advisable that the role of mentor be performed by an “outside” employee: practice shows that direct the manager is more interested current work results subordinate, not prospects for his development or career, and there is more subjectivity in relationships. (However, if the relationship between a manager and a subordinate is built on trust and partnership, then this option is also possible.)

A good mentor should have a number of positive qualities, in particular:

• have a high level of loyalty to the company, be a bearer of the key values ​​of the corporate culture;
• have a systematic understanding of the work of your department and the company as a whole;
• have significant experience in the field of their professional activity;
• have a desire to be a mentor, otherwise mentoring will be perceived as an additional burden, and this will sooner or later affect the quality; what is important is that the mentor is required to have a sincere desire to help the mentee, and not just evaluate the results of his work from time to time;
• be ready to invest your time in the development of another person (this is one of the most painful issues: it is impossible to become a good mentor if the desire to help is not an absolute value for a person);
• be capable of constructive criticism: the key word here is “constructive”. (When a mentor evaluates the actions of an employee, this should not resemble a critical analysis - the evaluation should first of all contain specific proposals for improving work);
• Take initiative and provide regular feedback. A good mentor is always aware of the employee’s problems. If a mentee has problems in work or relationships, he does not wait until the end of the year (when at a meeting to sum up the results it is possible to fix what has not been done), but takes measures immediately to correct the employee’s actions in a timely manner.

A description of the portrait of an ideal mentor may lead one to believe that not all employees meet such high criteria, even if formally their position may qualify them for the role of a mentor. Consequently, the questions arise: “Can everyone be a mentor?” and “Where can I find worthy candidates?” More precisely: what needs to be done to develop good mentors from employees? Most likely, there are no universal answers to these questions: the criteria for selecting mentors, as well as the ways of their development, depend on the characteristics of the corporate culture of a particular company, management style, management’s understanding of the importance of the mentoring system and many other factors.

Mentoring system

The most important issues for the company are 1) the quality of mentoring and 2) the conscientious attitude of mentors to their responsibilities. That's why we're talking about mentoring system- a set of measures that the company must take to ensure high-quality training of mentors and, to a certain extent, guarantee the effectiveness of their work.

Different companies have developed different approaches to assigning and training mentors. In organizations with long traditions and a developed corporate culture, all employees, starting from a certain job level, can be mentors. There is even an opinion among some that the mere presence of tradition and culture is a sufficient condition for not conducting formal training for mentors. In those companies that are introducing a mentoring system for the first time, mentors at first can be 1) volunteers and/or 2) employees who best meet the criteria listed above.

In any case, mentoring is not so much a natural gift as it is a skill that can be mastered. This means that mentors need to be trained:

• at relevant trainings (internal or external);
• at experience exchange seminars;
• during meetings between mentors and their own mentors.

Naturally, the mentoring process should be organized in such a way that the employee’s activities as a mentor do not affect his main job (otherwise the effectiveness of his work will decrease). In this regard, an important question is: what number of employees assigned to a mentor will be optimal? Practice shows that “ideally” the number of wards should not be more than five or six.

It is equally important to consider the relationship in the “mentor-mentee” pair in dynamics: timely evaluate their effectiveness, replace the mentor if necessary. This may be required for various reasons:

• the employee has “caught up” with the mentor in career growth;
• the mentee or mentor moved to another unit (left for another region);
• the mentor quit;
• psychological incompatibility was discovered (in this case, the person often asks for a replacement mentor), etc.

Of course, creating a mentoring culture is a long process; it takes some time for the majority of employees to accept the new values. At first, negative reactions are possible - misunderstanding, mistrust, irony...

Processes accompanied by a mentor

In professional services companies, a mentor guides a number of processes in which the employee participates: onboarding, performance management, and training.

Adaptation. Each of us once found ourselves in the role of a beginner, so we remember how important it is to quickly get up to speed, and how great the need for obtaining the necessary information is in the first days of work. Of course, a new employee receives the necessary information from many sources - from a recruiter at the interview stage, at an orientation session from employees of the personnel department, from a secretary, from the head of a department... The mentor’s task is not to tell the newcomer about the company’s procedures or to introduce him to colleagues etc. His role in the adaptation process is much more complex and responsible - he must:

• help the employee understand and accept his new status in the organization;
• master new norms of behavior;
• become familiar with corporate values;
• help establish and maintain relationships with the team;
• help the employee develop the professional skills necessary to perform his functional duties, etc.

The mentor’s responsibilities also include setting goals for the probationary period, summing up the results at its completion and making a decision on whether to complete it. To sum up the completion of the probationary period, the mentor must meet with his mentee and analyze whether the goals were achieved, and if not, then why. In companies where a more formalized approach has been adopted, the mentor fills out a special questionnaire following the meeting. By signing it, the employee gets acquainted with the results of the evaluation of the probationary period - that is, he receives the first formal feedback.

Performance Management. This process includes two components: 1) annual planning and 2) performance evaluation ( scheme).

