NOTE: This post originally appeared in our new "Mentorship Magic" Substack Newsletter. To have these types of insights (and more) delivered directly to your email inbox every other week, Subscribe Here.
I would like to officially say WELCOME to “Mentorship Magic”! This newsletter is our attempt to share in the hard work of championing mentorship every single day — work that can be an unforgiving uphill climb, work that has varying levels of success across all organizations. Just know that we see you and appreciate your efforts!
Hopefully this (semi) weekly sampling of mentorship news, notes, statistics, and success stories helps further the cause. This first go-round will be a sampling of the different types of content you can expect in your inbox moving forward.
One last note for context — “Mentorship Magic” is written, produced, maintained, and supported by the team behind The Mentor Method platform. We will leverage our experience designing, launching, and operating mentorship programs (a 24/7-365 job) to inform weekly content, but wanted to re-assure you that this newsletter won’t turn into a long-game sales pitch. We understand that organizations often can’t or won’t invest in technology to support their mentoring goals — so we started “Mentorship Magic” to be a free tool in your tool belt to continue advocating for a future full of mentorship.
On to the good stuff!
📰Mentorship in the News
What To Expect: Coverage and commentary on all things mentorship — emerging trends and research, success stories across industries, and anything else the at crops up in the news. Like….
Our first time coming across “micromentoring” at Belkin: a flexible, skill-focused, agile approach that “ensures a diverse learning experience for mentees and a rewarding teaching experience for mentors” — even bringing tangible results to the table, like the CIO helping the Learning & Talent Development Manager negotiate a 20% discount on a massive vendor contract.
“10 Mentorship Myths Busted” in Forbes — while mostly review for those intimately familiar with mentorship trends and practices, we were reminded that everyone starts somewhere. And exploring what mentorship “is not” is as good a foundation as any for exploring what it can be for you and your team!
A deep dive on Alumni Mentorship at Gettysburg College that reminded us how higher education is starting to embrace mentorship as a critical student retention strategy as well as a vehicle for linking the education and workforce ecosystems
🗣️Making the Case for Mentorship
What To Expect: Actionable insights and compelling arguments to equip you to convince your leadership that mentorship is a not just a worthwhile investment, but a strategic imperative — no matter the work you do. Like…
The Mentorship ROI Formula
We all know that employee turnover is costly from both a financial standpoint and due to the loss of institutional knowledge — but when planning and budgeting for internal initiatives, it can often be hard to communicate to leadership the size of the turnover risk (or how mentorship might alleviate those concerns).
SHRM pegs the ‘replacement cost’ of an experienced employee at 50-60% of their salary (~$36,000 for an employee earning $60,000 a year). It can balloon up to 200% of their salary when considering both hard and soft costs of hiring, onboarding, and training).
How to avoid that multi-faceted pain? Mentorship.
94% of employees would stay at their company longer if their employer invested in their career development
Retention rates with their current organization are +50% higher for employees who are mentored vs. those who are not. Mentors participating in a program also see a +20% bump in retention over those who did not participate
Employees are 49% less likely to leave companies that offer mentoring programs
So the Mentorship ROI Formula is actually quite simple:
$ Investment in Mentorship Program (technology cost, internal people time & effort)
just has to be less than <
The Replacement Cost of 1 Employee
And that’s conservative. For every participating employee that your mentorship program helps serve, the marginal benefit to the organization increases exponentially thanks to the increase in individual retention likelihood. The cost of investment is centralized, but the benefits are diffuse across dozens, hundreds, even thousands of employees. All it takes is one employee retained to have the investment paying for itself!
💡Mentor Method Pro Tips
What to Expect: Discussion on A highlight on best practices to champion mentorship within your organization — from early advocacy with leadership decision makers to program design specifics to how you can recover when engagement drops off! Like…
Tip #1: “What gets measured, gets managed” — Aligning Mentorship Program Goals with Success Metrics
Establishing clear, measurable goals for your mentorship program is critically important — this alignment is not just about ticking boxes; it's about ensuring that mentorship initiatives contribute meaningfully to both individual development and organizational success.Mentorship programs are most effective when their objectives resonate with the broader goals of the organization. Whether it's enhancing leadership skills, improving employee retention, or fostering a more inclusive workplace culture, the key is to define success in a way that can be quantified. This approach allows organizations to track progress over time, making adjustments as necessary to enhance the program's effectiveness.
Examples of Successful Metrics
Successful metrics often include increased job satisfaction scores, higher retention rates among mentees, and progression in leadership competencies. For instance, a program aimed at improving leadership skills might measure success through pre- and post-program assessments of leadership behaviors, feedback from direct reports, or the number of mentees who move into leadership positions within a certain period after completing the program.
Leveraging Data for Continuous Improvement
By linking mentorship goals to real success metrics, organizations can create a feedback loop that informs continuous improvement. This data-driven approach not only validates the investment in mentorship programs but also highlights their impact on the organization's overall performance. For example, if a goal is to improve retention, tracking participant retention rates against non-participants can provide clear evidence of the program's value.Aligning mentorship program goals with measurable success metrics is not just about proving value; it's about creating a roadmap for meaningful development and organizational growth.
🧑💻Product Updates
What to Expect: Periodic product updates and key announcements from The Mentor Method team. Like…
The Streamlined “Create a Program” Workflow
As of mid-June, it’s even easier to spin up a mentoring, coaching, sponsorship, or onboarding program via The Mentor Method thanks to a cleaner interface, more intuitive workflow, and “any time launch” capability. Day-in and day-out, we strive to be the “easy button” for folks who are passionate about mentorship but who may not have years of experience and lessons learned.
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