Mentoring Program Evaluation: What to Measure, When to Measure It, and How to Report It

Last Updated: June 15, 2026

Mentoring programmes can do a great deal for an organisation, though only if you can show what they are changing and why it matters.

If you cannot measure progress, it becomes difficult to prove value, improve the experience for participants, or secure long-term support from leadership. That is why mentoring programme evaluation should not be treated as an afterthought. It should be built into the programme from the beginning.

At Brancher, we see evaluation as more than end-of-programme reporting. Done properly, it helps you design a better programme, track what is working in real time, and link mentoring activity to outcomes your organisation actually cares about, whether that is retention, leadership capability, engagement, or internal mobility.

TL;DR

Mentoring program evaluation works best when it is built into the program from the start, not saved for end-of-program reporting. The article argues that organizations should begin by defining clear business and people outcomes (such as retention, leadership capability, engagement, internal mobility, or skill development) then choose the KPIs that best show whether the program is actually driving change.

A strong evaluation approach combines baseline data, leading and lagging indicators, quantitative and qualitative feedback, and a practical reporting timeline. Brancher recommends measuring early signals like match activation, meeting frequency, and goal progress alongside longer-term outcomes like retention, promotions, confidence growth, and leadership readiness. The overall goal is not just to prove value, but to improve the mentoring experience and make smarter decisions with every cohort.

Table of Contents

• Why Mentoring Program Evaluation Matters

• Define Program Goals and Success Criteria First

  • Start with Business Outcomes, Not Just Activity

  • Capture Baseline Metrics Before Launch

• Mentoring Program KPIs to Track from Day One

  • Leading indicators

  • Lagging indicators

• How to Measure Mentorship Success with Quantitative and Qualitative Data

  • Quantitative metrics

  • Qualitative metrics

• Sample Mentoring Program Survey Questions

  • Questions for mentees

  • Questions for mentors

  • Mid-program pulse questions

• What Good Mentor-Mentee Relationship Data Actually Looks Like

  • Relationship health indicators

• Common Mentoring Metrics That Can Mislead

• How to Measure the ROI of a Mentoring Program

  • Areas that can contribute to ROI

• When to Measure: A Practical Evaluation Timeline

• How Brancher Evaluates Mentoring Programs

• How Brancher Helps Administrators Measure Success

• Frequently Asked Questions

Why Mentoring Programme Evaluation Matters?

A mentoring programme is easier to defend when you can show evidence of progress, rather than relying on anecdotes or goodwill.

Evaluation gives programme administrators a practical way to understand whether mentors and mentees are engaging well, whether goals are being achieved, and whether the programme is delivering results that matter to the organisation.

It also helps you make better decisions as the programme runs. If engagement drops, if pairings are weak, or if participants are not progressing against their goals, you need a way to spot that early and respond.

Define Programme Goals and Success Criteria First

Before you measure anything, you need to be clear on what success looks like. A mentoring programme cannot be evaluated well if its goals are vague.

At Brancher, we recommend starting with the business or people outcome the programme is meant to support. That might include:

• Skill development
• Retention and satisfaction
• Leadership capability
• Career progression
• Belonging and connection

If your programme is focused on leadership growth, it helps to define that clearly from the outset. For example, if the programme supports emerging leaders, you may want to align success criteria with broader leadership development objectives.

Start with Business Outcomes, Not Just Activity

A common mistake is to define success in terms of participation alone. A busy programme is not always an effective one. Instead of asking only how many people joined, ask what the programme is supposed to improve.

For example:

• If the goal is retention, track participant retention over time
• If the goal is capability, measure confidence, skills and behavioural growth
• If the goal is leadership readiness, track progress against defined development goals

Capture Baseline Metrics Before Launch

Baseline data gives you a point of comparison later. Without it, you may see positive feedback at the end of the programme, though still struggle to show change.

Before launch, capture the most relevant baseline measures for your cohort, such as:

• current retention rate
• current promotion or internal mobility rate
• confidence or self-assessed capability
• existing leadership readiness
• current engagement or satisfaction levels
• current cross-functional exposure, where relevant

If you use a mentoring agreement at the start of each relationship, that can also help both mentors and mentees set goals and define what success should look like from their perspective.

