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An Effective Mentoring Program
A good mentoring program provides employees with a person that can act as a mentor by providing professional knowledge and professional expertise about the field as well as answer any questions about the job. Seventy-Seven percent of companies with successful mentoring programs reported that they effectively increased employee retention (“Executive Commentary,” 2003, p. 92-94). Corporate mentoring programs have increased awareness of mentoring and new forms of mentoring are springing up everywhere.
Managers must provide structured training, share information, and ensure the good fit of employees with the corporate culture (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2001, p. 4). Developing a mentor program is a complement to the list named above, helping to create a relationship between a new employees and senior employees. These coupled together will provide the employee the opportunity to learn the skills needed to be successful in the company.
In Lois J. Zachary’s book Creating a Mentoring Culture (Jossey-Bass, 2005), Zachary defines mentoring as:
“a reciprocal and collaborative learning relationship between two (or more) individuals who share mutual responsibility and accountability for helping a mentee work toward achievement of clear and mutually defined learning goals. Learning is the fundamental process, purpose and product of mentoring. Building, maintaining and growing a relationship of mutual responsibility and accountability is vital to keeping the learning focused and on track.”
Though companies’ definition and goals for mentoring programs vary, most include preparing employees to move to higher capacity wit ...