Is It Time to Scale Your Mentoring Program?

What R&D professionals should know before scaling a mentoring program

You’re running a mentoring program that’s showing promise. Engagement’s solid, feedback’s encouraging, and now people from other teams are asking to join. That’s your sign: it might be time to scale a mentoring program across your organisation. 

But before you hit the ‘go big’ button, there’s a stack of things you need to get right — otherwise, you’ll scale chaos instead of impact.

Why Companies Need Mentoring (Still)

You’d think with all the online courses, AI tools, and learning platforms available, mentoring would be on its way out. But here’s the reality: mentoring is one of the few development strategies that actually sticks.

People don’t grow from content alone — they grow through relationships, accountability, and context. And that’s where mentoring shines.

Here’s what mentoring actually delivers:

• Faster ramp-up for new hires
• Stronger leadership pipelines
• Increased employee engagement
• More inclusive, collaborative team cultures
• Better retention of top performers

Mentored employees are 5x more likely to be promoted, according to a Gartner study. And companies with mentoring programs see higher engagement, stronger culture, and better retention — especially in early-career and underrepresented talent pools.

Still think it’s optional?

Now the real question: can you scale those results without burning out your mentors or drowning in admin?

Is It Time to Scale Your Mentoring Program?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most mentoring programs are too small, too manual, and too leader-dependent to drive real impact.

So how do you know when it’s time to scale your mentoring program?

Check yourself on these:

• You’ve got a waitlist of employees who want in.
• Matching is a nightmare, and you're relying on gut feel (or worse, Excel).
• Your pilot proved ROI, but it’s stuck in “phase one” limbo.
• L&D is overloaded, and mentoring is still sitting in someone’s “side of desk” pile.
• You’ve been asked for metrics — and you’ve got anecdotes.

If any of these hit home, it’s not just time to scale — it’s past time.

Scaling doesn’t mean bloating your program. It means getting serious about structure, systems, and sustainability. Think beyond 1:1s. Think group mentoring, reverse mentoring, flash mentoring. Think digital tools that do the heavy lifting — so your team can focus on outcomes, not admin.

What R&D Professionals Should Know Before Scaling a Mentoring Program

Before you roll out a shiny new platform or blast out invites to 500 people, slow down. Scaling mentoring the wrong way is worse than not scaling at all.

Here’s what smart L&D leaders get right:

1. Get Crystal Clear on the Why

You can’t scale what you can’t define. What’s your mentoring program actually driving?

• Skills development?
• Innovation?
• Knowledge transfer?
• Leadership grooming?

Tie the program goals directly to business outcomes. If execs can’t see the ROI, they won’t back the scale-up.

2. Know Your Audience

Not all R&D folks want the same thing. A junior chemist fresh out of uni has different needs than a senior systems engineer with 20 years’ experience.

Map out:

• Career stages
• Common challenges
• Preferred formats (some may hate Zoom, others love it)

Then, segment your approach — don’t roll out a one-size-fits-none program.

3. Audit the Foundations

Before scaling, run a quick health check:

• Are matches working?
• Are sessions happening?
• Is feedback being collected — and used?

Fix what’s broken now. Scaling won’t solve problems, it’ll amplify them.

4. Budget Like You Mean It

Scaling mentoring doesn’t have to mean scaling headcount. If you do it right, you don’t need to hire a program manager, run endless training sessions, or cobble together engagement campaigns.

That’s where Brancher comes in.

✅ No need for extra admin — the platform handles onboarding, matching, scheduling, and reminders.
✅ No need for external training — Brancher includes built-in, on-demand learning for mentors and mentees.
✅ No need for a full comms plan — our platform nudges and engages users automatically.

💡 Most clients reduce internal admin by 80% — and in many cases, eliminate the need for a program coordinator altogether.

Even better? You can prove ROI from day one:

• Retain more high-performing staff
• Accelerate internal development
• Demonstrate impact with real-time analytics and reporting

Tight budget? That’s exactly why investing in mentoring software pays off. You don’t need a team to run it — just the right platform.

If your CFO thinks mentoring runs itself, show them:

• What it actually costs to replace top talent
• The 5x promotion rate for mentored employees (Gartner)
• The cost-benefit of doing it well (vs. doing it manually or not at all)

📉 When budgets are tight, this is one line item that pays for itself.

5. Upgrade Your Matching Game

Manual matching won’t cut it beyond 20 people. You need a platform that uses data — not guesswork — to align people based on goals, skills, and even personality types.

Good matching = better outcomes + less drop-off.

6. Train Your Mentors (Don’t Just Hope They’re Good at It)

Being a brilliant researcher doesn’t make someone a great mentor. You’ve got to give them the tools:

• Short, sharp training modules
• Clear expectations and boundaries
• Peer support (mentors need a community too)

And don’t forget to celebrate them. Recognition goes a long way.

RELATED: The Role of Mentoring in Improving Employee Wellbeing

7. Structure Without Red Tape

Scale requires a clear structure — but not a bureaucratic one. Define:

• Minimum engagement (e.g., one session per month)
• Goal-setting templates
• Optional vs. mandatory touchpoints

Leave enough flexibility for people to make it work on their terms.

8. Measure What Matters

If you’re not measuring, you’re guessing. Track both qualitative and quantitative data:

• Session attendance and match retention
• Feedback scores
• Promotions, retention, and performance outcomes

Present this data regularly to leadership. It’s your best argument for continued investment.

9. Don’t Skip the Culture Piece

Mentoring should feel like part of how your organisation works — not a side project. That means:

• Executive visibility (leaders should mentor, not just support it)
• Stories and wins shared across the business
• Mentoring baked into onboarding, performance reviews, and career dev plans

How We Helped Queensland’s NRM Sector Scale Mentoring Across 11 Regions

I won’t bore you with another vague success story. Instead, here’s a real example of how we helped Queensland’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) sector scale mentoring across 11 regional organisations — each with different priorities, spread across thousands of kilometres, and zero interest in fluff.

They needed more than good intentions. They needed a system that worked.

So we delivered:

• Data-driven matching based on values and personality (not gut feel)
• An easy-to-use digital platform their teams could actually adopt
• Local support to keep the program relevant and evolving

The result?
🔹 90% satisfaction with matches
🔹 Strong, sustained engagement
🔹 A structure now being picked up by other industries

We designed it to scale from day one — and it’s still growing.

👉 [Read the full case study to see exactly how we did it.]

What You Need to Scale Your Mentoring Program

If your mentoring program’s getting traction, don’t wait for it to stall. Scale it — with purpose, not panic. That means knowing exactly why it exists, backing it with real resources, and building a structure that doesn’t collapse the moment 50 more people want in.

This isn’t just a box-ticking exercise. Done right, mentoring is one of the most powerful ways to build capability, retain top talent, and strengthen culture — especially when everything else feels in flux.

If you’re ready to scale your mentoring program with a partner that actually gets it, we’re ready to help. Brancher is a mentoring provider built in Australia, made for scale, and focused on outcomes — not busywork.

👉 Let’s talk. Book a demo today.