Mentoring Programme KPIs to Track from Day One

Once goals are defined, the next step is choosing the KPIs that will tell you whether the programme is healthy and whether it is having an effect.

At Brancher, we recommend tracking both leading indicators and lagging indicators.

1. Leading Indicators

Leading indicators show whether the programme is working early enough for you to intervene if needed. These are often the first signs that a programme is on track, or not.

Useful leading indicators include:

• Match activation rate
• First meeting completion rate
• Meeting frequency
• Meeting satisfaction
• Goals set and goals in progress
• Training completion
• Mentor and mentee satisfaction
• Retention of mentoring pairs

These align well with the kinds of mentoring software data Brancher already helps administrators track, including meeting frequency, meeting satisfaction, goals set and achieved, training completed, and retention of mentoring pairs.

2. Lagging Indicators

Lagging indicators tell you whether the programme has delivered broader outcomes over time.

Useful lagging indicators include:

• Retention
• Promotion rate
• Internal mobility
• Skills growth
• Confidence growth
• Engagement
• Job satisfaction
• Leadership readiness
• Organisational commitment

The key is to match the KPI to the original goal. Not every programme needs every metric.

How to Measure Mentorship Success with Quantitative and Qualitative data

Strong evaluation uses both quantitative and qualitative inputs. One gives you hard numbers, the other gives you context.

Quantitative Metrics

Quantitative data helps you track patterns and compare results over time. Common sources include:

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Programme platform data
• HR data
• Baseline vs post-programme comparisons

This kind of data is useful for showing trends in areas such as confidence, skills, meeting activity, retention and promotions.

Qualitative Metrics

Qualitative data helps you understand why the numbers look the way they do. It gives you richer insight into participant experience and programme quality.

Useful qualitative sources include:

• Open-text survey responses
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Case studies
• Programme administrator observations

At Brancher, we find that qualitative feedback is especially valuable when a programme appears healthy on paper but still needs refinement in how relationships are supported or how goals are being framed.

Sample Mentoring Programme Survey Questions

One of the most useful upgrades you can make to a mentoring programme evaluation article is to include practical questions people can use immediately. Administrators are not just looking for theory. They want examples they can adapt.

Questions for Mentees

• Are your mentoring goals clear
• Do you feel your mentor understands what you want to achieve
• Have your conversations helped you make progress so far
• Has your confidence improved since joining the programme
• Do you feel comfortable asking your mentor for honest feedback
• What has been the most valuable part of the programme so far

Questions for Mentors

• Do you feel the mentee is engaged and prepared
• Are expectations for the relationship clear
• Do you have the right support and structure to mentor effectively
• Has the relationship been a worthwhile use of your time
• What barriers, if any, are affecting progress
• Would you participate in the programme again

Mid-programme Pulse Questions

• Have you met often enough
• Is the mentoring match working well
• Are you making progress against your goals
• Do you need more support from the programme administrator
• What would improve the experience over the next phase of the programme

These questions are especially useful when paired with short pulse surveys during the programme, rather than waiting until the end.

What Good Mentor-Mentee Relationship Data Actually Looks Like

The quality of the mentor-mentee relationship is one of the clearest drivers of programme success, though it is often assessed too loosely.

At Brancher, we recommend looking at relationship quality through a few specific lenses:

Relationship Health Indicators

• Trust and openness
• Consistency of meetings
• Clarity of goals
• Perceived value of conversations
• Willingness to continue the relationship
• Progress against agreed actions

A relationship does not need to be perfect to be effective, though it does need momentum, trust and a shared understanding of purpose.

Common Mentoring Metrics that can Mislead

Some metrics look useful because they are easy to report, though on their own they do not tell you much about programme effectiveness.

Be careful not to over-rely on:

• Number of matches created
• Total meetings alone
• Platform logins
• Programme completion rate without outcome data

Although these metrics are not useless, they become much more valuable when paired with stronger evidence such as satisfaction, goal progress, behavioural change, confidence growth, retention or promotion outcomes.

How to Measure the ROI of a Mentoring Programme?

Not every programme needs a finance-heavy ROI model, though most organisations do want a clearer answer to a simple question: was the programme worth the investment?

We recommend treating ROI as a practical business case rather than a perfect formula. Start by linking programme outcomes to areas that have financial or strategic value.

