Traditionally mentoring is a one-on-one process between an experienced employee as the mentor and a young, less experienced employee as the mentee. However, modern mentoring happens in various forms, such as, group mentoring, peer mentoring, and reverse mentoring.
Group mentoring is where one or more experienced employees in an organization mentor a group of less experienced employees. The mentees share a broad learning goal and discuss the same topic in the mentoring sessions. It is an innovative way to connect mentees with their mentor. In fact, for many organizations, group mentoring has proven to be equally or more effective.
Few Benefits of Group Mentoring Programs are:
- It’s a time-efficient way to reach more people
- It promotes diversity in the workplace as it involves more than two individuals
- Mentees gain insight not only from the mentor but also from other mentees in the group
If you are planning for a group mentoring program in your organization, here are 7 ways to make it successful.
1. Decide the Group’s Structure for Your Group Mentoring Program
Once you decide to implement a group mentoring program, the first thing you want to do is planning the group’s structure. Make a note of how many groups you will form. Decide the size of each group, and how many mentees and mentors you want in a group.
Most mentoring groups are formed with one to three mentors and five to fifteen mentees. But we do not recommend more than one to two mentors and five mentees per group.
2. Plan for the Program’s Meetings
For a group mentoring program to be successful, you have to have a plan for the meetings. Whether it will be a face-to-face mentoring or a virtual mentoring, how often the participants will meet, or how long each session will go, plan everything before starting the program. Convey the same to the participants and make sure everything happens according to the plan.
Lack of a solid plan can create confusion among participants which will diminish their motivation towards the program.
3. Watch Individual Participant’s Issues
There are challenges when two people enter into a mentoring relationship. As group mentoring involves more than two individuals, with different mindsets, the issues will be more. And if they are not solved in time, it will affect the effectiveness of the program.
Keep an eye on each participant’s issues, talk to them, make them comfortable so that they can be open about their problems. This will help you understand where the problem is and how to solve it.
4. Build a Support System
A mentoring program needs ongoing support. Provide group mentor training to all the participants. The topics must include how to build the relationship, how to handle different types of conversation, and how to manage expectations.
Provide the mentors and mentees with all the resources they need during their training and even after that. This includes topical content, mentoring best practices, mentoring guide for mentor and mentees, program policies, etc.
Make sure your mentoring program manager has regular check-ins to keep the relationship on track in terms of goals. Also, give mentors and mentees the space to express any concern they have throughout the program.
5. Make Use of Technology
While face-to-face group sessions are useful, technology can enhance the overall mentoring experience. It allows participants to communicate and stay connected even after the mentoring sessions.
Technology can also help you track the output of the program and analyze it. Rather than manual check-ins, you can use software to gather detailed information such as mentoring activities, participant engagement, program’s progress, etc. This helps reduce manual effort while providing accurate data.
6. Establish the Duration of the Group Mentoring Program
The relationship formed between mentors and mentees, during the program, can continue for life, but the program cannot. It must have a definite beginning and a known ending in order to achieve specific organizational goals.
- A mentoring relationship goes through four phases: Building foundation for the relationship, communication is the key here
- Progress, where the mentee starts working on the objectives and goals set in the previous phase
- Analysis and Revision, where the mentor and mentee work together to revise the goals and objectives
- Dormancy, where the mentorship will taper off over time, but will not end
The Foundation takes 1-2 months, Progress phase lasts for 2-5 months, Analysis and Revision takes 5-9 months, and Dormancy comes after 9 months.
Typically 9-12 months is the best duration to set for a mentoring program.
7. Measure the Results
Group Mentoring provides long-lasting effects to the participants and the organization. Measure the result of your mentoring program through quantitative and qualitative surveys. Check for organizational goals set and achieved, and individual participant’s success.
You can compare the result with those who did not participate in the program to understand the impact of the program better.
We recommend using a mentoring software to measure the result rather than a manual survey which is time-consuming and grueling.
Group mentoring provides additional learning and development opportunities to the employees, which helps strengthen your organization in the long run. Though the success of the program depends on various factors, a well-structured program is always effective.
Also Read:
Mentoring Expectations from a Mentor
How to Become a Certified Mentor
Interested In Training Your Mentoring Participants?
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