Scheme of the mentor-mentee relationship

1. Annual planning (setting goals and developing a development plan). In companies that use goal-based management technologies, each employee at the beginning of the year must determine individual goals and formulate a development plan for the coming year. These goals can be clarified and adjusted in the middle of the year - during the interim performance assessment procedure. Responsibilities of the mentor at the goal setting stage:

• ensure that the employee understands the tasks facing the company and its department;
• adjust and approve his goals for the year;
• assess the employee’s competencies;
• discuss the employee’s career opportunities;
• help develop an individual development plan.

The mentor should encourage his mentee to set ambitious and at the same time realistic goals, as well as take a proactive position in planning his development.

2. Performance assessment (interim and final). Feedback. Mentoring is an ongoing process, so a good mentor provides feedback to an employee as needed (not just once at the end of the year). Both the employee himself and his mentor can initiate meetings, and as many times as they deem necessary - there are no restrictions here. In addition, the mentor provides informal, spontaneous feedback. Regular feedback helps employees more clearly and objectively evaluate the results of their work, and, if necessary, correct mistakes in a timely manner.

During the year, the mentor is required to hold at least two meetings as part of the performance assessment process (interim and final). At an interim (usually six-month) meeting, the mentor notes progress over the past period and adjusts the action plan for the rest of the year. If the company practices brainstorming of employee performance reviews, the mentor gathers information by interviewing everyone involved (including employees who are mentored by the mentee) and prepares his comments and arguments to represent and defend his mentee in such meetings. At the final meeting with the employee, the mentor announces and argues for the final assessment, discusses his achievements, failures and areas for development, and also resolves possible contradictions.

Clarity of goals and timely, constructive assessment of the success of their achievement increases people's interest in work, emotionally supports and motivates them.

Education. An employee acquires new knowledge and skills not only during formal training, but also directly in the process of work. Tasks of a mentor in this area:

• assess the degree of involvement of the mentee in work;
• track his involvement in various projects (both client and internal);
• request that the employee be assigned to work in different areas to gain a variety of experience.

During the work process, the mentor transfers his own knowledge and experience to the assigned employee, and also helps him obtain the necessary knowledge from other colleagues. When it comes to formal training, the role of a mentor is to identify the training needs of the mentee, facilitate their learning through internal and external seminars and trainings, and, if necessary, petition the department and company leaders for this.

It should be said that in our company, despite such a wide range of mentor activities, the employee himself bears responsibility for his own professional and career development. The mentor helps the mentee understand the internal processes and fulfill all the requirements placed on him, but the mentee is also expected to show activity. The employee himself must initiate meetings with the mentor, carefully prepare for them, voice concerns that concern him, actively seek feedback, accept and take into account constructive criticism. In this way, the employee helps his mentor help him!

Evaluating the effectiveness of mentors

To determine the effectiveness of the mentoring system as a whole and evaluate the work of specific mentors, you can use various types of surveys:

1) targeted- to determine the degree of satisfaction with the mentoring system and the work of mentors in the company;
2) more general, which include questions about mentoring, for example:

• satisfaction and engagement surveys(to get the overall picture);
• "360 degree assessment» (to obtain individual information for each mentor).

It is quite difficult to objectively assess the effectiveness of a mentor. Formal evaluation criteria may include:

• the number of meetings between a mentor and his mentee;
• timely completion of assessment forms, etc.

At the same time, formal indicators say little about the quality of a mentor’s work, so to evaluate effectiveness it is justified to use indirect indicators, such as:

• successful adaptation of a new employee to the company;
• effective performance by the ward of his professional duties;
• obvious professional growth and development of the employee, etc.

However, the success of the mentee cannot be the only evaluation criterion, since in the work of a mentor a lot depends, first of all, on the employee himself. This is exactly the case when you need to appreciate not only the result, but also the efforts to achieve it.

Motivation of mentors

It is very important not only to evaluate the work of mentors, but also to recognize its value. This becomes especially significant when we talk about mentoring as a system, about the formation of a “mentoring culture” in a company.

At first glance, the simplest method (it is practiced in some companies) is bonus payment: payment of a monetary reward for each sponsored person (for example, at the end of the probationary period). However, with this practice, there is a risk that mentors will increase the number of their wards, reducing the quality of work with each of them. For many companies, due to the existing corporate culture, this method of reward is unacceptable.

An indirect way to materially reward mentors can be the inclusion of relevant measurable indicators in the KPIs (key performance indicators) system, the implementation of which, in turn, affects the amount of salary and/or bonus. But for companies specializing in the provision of professional services, non-material motivation is still crucial:

• management's attention to the problems of mentors;
• public recognition of the importance of mentors’ work for the company;
• the use of various internal corporate insignia that give mentors a special status in the team (badges, certificates, etc.).

Also, there are good old methods like identifying the best mentor, giving special keepsakes at some corporate event, etc.

The best motivating factor is to create a corporate culture in which mentoring is perceived by employees as an honorable mission, and not as a burdensome duty. HR people play a big role in this, their creativity, perseverance, quality and timeliness of communication.

Personnel development

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