Improve Mentoring Relationships: Follow These Tips

Mentoring in organisations works. When a mentoring program is executed properly, organisations can reap its benefits. 55% of businesses have said that their mentoring program has positively impacted their profit. Ever since the pandemic, there has been an increase of 30% in organisations that kickstarted their mentorship programs. 

With these numbers, it’s important to point out that mentoring doesn’t always lead to successful results. There are several reasons why mentoring programs fail. Mostly, it has to do with poorly matched mentors and mentees. However, with the number of advantages that both mentees and mentors receive from mentoring programs, it’s not surprising that organisations continue to work on facilitating effective programs. 

Program administrators can improve mentoring relationships by using mentoring software. Mentoring software can streamline processes to reduce the administration burden, reduce the chance of issues or failures and maximise success. 

In this article, we’ll share some tips on what a healthy mentor-mentee relationship looks like and what a poorly-matched pairing results in. 

What Does a Healthy Mentoring Relationship Look Like?

A mentee-mentor relationship is a professional and developmental relationship between a mentor and a mentee. The mentor acts as a guide by offering advice and support to their mentee/s. With their support, they can help their mentee/s achieve their personal and professional goals. 

Through mentorship, mentees realise their potential. To have a successful mentoring relationship, these things should be present:

1. Mutual Respect

A healthy mentor-mentee relationship is a two-way street. Both parties learn and grow from each other. For that to happen, however, the mentor and mentee should respect one another. They should not belittle the other individual in any way. They also need to listen to each other’s opinions and pieces of advice.

At the beginning of a mentoring program, the program administrator should establish clear guidelines and a Code of Conduct that includes this. If the administrator is using mentoring software, this will be taken care of (through a virtual Code of Conduct, Mentoring Agreement and online training).

2. Personal Connection

In another blog post (link above), we highlighted the reasons why mentoring programs fail. Part of that reason is because the mentor and mentee have been poorly matched. Some of the biggest predictors of mentoring success are whether people are compatible on a “deep level” (i.e. personality and values alignment). Mentors and mentees who do not have a strong personal connection will struggle to achieve any goals together. 

The good news is that there is now mentoring software that offers science-based pairing. Through this, the platform can offer mentoring pairings based on their values and behavioural traits. This is key for a successful mentoring pairing. 

3. Effective Communication

Effective communication does not mean just being able to converse properly– it also means that both the mentor and mentee can listen without judgment.

The mentor needs to be able to actively listen to the mentee without prejudice. When the mentor offers constructive feedback, the mentee should not take it negatively. They should also practice active listening so they can fully comprehend the mentor’s advice without any misunderstandings. 

4. Manage Expectations

Every relationship with unrealistic expectations is bound to fail. The same is true with mentee-mentor relationships. They should have a set of realistic expectations on what they expect of each other (i.e. how frequently and when they will communicate), what each person is responsible for and how they want the mentoring relationship to flourish. If the mentee’s goals are not met, they should not blame the mentor. The mentee is responsible for their own development and goal achievement. 

In a mentoring program, it’s suggested to have a Mentoring Agreement from the start. This helps keep the relationship grounded and have a clear understanding of what to expect. This Agreement is also the first point of reference if there are any issues in the relationship. Most issues can be resolved by referring back to the Mentoring Agreement and clarifying what each party expects of each other.

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Be a Great Mentor: Key Insights & Practical Tips

What Does a Poorly Matched Mentoring Relationship Look Like?

A poorly matched mentoring relationship is not healthy for an organisation’s mentoring program. Aside from wasting time and resources, it can also lead other individuals to have a bad impression of mentoring. 

A poorly-matched mentoring pairing often experiences the following:

• Poor communication: The mentor and mentee do not feel safe and comfortable to open up to each other. 

• Lack of Commitment: The mentor or mentee can also be easily distracted and fail to connect with their pair. When situations arise, they may feel the need to keep rescheduling the mentorship session. 

• Perceived Competition: The mentor may feel threatened by the mentee and inadvertently sabotage them. 

• Poor Pairing or Connection: The differentiating views and opinions may cause the mentor and mentee to clash with each other. They end up having trouble agreeing on even the smallest things. 

• Conflict of Interest: A mentor with direct seniority over a mentee might struggle with the pairing due to a conflict of interest. This is why it’s best to pair a mentee with someone from a different team in the organisation. 

Because of the poorly matched pairing, the mentor or mentee might come up with excuses not to proceed with the program. These people are missing out. 71% of people with a mentor have said their organisation has helped provide them with opportunities to advance their careers. Additionally, 25% of employees engaged in a mentoring program had experienced a salary-grade change. 

How to Improve Mentoring Relationships 

To reap the benefits of mentoring in the organisation, the program administrator needs to ensure that mentors and mentees have been matched properly. This can be achieved by using mentoring software that pairs mentors and mentees through a science-based formula. You can call Brancher today to see how we’ve managed to make successful mentoring pairs achieve over 90% satisfaction from both small and large organisations.