Free Monthly Mentoring Training Sessions (& 7 Reasons Why You Need It)

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Introducing mentoring into an organisation isn’t as straightforward as starting a program. If you want to see results, there are specific factors you need to consider when creating an effective and successful program that your employees will rave about. One of the most vital steps of starting a mentoring program is introducing mentoring training. Whilst mentors are typically people who are experienced professionals, this doesn't mean they know much about mentoring in general. Having a training program in place gives participants the insight they need to get started. To find out why you need mentoring training and how PushFar can help, keep reading:

1. You aren’t born knowing how to be a great mentor or mentee
It might seem like common sense, but most people fail to recognise that although their employees are experts in their field, this doesn't necessarily mean they will be good mentors or mentees. Although some people might be considered as the perfect option for a mentor on paper, there are distinct skills that an individual needs to be successful at being a mentor. Training is essential for mentees and mentors because it helps them gain a more in-depth understanding of the responsibilities that they will undertake. For mentors, training should cover how they can be the best mentor by helping and engaging with their mentees, whereas, for mentees, they should learn about what to expect from the relationship as a whole and their responsibility to lead the relationship forward with their mentor. Mentoring training is the best way for participants to truly understand the foundation of a mentoring relationship, which allows for trust and mutual understanding to be created with ease, whilst allowing for participants to have a clear insight of what is desired from them.

2. It helps employees understand the difference between mentoring and coaching
For many of us, we believe that mentoring and coaching are very similar or the same, however, this isn’t the case. Mentoring can be described as an individual who shares their wisdom, skills, and experience to help assist and support the growth of another person. Mentoring is more development-driven, taking an overall approach to helping the mentee grow within their career, and is generally a long term relationship. Although coaching is also about helping an individual, it’s more performance-driven and focuses on helping the coachee improve their performance within their current job role and not specifically their career as a whole, coaching also takes place over a short period.

3. Training gives insight into the value of mentoring
When it comes to mentoring, there are so many benefits, from increased self-confidence to a higher likelihood of being promoted. When starting a mentoring program within an organisation, it’s vital to create engagement that will have your employees feeling excited about the new changes ahead. We all know that changes within an organisation can go two ways, and thus, it’s important to show participants the value mentoring will have on their lives. Showcasing the uses is a great way to create momentum around the program, and if you do it well, you’ll have employees lining up to take part.

4. It reduces mistakes
A well-prepared and thought out mentoring training program is a great way of reducing any mistakes that are typical within mentoring programs and relationships. A training program that outlines the pitfalls and mistakes to look out for, gives everyone in the organisation a better understanding of what to avoid to make sure the program is a sensation. Now, it’s inevitable that mistakes will be made, we’re only human, but understanding what to avoid makes it a lot less stressful.

5. It makes mentoring fair
Some people within an organisation may have years of mentoring experience, whereas, some people may have never even heard of a mentor. Introducing mentoring training levels the playing field, providing all participants with the same details they need to get started. Mentoring training also helps refresh people's knowledge on the best mentoring practises and showcase the obligations that may be involved.

6. It reduces admin time
Being a mentoring program admin comes with many commitments, including having to answer all the questions that participants may have. Hosting a training session or taking part in one, will help mentors and mentees of the program gain a more profound insight, answering many of the simple questions that would typically fill up the administrator's inbox. Instead of having 12 separate messages with identical questions, training will decrease time spent on admin tasks and give the program manager the time to concentrate on more significant tasks, such as matching and building engagement around the program itself.

7. It’s a great kick-off
As mentioned, training helps build mentoring momentum. Whether you build a mentoring program from scratch or outsource your software from a company such as PushFar. Training means that your participants know how to use the platform, the features available, and what the next steps are. The training will have your mentors and mentees, ready to go.

Final thoughts
The benefits of training your mentors and mentees, outweigh any costs or resources involved. Lucky for you, PushFar offers FREE mentoring training sessions that cover the topics mentioned above. Each month the PushFar team hosts hourly long sessions that focus on supporting mentors, mentees and program managers, to guarantee that your mentoring program gets off to a great start. If you want to find out more about our mentoring training sessions, click here to sign up today!