Creating a mentorship program within your organization can benefit you in the long run by reducing turnaround and poor performance. For your employees, it will help them grow into their positions at a faster pace without leaving them feeling lost or rushed through an onboarding process. However, none of these benefits can be experienced if your mentorship program isn’t designed to succeed. These tips can help you create a more effective program.

Match Goals and Passion

You can’t force all of your employees into a mentorship program and expect it to succeed. Those involved in the program should be participating because they support the program. Additionally, try to match people who have good chemistry together. This will help keep passion and energy levels at an all-time high. Keeping your employees invested in the program will also encourage others to participate as they see how the program benefits those involved.

Be Goal-Oriented

Keeping the mentoring relationships productive will also involve creating a program that meets each individual’s goals. Whether the individual being mentored wants to learn a new skill or pursue a path to management, their mentorship program should be customized to fulfill those needs. This will help keep your employees motivated by showing them that you care about their goals.

Encourage Communication

Especially as you start your mentoring program, your mentors may not know how to help those their mentoring. This can result in a breakdown of communication unless you take steps to help them get involved in the relationship. You can email them topics to discuss with those their mentoring once a week to ensure each team is communicating and developing a positive relationship. Over time, this will also help develop experienced mentors who are more effective in their leadership roles.

Encourage Follow-Through

The mentoring relationship shouldn’t be one-sided. Instead, you should also develop a strategy for encouraging those being mentored to communicate with their mentors. They should be encouraged to thank their mentors for their insights and bring new challenges to their mentors. When the individual being mentored is more proactive, they will get many more benefits out of the relationship.

Your mentorship program won’t be ideal in the beginning. However, if you take the time to tweak the program and mold mentors into better leaders, you’ll eventually end up with a more effective program. In time, those you mentor will advance in your organization, meet their personal career goals, and may even rejoin your program to mentor others.