5 Mentoring Challenges and How to Work Around Them

Mentoring in organisations has been proven to work, especially when executed well. It can help support the company’s efforts for employee retention and engagement. Companies that have successfully implemented formal mentoring programs have seen their employee productivity go up by 72%. With such important numbers, it’s no surprise that over 98% of Fortune 500 companies have incorporated mentoring programs for their employees. 

Establishing a mentoring program in the workplace can be tricky, especially when done manually. It entails the assistance of a whole team to ensure the organisation gets up to speed with the processes. In large organisations and companies, this can require a dedicated mentoring manager or HR professional to manage the program design, implementation, ongoing support and evaluation to ensure the program is working.

Many large organisations are now using Mentoring Software to free up internal resources and further increase the chance of mentoring success.

Mentoring challenges or issues can arise at any time and can negatively affect the mentoring relationships and program overall. In this article, we’ll outline the common challenges and how to overcome them so that you can be prepared and help to minimise the chance of these challenges occurring. 

5 Common Mentoring Challenges and How to Deal With Them

Understanding the common challenges of mentoring can help give program administrators more control of the situation. It gives them a heads-up of what to expect and how to respond when such scenarios come up.  Here are some of the common mentoring challenges along with tips to surpass them: 

1. Lack of Strategy or Structure

Often, mentoring programs are implemented because someone thought it would be a good idea to have a mentoring program. But, what is the core need? What is the purpose of the program? What objectives do you have for mentees, mentors and the organisation?

Without a clear mentoring strategy, the paired mentors and mentees may be doing their mentoring sessions without a purpose. Without a concrete structure, the mentoring program does not tend to the goals of the organisation. 

One way to combat this is to establish a mentorship program with clear goals in mind. Remember to set expectations, objectives, and milestones to cater to every mentoring relationship. The program administrator will need to keep these things in mind:

• Identify the organisation’s target outcomes for its employee retention, engagement, culture, talent development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
• Gain support from the organisation’s top management by identifying why they need mentoring. 
• Determine the ideal audience for the mentoring program, making the program known to all employees. 
• Decide the key topics of conversation for mentees and mentors (or purposefully choose if it will be up to each pair to decide).

2. Lack of Mentor Training

Often mentees and mentors might be provided with one ‘kick-off webinar’ or mentor induction session, but there is often little ongoing training or support. Without this mentor training, mentors will:

• be prone to imposter syndrome
• have different levels of mentoring expertise and capability
• have different understandings of what being a good mentor looks like
• and be at risk of being perceived as a ‘poor mentor’ due to a lack of mentor training. 

Some mentoring software platforms now offer tools that help both the mentor and mentee with their sessions. Some platforms such as Brancher will provide online training for both mentees and mentors, so they can be supported with ‘just in time’ and ‘bite-sized’ e-learning on topics that are relevant to them.

Aside from e-learning and resource guides, there are also meeting productivity and calendar tracking tools that help monitor the progress of every mentoring pair. These tools will help prepare mentors and mentees before they start a mentoring program so they don’t go in blind.   

3. Measuring ROI

Another challenge that program administrators face with mentoring programs is measuring the return on investment (ROI). Without being able to measure the ROI properly, they have a difficult time proving the case for mentoring to the top-level executives of the organisation.   

Before starting with mentoring software, make sure to check how much you can expect to save with a Mentoring Platform ROI Calculator. This will help you provide the numbers needed for creating a mentoring business case and proposal. Some of the factors that can affect this include retention rates, participant satisfaction scores, and promotion rates. In the end, you don’t only measure success in a mentoring program, but with the achievements of the participants in the organisation. 

4. Admin Inefficiencies

In large-scale organisations, handling a mentoring program needs to be done by a team or dedicated resource. There needs to be someone dealing with every single process in the program so it can be a success. 

These processes can be handled using technology. Mentoring software can reduce the administration burden by over 80%. Some of Brancher’s customers have saved over $300,000 AUD in the first three months due to streamlined administration. With mentoring software, program design, implementation, ongoing success and evaluation are done for you – through technology. Mentee-mentor matching can be done in seconds not days or weeks. 

RELATED ARTICLE: 6 Mentoring Tools You Need for a Successful Program

5. Poorly Matched Mentors-Mentees

In a previous article. we identified five common reasons why mentoring programs fail. One reason is because of a poorly matched mentor and mentee, which typically happens when the pairing is done by a program administrator. Unconscious bias can stop the administrator from properly pairing employees, especially in large organisations. 

A poorly matched mentor and mentee can lead to an unsuccessful mentoring relationship, which can be caused by unproductive relationships, frustration, and even disengagement from the organisation’s program. 

The good news is that you can now use mentoring software to help match mentors and mentees. Brancher’s mentoring software is the only software worldwide to match based on values and attitudes, which helps to maximise pairing success.

Additionally, Brancher pairs based on skills, goals, background and other important characteristics, customised for the client. This science-based formula means that pairs are more likely to have similar interests, and professional development goals and have a strong personal connection. Call us today to see how our platform works. 

Sources: 

1. Knowledge at Wharton. (2007, May 16). Workplace Loyalties Change, but the Value of Mentoring Doesn’t. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/podcast/knowledge-at-wharton-podcast/workplace-loyalties-change-but-the-value-of-mentoring-doesnt/

2. PRWeb. (2024, March 12). 98% of US Fortune 500 firms now leverage mentoring programs as industry leaders seek innovative and measurable solutions for employee engagement, upskilling, and DEI. https://www.prweb.com/releases/98-of-us-fortune-500-firms-now-leverage-mentoring-programs-as-industry-leaders-seek-innovative-and-measurable-solutions-for-employee-engagement-upskilling-and-dei-302083813.html