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THE POWER OF MENTORING Formal programs benefit mentor, the mentee and the agency

Mentoring was once considered a nice-to-have program to help agents achieve their goals. Many agencies launched mentoring initiatives to enrich relationships between owners, experienced professionals and young agents. The goal was to give new agents the opportunity to learn from seasoned leaders.

While most agencies had good intentions when they established their mentoring program, over time the return on these initiatives typically was not worth the investment. Either the mentor or mentee did not make enough of an effort or little to no direction was provided by the agency on how to establish and nurture a mentoring relationship. Guidelines were not established on the goals and objectives of the program. No one was held accountable. Fast forward to 2020 and mentoring is now considered a must-have program. Corporate America is finding that mentoring and coaching initiatives are important to attract and retain talent, especially among Generation Z (born between 1995-2014) and millennials (born between 1980-1994). Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce. According to a key study by Intelligence Group (a division of the Creative Artist Agency), 72% of millennials would like to be their own bosses. But, if they must work for someone, 79% would want that boss to serve more as a coach or a mentor. Another study showed that millennials want 50% more time dedicated to mentorship and coaching, and twice as much time focused on developing leadership skills. The Intelligence Group study also showed that 88% of millennials prefer a collaborative culture over a competitive culture. They also want to make a difference in their professional and personal lives. This generation wants their work to contribute to the success of the agency. Millennials need to know that their work matters and they are willing to change jobs as frequently as needed to perform purposeful work. This is why millennials often are referred to as the “purpose generation.” Millennials tend to stay in jobs for under two years and are not as motivated by the career track, raises and other incentives that are the mainstay of corporate America. Each time your agency loses someone good, you lose time and money. Forbes reported that the average cost to replace a millennial can be as high as $15,000 to $25,000, depending on the position and industry. Agencies invest significant money in recruitment. Programing around development and retention is frequently given less attention. Some of the millennials’ behavior patterns reflect this.

Launch a mentoring program Here are 11 steps you can take to launch a mentoring program at your agency: Step 1: Program alignment. Align the program with your human resources, diversity and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility goals. Work closely with employee resource groups that share your vision to build collaboratively. Step 2: Your employees’ value. Know and value that many people in your agency already are mentoring others informally. Identify the employees who are in mentoring relationships as a baseline and set a goal for the next 12 to 24 months. Step 3: Focus groups. Hold focus groups to ensure that the program is feasible and that this model is a good fit for both the mentor and mentee. Step 4: Track metrics. Start capturing metrics early—especially if your agency is looking to become more diverse and inclusive. Measure changes in retention, engagement, promotion and productivity rates—as well as other metrics and key performance indicators that are important to your agency. Step 5: Top priorities. Develop a mentor action guide to align mentoring with your top priorities. Good people (who genuinely want to help) often come together in mentoring programs, but they are unsure how to best spend their time together. Include suggestions on the duration and frequency of mentoring meetings, as well as where they should take place. Provide sample agendas, conversation starters, goals, timelines, sample activities and recognition systems. Leave room for innovation and flexibility. Step 6: Formally train mentors and mentees and in the process set expectations. Have mentors and mentees sign a contract or agreement letter to make sure everyone’s expectations are identified and understood. Step 7: Hold people accountable. Add mentoring into performance reviews and job descriptions. Align mentoring with your agency’s culture and include statements on the ROI of mentoring in key communications from management. Lead by example. Ideally, senior leaders should take on at least two protégé-mentees who are not direct reports. Step 8: Consider reverse mentoring (i.e., a younger person mentoring an older one). This is an empowering practice and you will learn from the younger workforce about technology, collaboration and teamwork. Also, if you have more mentees than mentors, schedule standing sessions with maximum of a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio. Step 9: If possible, encourage people to be a part of the mentor matching process. Have fun with some flash mentoring (similar to

speed dating) sessions in-person or online. Encourage mentees to meet three to five potential mentors for six to eight minutes each and visa-versa. Step 10: Professional develop- ment. Offer employees one- to twohour blocks monthly dedicated to professional development with their mentee(s). Start peer mentoring circles for mid-career and senior executives. Step 11: Acknowledge mentors. Recognize your employees who take time to mentor and understand the strong value proposition for them. They are the ones who are driving retention at your agency, breaking down pockets of isolation, and championing your future workforce.

Mentor your managers Recent reports from Deloitte, Gallup, Center for Creative Lead- ership and other highly regarded organizations have highlighted a critical gap in the leadership devel- opment pipeline. Research from the Association for Talent Development shows mentoring managers boosted productivity by 88%, whereas training managers resulted in a 24% increase in productivity. Sixty percent of all newly promoted managers fail within the first 18 months and 50% of managers are regarded as incompetent or failures. This can be attributed to the fact that 58% of first-time managers never receive management training prior to being promoted. Ineffective and failing managers have a tremendous impact on the produc- tivity, commitment, engagement and innovative thinking of their entire team. Gallup found a direct corre-

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lation between management competencies and engagement. According to Gallup, managers are responsible for at least 70% of their employee’s engagement. Mentoring builds good managers, and managers who are also good leaders build great teams. The mentoring relationship can be mutually beneficial to both the mentor and mentee as they inspire, innovate, learn, and grow together. Warren Berger, the author of A More Beautiful Question, talks about how when the world gets more complicated and complex, we need to question more because we must be learning and changing. He asserts that we need questioning now more than ever, and we are less comfortable with it. The mentoring relationship is the perfect place to build our capacity and grow as questioners and as active listeners.

Create a mentoring culture PGi released a study that dove into the millennial mindset. Of the millennials who participated in the survey, 71% stated that they wanted meaningful connections at work and hope to find a second family in their co-workers. Additionally, 75% of the millennials surveyed view mentoring as crucial to their successes. In the same survey, 70% of nonmillennials say they are open to reverse mentoring. They acknowledge that 20- and 30-somethings have first-hand knowledge of social media and other technical practices that older employees want and need to learn. Most millennials named “not a good cultural fit” as one of the top reasons why they left their job in the first three years. To retain this cohort in the workforce, agencies need to align their culture more to meet the needs of millennials. This should help your multigenerational workforce to have a more meaningful support system and better connections at work.

Top benefits of mentoring The top six benefits of formal workplace mentoring initiatives are: 1. A more skilled and prepared workforce. 2. Development of a diverse leadership pipeline. 3. Enhanced manager success and improved succession planning. 4. Significantly higher retention rates, especially for millennials. 5. Increased employee engagement and commitment. 6. Happier and more inclusive workplace culture. The business case for mentoring is so strong that in a Wharton study, people who mentor got promoted six times more than people who did not, and mentees were promoted five times more than those who were not mentored. The retention rate was 20% higher in both groups five years later. Deloitte discovered in its 2018 Millennial Survey that 43% of millennials expect to leave their job within two years. Deloitte also found that companies experience a 25% higher retention rate when employees participate in a mentoring program at their organization. According to SAP Success Factors, 68% of employees who intend to work for their company for more than five years are twice as likely to have a mentor, as opposed to 32% who did not. Study after study proves that there is no downside to mentoring if the program is well-engineered. Mentors and mentees are more engaged and better positioned for advancement. Engagement equals retention and retention saves time and money. Across the board, companies that invest in formal workplace mentoring programs experience substantial returns on their investment. DDI World disclosed in its Mentoring Global Leadership Forecast (2018) that 54% of organizations in the top third of financial performance have formal mentoring programs, as opposed to 33% of organizations in the bottom third. Silard Kantor is the founder and CEO of Twomentor, a high impact company that offers managed mentoring services and training. Reach her at (833)5 Mentor or Julie@Twomentor.com.