Areas that can Contribute to ROI

• Improved retention
• Stronger internal promotions
• Better leadership capability
• Reduced manual administration
• Stronger engagement and advocacy
• Improved programme scalability through software

A simple starting point is:

Estimated net benefit = value of retention gains + value of internal progression + value of capability or productivity gains - programme cost.

If you want ROI, use: ROI (%) = (estimated benefits - programme cost) / programme cost × 100.

If your programme is closely tied to retention, it may also be worth linking to your broader work on employee retention.

You can also use our Mentoring ROI Calculator to help you calculate this.

When to Measure: A Practical Evaluation Timeline

Evaluation works best when it follows the rhythm of the programme. If you only review results at the end, you miss the chance to improve outcomes while the programme is live.

Before Launch:

• Define goals
• Select KPIs
• Capture baseline data
• Align reporting owners

First 30 days:

• Track match activation
• Confirm first meetings are happening
• Check goal-setting completion
• Run a short pulse survey

Mid-programme:

• Measure satisfaction
• Assess relationship quality
• Review progress against goals
• Identify support needs or risks

End of programme:

• Compare baseline vs final results
• Review confidence, skills and behaviour changes
• Collect qualitative reflections
• Prepare stakeholder reporting

Post-programme Follow-up:

• Review retention
• Review promotions or internal mobility
• Track longer-term leadership or career outcomes
• Feed insights into the next programme cycle

How We Evaluate Mentoring Programmes at Brancher

At Brancher, we use the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model as a practical structure for programme evaluation. It gives administrators a clear way to assess mentoring at four levels:

Level 1: Reaction

How mentors and mentees responded to the programme.

Level 2: Learning

What participants learned and whether their skills or confidence improved.

Level 3: Behaviour

Whether participants applied what they learned in practice.

Level 4: Results

What benefits the organisation experienced as a result.

This model helps keep evaluation balanced. It reminds us that a mentoring programme should not be judged by participant enjoyment alone, nor only by long-term business results. Both matter.

How Brancher Helps Administrators Measure Success

Measuring a mentoring programme manually can become difficult very quickly, especially once the programme grows.

That is why we built Brancher to help organisations build, scale and measure mentoring programmes more effectively.

Our platform supports administrators with:

• Automated matching
• Pre-built training and discussion templates
• Data dashboards and reporting
• Survey collection and feedback loops
• Visibility into programme engagement and relationship health

That means you can spend less time chasing data and more time improving the programme itself.

If you want a closer look at how to structure mentoring measurement from launch, you can also explore our guide on measuring a mentoring programme’s success.

A strong mentoring programme evaluation process does not just help you prove value at the end. It helps you build a better programme from day one, support mentors and mentees more effectively, and make smarter decisions with every new cohort.

If you would like to see how Brancher helps administrators track mentoring outcomes with less manual work, book a demo.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is mentoring program evaluation?

Mentoring program evaluation is the process of measuring whether a mentoring program is working, what it is changing, and why those changes matter. It should track both participant experience and business outcomes such as retention, leadership readiness, internal mobility, confidence, and engagement.

What should you measure in a mentoring program?

You should measure both leading and lagging indicators. Leading indicators include match activation, first meeting completion, meeting frequency, satisfaction, goals set, and training completion. Lagging indicators include retention, promotion rate, internal mobility, confidence growth, skills growth, engagement, and leadership readiness.

When should mentoring program evaluation happen?

Mentoring program evaluation should happen before, during, and after the program. The article recommends capturing baseline data before launch, checking activation and goal-setting in the first 30 days, reviewing satisfaction and progress mid-program, comparing outcomes at the end, and following up later on retention, promotions, and longer-term career outcomes.

How do you measure mentorship success effectively?

The best way to measure mentorship success is to combine quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data shows patterns in surveys, platform usage, HR data, and baseline-versus-post-program results, while qualitative data from interviews, open-text responses, focus groups, and case studies explains why those results happened.

How can you show the ROI of a mentoring program?

You can show ROI by linking mentoring outcomes to business value. The article suggests looking at retention gains, internal promotions, leadership capability, engagement, reduced manual administration, and improved scalability through software, then comparing those benefits against program cost.