Table of Contents
There is no denying that mentoring offers extraordinary benefits to both companies and individuals; from increasing personal confidence and motivation to creating a positive work culture and increasing retention rates within organizations; the positive effects are endless.
Despite this, only 28% of SMEs currently use mentors. How does this happen?
Insight and industry specializations
The first possibility as to why mentoring is not more widely adopted may have to do with a lack of understanding of what it is and who can benefit from it. Many are under the impression that mentorship is only useful for people in certain industries, such as technology or finance, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The versatile nature of mentoring offers the opportunity to tailor each program to even the most specific needs. From general support and guidance to learning specific skills and identifying knowledge gaps, mentoring can equip the mentee with the right tools that enable both personal and career development specific to their industry or role.
Find a mentor
Another reason that could hinder people from diving into the world of mentoring is accessibility or finding a suitable mentor or mentee. My own experience of finding it difficult to get involved in mentoring helped me identify a significant gap in the industry that was preventing people from finding their mentors, which ultimately led me to found PushFar. I wanted to create a platform that would be easily accessible to everyone, so that everyone can enjoy the benefits that mentoring has to offer.
Removing the barriers to finding a mentor or mentee, even on a global scale, and raising awareness about the processes involved in starting mentoring has been one of my main goals for years.
Time commitments
For busy individuals, or those in senior, complex positions, mentoring can be seen as an additional time commitment. However, there are multiple types of mentoring, allowing individuals to find one that suits them and their work commitments.
Virtual mentoring can take place anywhere, making it an accessible option and opening the door to a broader list of mentoring topics. For example, in a specialty where interested parties are geographically dispersed, virtual mentoring overcomes this barrier and enables the pairing of mentor and mentee. Group mentoring is another brilliant way in which one mentor can impart knowledge and advice to a group of students, reducing the time commitment of multiple students.
Types of guidance
A final hurdle for people getting involved in mentoring is the lack of knowledge about the breadth of mentoring options. Historically thought of as an older, senior member of an organization mentoring a younger, junior team member, there is actually reverse mentoring that encourages younger team members to transfer their experiences, knowledge and skills. Similarly, peer mentoring encourages people of similar age and experience levels to take turns mentoring each other. This can be extremely helpful in creating support and learning systems.
I believe the reason why mentoring is not more widely used is due to a lack of understanding of who can use it and how to get involved. It should therefore be a priority for organizations across all sectors to introduce mentoring as part of their learning and development programme, to help raise awareness of its benefits for all involved.