The Importance of Mentoring Training for Your Organisational Programme

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Most organisations often wonder why they should train their mentors if they are already experts in their field, or why they need to offer training when mentoring is already something most people have taken part in during their careers. Well, mentoring training prepares participants to truly understand what is expected from them and how to successfully manage a mentoring relationship. When your mentors and mentees are ill-prepared, it can create misunderstanding and lack of engagement during the programme. Having effective training in place is a great way to avoid common mistakes being made by participants.

We know that getting started with mentoring programme training can seem overwhelming, that’s why below we’ve listed the benefits of mentoring and the types of training you can use to ensure programme success.

Benefits of Mentoring Training

Though, here at PushFar we believe that anyone can be a mentor if they have the skills and knowledge that could be beneficial to their mentee. However, when it comes to mentoring, training is extremely beneficial for both mentors and mentees, because it provides the opportunity for the skills needed to have an effective mentoring relationship to be learnt. Listed below are 3 of the many benefits why you should be training your mentors and mentees within your organisational mentoring programme:

Expertise Doesn’t Equal a Great Mentor

Just because your mentors are highly experienced and knowledgeable within their field, doesn’t mean they have the skills needed to be a good mentor. When it comes to being a good mentor, it’s not just about being able to share experiences and knowledge, but possessing the skills needed to not only be an effective mentor but also a great leader. One of the most important skills a good mentor needs to have is listening skills, being able to actively listen to their mentee and communicate effectively. The next essential skill a mentor needs to have is being able to successfully set goals to help drive the mentee's career development. These are some skills a good mentor needs to have, these skills can be learned from others and through successful training.

Know One Is Born Knowing How to Be a Good Mentor or Mentee

Training is a great way to help mentors and mentees fully understand their roles and expectations. No one is born knowing how to be a good mentor and mentee, and for many individuals, an organisational mentoring programme is their first real experience with mentoring in a formal setting. Training helps individuals know the best mentoring practices, whilst learning what they can expect from the relationship as a whole and helping it thrive.

It’s a Great Kick-off

Introducing a mentoring programme to an organisation can seem daunting to those involved, as mentioned, not many people understand what mentoring even is. The training is highly beneficial to organisations because it provides a great kick-off to the mentoring programme. When mentors and mentees complete training, it makes them motivated to get started and engaged with the programme itself.

Types of Training for Mentoring Programmes

When it comes to the type of training, many can be used for mentoring programmes. Training is something that should be continuous over the longevity of the programme, and there should be multiple types of training in place at all times. Listed below are a few examples of the types of mentoring training that can be used:

1. Bring in a Professional

One of the methods of training is to bring in a professional who specialises in mentoring training within organisations. There are professionals across the globe who work alongside organisations to ensure that mentoring training is truly successful and that mentoring thrives. The benefit of bringing in someone who is experienced in this field is that they have the experience to understand the training methods needed, depending on the type of mentoring programme in place. Whilst, they may be on the more expensive side, they understand what is needed to make mentoring engaging and exciting for mentors and mentees.

2. Provide Resources

Whatever type of mentoring is used within your organisation, from group mentoring to reverse mentoring, you should always provide your mentors and mentees with the resources they require. There are various resources you can provide such as how to navigate the mentoring software if you have one, the expectations of mentoring relationships and how to set goals in a mentoring relationship. These resources can be created by the appropriate team within your organisation, or if you're using PushFar’s mentoring software, you can visit our online library full of valuable resources that you can use.

3. Free Mentoring Training

Here at PushFar, we understand the true importance of training mentors and mentees, that’s why we offer free monthly mentoring training sessions. These sessions are available for everyone, no matter where you live, and are a great way to truly understand what your organisation and programme participants can expect from mentoring. During these sessions, we discuss how you can use our platform, how mentoring can be used for career progression, the benefits of mentoring, goal setting and much more. Each session is one hour long and is available whether you're using our platform, or mentoring elsewhere, this programme is the perfect way to upskill in mentoring. You can register your place by clicking here.

4. Webinars

Webinars are a great method to use when training individuals within your organisation, due to their accessibility. Webinars are online events that create an interactive learning environment where your mentoring programme participants can have engaging discussions and learn more about mentoring in general. Webinars can also be pre-recorded and used across the organisation, focusing on topics such as defining mentoring and forming a flourishing mentoring relationship.

5. In-person Training

In-person training is an effective method that is often chosen by organisations when implementing new programmes into their strategy. In-person training provides individuals with a more hands-on experience, whilst allowing questions and conversations amongst participants. Whilst in-person training is typically more expensive than online methods, it’s a great way to engage with multiple participants at once, training them all about mentoring.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re still implementing a mentoring program or already have one in place, training is essential to ensure the success of the programme. Many methods can be used, with each having different advantages depending on the type of mentoring programme in place.

If you want to learn more about how mentoring can be used within your organisation, book a free demonstration with PushFar today.