The ‘new normal’ is getting old.  It’s been almost one year since our children came home for March Break and didn’t return to school until September, and now our upcoming March break has been moved to mid-April – not to mention that any winter getaway travel destinations are as dead as the Dead Sea.  To make matters worse, we haven’t hugged anyone outside of our households in too many days to want to count. Many of us are also working from home leaving us socially isolated. I think it’s safe to say that our lives have been turned upside down both socially and professionally.  COVID fatigue is real and we could all use a little more support these days.

Let’s turn these moments into opportunities.  We’ve discussed ways to stay positive and Mentally Healthy on a personal level, so let’s do the same professionally through a mentoring approach.

I like to refer to Mentorship opportunities as “Professional Companionships.” This can look like a lot of different things on different platforms, but the benefits remain the same: Making our lives more enjoyable and making our work more rewarding.

More specifically, mentoring partnerships encourages creativity and can provide more solutions, can make our working worlds more manageable, and can lead to employee engagement and development.

Let’s however skip any further details of the well-known benefits of such a program and focus more on how to go about getting involved (and getting others involved) with one.

Inside our Organizations

One of the most effective ways to encourage career development within your organization is with a mentorship program.  However, creating a mentoring program involves more than just matching more experienced employees with less experienced employees.  To create a program your employees enjoy and want to participate in is easier said than done.  If your organization had a mentorship program that didn’t quite work out or is no longer as effective as it used to be, then start there: What went wrong? Was it too challenging to recruit mentors and/or mentees? Was the program not structured enough? Did participants experience little benefit after they completed it? Figuring out why it didn’t work can help you and others to make it stronger and more effective.  Get employees onboard by asking them about their past negative experiences and think about making all feedback about the program anonymous so participants feel comfortable conveying their true feelings.

When creating goals for the program and its participants, think of the SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

Next, think about where your organization could most benefit from a mentorship program and go from there. Is there high turnover and/or absenteeism? Are there adequate learning opportunities in the organization? Next, encourage employee’s goals as the primary matching criteria. Ideally, mentees and mentors will have compatible goals that will make each person feel like they’re mutually benefiting from the program.

Outside of our Organizations

There is also a lot of opportunity outside of one’s organization to get involved and take charge of one’s own self-development. One example of this is through one’s professional association, such as the Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA).  As an HRPA member in good standing, there’s volunteer mentorship opportunities to further one’s development and even receive recertification points for participation. Start with making some inquiries within your own organization, your professional community or even a platform outside of these that is right for you independently. Our platform for our HRPA mentorship program is through Mentor City, but it doesn’t have to be through your organization or professional association to use the App – it can be for everyone in any profession or industry.

Contact CulturedHR if you need some assistance in getting started with a Mentorship Program within your organization.  Employee engagement and developmental opportunities are critical and an easy way to create a fun and supportive working environment.

Above all, what matters most is that we are continuing to better ourselves and our employees and continuing to develop ourselves as professionals during a very challenging and difficult time.  Making a connection that is mutually beneficial is so critical to our mental and professional well-being, so put yourself out there and get involved!

Stay safe everyone.