Developing the next generation of leaders in your organization
Providing mentoring for the Millennials at your workplace is a solid business strategy. Not only do Millennials seek out organizations that provide mentoring, but mentoring raises engagement levels, retention, and develops leaders in your company.
- In a survey of Millennials (2016) 63% reported that their leadership skills are not being fully developed. The study also found that those intending to stay with their organization for more than five years are twice as likely to have a mentor (68%), than not (32%). (Deloitte, 2016)
- Retention rates are higher for mentees (72%) and for mentors (69%) than non-mentoring participants (49%). (Sun Microsystems)
- People are 77% more likely to stay in a job if they are in a mentoring relationship—particularly the younger generations. 35% of employees who do not receive regular mentoring look for another job within 12 months. (Emerging Workforce study by Spherion, 2012)
- 83% of professionals would like to be involved in a mentoring program, yet only 29% are in workplaces that offer them (Robert Walters recruiting).
- Seventy-five percent of millennials want a mentor, and 58 percent of them turn to baby boomers first for advice (HireVue)
- 78 % of people felt more engaged in work when in a mentoring relationship. (PeopleFluent). Engaged people are 40% more productive.
What needs can be addressed through mentoring?
Mentoring is a great way to provide what Millennials want in a job and organization. In my experience, Millennials have voiced the following desires related to their work.
- From their supervisor or leader: They want sponsorship, support on a career path and regular feedback. Mentors are encouraged to advocate for their mentees, work on goals that reflect a strategy to move along on a career path, and give encouraging and constructive feedback frequently.
- From their workplace: Millennials want development of skills, work-life balance, and an understanding how the values of the organization and their values work together. They want more engagement–more than just a paycheck. Mentors can come alongside them and support the attainment of new skills and the further development of existing ones. They can talk through issues of work-life balance and values match to increase their engagement with the organization.
- For personal and professional development: Millennials hope to develop technical skills, work on EQ (emotional intelligence), and their leadership abilities. Mentors can provide the role modeling for these attributes as well as help their mentee find learning opportunities that support development.
What are types of mentoring that work well with Millennials?
If mentoring is a healthy strategy for engaging and developing Millennials, how should we go about it? What structures for mentoring work best?
- Group mentoring. Millennials work well in groups, so group mentoring makes sense to them. Group mentoring utilizes one mentor who advises and leads the group, and then the group discusses personal application.
- Peer mentoring or reciprocal mentoring. The members of mentoring pairs take turns being the mentor one time and then switch roles to mentee the next time they meet. Since the power of structured mentoring lies in the accountability and encouragement that it provides, these parings work well when there are not enough senior leaders to mentor.
- Micro mentoring. This kind of mentoring utilizes shorter, more informal opportunities for mentoring. Mentees can reach out via social media like Twitter or LinkedIn to someone with more experience or expertise in a certain area. They can then learn specific knowledge or skills. through brief interactions
- Reverse mentoring. This type of mentoring puts the Millennial as the mentor to a person of an older generation. They mentor on skills they are more adept at than people of older generations (e.g. technology or social media).
- Traditional mentoring. This form of mentoring pairs a Millennial with a leader from an older generation. The Millennial mentee learns from the wisdom, skillfulness, and different perspective of the older mentor.
Mentoring is a critical part of developing the Millennials in your organization. It is important to intentionally develop a support network and appropriate structure for easy access to mentoring opportunities for all your employees.
Written by Dr. Liz Selzer