Tomorrow I am going back to the University in Stavanger and their mentor program.
I am really looking forward to see all the mentees and mentors again, and get some feedback on their road in the mentoring landscape their in.
Ask yourself
- Where do I want to be at the completion of my mentoring voyage?
- What opportunities do you want a mentoring experience to give you?
- What will be different for you then?
- Do you really want that?
- Will you be ready for it?
- What does your gut say?
The Big Five Vol. II
I am going back to JCI oslo and their mentoring program for the CEO´s in Young Enterprice. The training will be for their mentors. I had the first training with them in October 2010 and now it´s time for some more input.
It will be real fun to hear about their experiences so far in the program.
Norwegian Entrepreneurship organisation
Had a very interesting meeting last week with Norsk Gründerforum (www.norskgrunderforum.no).
We discussed how we could do a mentor program for entrepreneurs. We know the interest are there so we just have to find the right price, trainings, meetings and mentors etc.
We will start to put out some questionaire about this to over 5 000 entrepreneurs in Norway.
More of this will come.
University of Stavanger (UIS), (Norway)
I have been to UIS a couple of time now, the first time to interview the students and the second time to train both the mentee and the mentors.
I will later talk some more about how I interview them and also put out some pictures.
Exciting meetings
Coming home from two days of meetings / conference in Sweden. Very nice people and good topics.
Tomorrow I’m going to Stavanger for mentee interwiev. 15 mentee for the mentor program at the university in Stavanger. I’m looking sooo forward to meet them and listening to their great plans for the future.
— Post From My iPhone
How do I establish and maintain mentoring relationships when people are geographically distant from each other?
Answer: Have a face-to-face meeting when you start the relationship
Distance relationships can be very productive. Breaking the ice and establishing rapport is so much easier, face-to-face.
Begin with a function that brings participants together. The investment outweighs the cost of a failed relationship.
If you cannot get together use videocalls (such as Skype), which is better than email or an ordinary phonecall.
Extra work is necessary to ensure the viability of the long-distance relationship. Extra contact and newsletters help. You may wish to provide participants with regular mentoring articles? You will find a lot of them here at this blog.
Good luck!
The end is near!
A group of mentors were at the end of their twelve month mentoring program. It is a moving experience to hear them share their outcomes.
It was clear that mentors as well as those mentored had gained significantly from the process. They increased skills and confidence, had courage to apply for positions, and were able to think «outside the square».
All were very positive about themselves, their colleagues and their organisation – despite the fact that a staff freeze is impacting on career opportunities right now.
Return on Investment
You may or may not have to put a dollar value on your mentoring strategy but you will need to identify some success indicators. Here are a few thought starters.
- Staff retention
- Return to work after maternity leave or injury
- Representation of target group in grade, roles, positions, locations
- Percentage of applications for internal jobs or promotions
- Number in the target group who won a position or promotion
- Number who participate in training, education or development opportunities
- Number of external (target group) applicants for jobs
- Benchmark comparison, industry average, other organisations
Some of these are easy to put a dollar value. For example, mentoring programs specifically designed to attract and retain graduates. Recruiting graduates is expensive and there is no ROI if you lose your new person within two years. Gen Y has been notoriously career-oriented and mobile. Some organisations, such as government agencies cannot pay big dollars to get or keep graduates, so mentoring is a cost-effective strategy attractive to the career development focus of this group.
Likewise, many organisations are not ready for the exodus of experience when baby-boomers retire. Being mentors can help keep them, engage them and increase their productivity while facilitating knowledge transfer.
You can probably find some figures within your organisation or industry regarding the replacement cost of staff. Obviously it varies depending on the role. But a ballpark estimate of around 2-3 times annual salary per person could be a starting point. You can’t ignore this kind of money. That’s why one of our major banks was a trailblazer twenty years ago, with mentoring as part of a suit of programs for women on maternity leave. They realised that the cost of losing their talent and experience, long-term, was unacceptable and avoidable.
One way to evaluating ROI is to look at the cost of not having mentoring. Last year one of my clients launched a career-focused mentoring program. However, the GFC meant that the program coincided with a job freeze! Yet because of the mentoring, participants spent twelve months enthusiastic about their employer and confident about their future instead of succumbing to disenchantment. That’s how mentoring works!
The author of this article is Ann Rolfe, and was first published 08. march 2010 on www.mentoring-works.com.
Michelle Obama
Look here, this is big. The maybe worlds most powerful women, is talking about mentoring. This is an article from «The Washington Post».
Emotional’ Michelle Obama announces White House mentoring program for girls
By Robin Givhan
In her own version of «Pay It Forward,» first lady Michelle Obama, who has often talked about the influence of role models in her life, announced a year-long mentoring program at the White House for area high school girls.
Monday afternoon, thirteen young women gathered around a polished wood table, austerely set with water glasses and blue folders, in the State Dining room for a get to know you conversation with the senior women from the White House staff who will serve as their mentors. That list includes a who’s who of fancy titles and impressive resumes — among them, senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, domestic policy advisor Melody Barnes, Obama’s chief of staff Susan Sher and social secretary Desiree Rogers.
To read more:
voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/11/02/emotional_michelle_obama_annou.html