IDS HR Study 778, July 2004

Mentoring

• Looks at the principles of good mentoring
• Covers issues in managing a formal mentoring scheme, such as the matching process, setting ground rules and evaluating the scheme's effectiveness
• Five detailed company case studies of mentoring in a variety of contexts
• Includes a short 'mentoring resources' section.

Mentoring can be an effective development tool with applications in a wide variety of organisational contexts for different groups of employees, from graduate recruits to senior executives. Employers that run formal mentoring schemes point to the benefits not only for mentees, but for programme mentors and the business as a whole. This IDS HR Study examines the objectives of such schemes, the process whereby participants are selected and matched, the content of mentoring meetings and the way organisations attempt to evaluate their schemes.

A formal mentoring scheme is really an attempt to bring structure, guidelines and clear aims to a practice that is often a fairly normal part of organisational activity. Mentoring has always gone on - usually where a senior employee strikes up a rapport with a more junior colleague and nurtures their development by passing on knowledge and offering guidance. By setting up a formal mentoring programme, more opportunities are created for such relationships to flourish and the benefits inherent in mentoring can be extended more even-handedly to a greater number of staff.

The Study includes detailed case studies of five organisations that have successfully introduced mentoring schemes for a variety of employees, from graduate recruits and department store managers to fast-trackers and senior executives. It also includes a section summarising the activities of some of the key players in the mentoring field who can offer advice on best practice, training courses for mentors or help with setting up a mentoring scheme.