6 Fun Activities to Boost Your Workplace Mentoring Program

« Back to Articles

Organisational mentoring programs are an incredibly useful tool to support your employee's development and progression within your organisation. When it comes to mentoring, there are an enormous number of benefits associated, from improved retention to a greater understanding across the organisation. You can read more about the benefits of mentoring here. Running a mentoring program isn’t always easy, especially when you first get started, but it can’t be denied that mentoring programs are truly an asset for any workplace. Mentoring is more than conversations and learning, it’s about creating valuable relationships that last.

Whether you already have a mentoring program in place or are looking to introduce mentoring into your business strategy, keeping participants engaged with the program should be of top priority for program administrators. Just because you launch a mentoring program doesn’t always mean it’s going to instantly be successful with employees lining up at the door to take part. We’re going to let you in on a secret, if you want to create a mentoring program that thrives, you need to focus on creating a mentoring culture within your organisation.

When you create a mentoring culture within your organisation, everyone will want to be a participant. It also comes with several benefits such as a boost in interest in learning and development, improved employee satisfaction, boosted engagement and a rise in the number of top-talent applicants to your organisation. That’s why throughout this article we will be covering various activities you can do at your organisation to keep existing program participants engaged, help build a mentoring culture and also assist you in attracting new mentoring participants.

1. Mentoring Training

Mentoring training is a great way to keep your program participants not only engaged with your program but also informed about mentoring in general. When it comes to mentoring training, there are many ways you can do this, from hiring someone externally or attending PushFar’s free monthly mentoring training sessions. Either way, training your participants isn’t just an entertaining activity that they can take part in, but also something valuable to keep them updated with the latest insights and best mentoring practices. Training is something that we advise you to try out if you want to see real mentoring progress and want to get a large group of individuals involved in an activity at once.

2. Networking Events For Participants

Networking events are a fun activity in any organisation, so why not host one just for mentoring program participants? Networking is an important part of mentoring, so it makes sense to host an activity that not only allows for relationships to be formed across your organisation but also allows program participants to learn a thing or two when attending. These events are a great way for professionals to connect and take part in knowledge sharing, it also helps build hype around the mentoring program because participants can talk about the progress and developments they’ve seen since taking part. Networking events don’t need to be costly and can be held in the office. These events are a good activity if you want to hold an event for numerous participants.

3. Reverse Mentoring Days

Reverse mentoring is when a more senior employee is paired with someone less experienced, but the roles are reversed with the mentor being the more junior member teaching their mentee. Whilst reverse mentoring is becoming an increasingly popular form of mentoring used by organisations across the globe, many organisations still opt for mentoring in the traditional sense. If you want to keep your participants engaged, we suggest having reverse mentoring days. Reverse mentoring comes with some excellent advantages, from enhanced diversity and inclusion to boosted retention rates. These days can either be conducted between an existing paired mentor and mentee, or they can be matched with someone else within the organisation who is also a part of the mentoring program. Reverse mentoring is important because it allows for discussion regarding the challenges individuals face in the workplace and is an effective way to encourage more employees to sign-up!

4. Volunteering

Since mentoring is all about supporting others' progression and development, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the number of participants who would be interested in volunteering, even just for a day. Not only is volunteering a great experience for participants but also helpful to your community, it’s a win-win. Whether your participants are passionate about a certain cause or want to do something more industry-focused, there are so many ways you can get involved to make an impact. A good example of this would be if your organisation is in the tech industry, your participants could volunteer as mentors at a local school to help guide children on how to use specific technology. This helps construct a mentoring culture by bringing participants together to help others learn.

5. Try Group Mentoring

Group mentoring as the name suggests is when a group of participants come together as a group to take part in a mentoring session, where their goals align. Group mentoring is an engaging activity because it allows your participants to come together to learn new things and collectively meet their goals and objectives. These group mentoring sessions can be held online or in the office and could be focused on things specific to your industry and organisation. Whether it’s a group mentoring session for women in leadership or focused on learning new software, group mentoring can be used to accomplish various objectives. Some people might also feel uneasy with one-to-one mentoring sessions and be more inclined to attend a group mentoring session.

6. Attend Conferences

Conferences are another activity that is not only inspiring but also a wonderful chance for your mentors and mentees to learn something new whilst networking with others. There are so many different conferences that your mentoring participants can attend which meet the mentoring program objectives. If your program is about learning new skills, for example, you could attend a conference that focuses on that. These also can be done virtually or in person, which makes them more accessible for a larger number of participants to attend at once. Building a mentoring culture is all about knowledge sharing and creating a workforce that feels their development is valued, attending a conference together is a terrific method to show your participants your willingness to invest in their professional development.

Conclusion

As discussed throughout this article, mentoring plays a crucial role in the development and progression of your employees. Whether your mentoring program concentrates on improving diversity or is in place to help evolve the skill set of your mentors and mentees, mentoring has many uses that are extremely beneficial to any organisation, no matter their size.

When it comes to running a mentoring program, many organisations and program administrators sadly think that when a mentoring program is in place, they will instantly get many participants to sign up and a mentoring culture will be built overnight. This is far from the truth, whilst you may have several employees signed up for the program, it’s crucial to make sure they are continuously engaged with it. To keep participants entertained and entice new ones, you need to continuously think of methods to make mentoring a core element of your organisational culture.

Listed above are some activities your organisation can use to make mentoring truly prosper in your organisation. If you want to learn more about creating an alluring organisational mentoring program, book a free demonstration with us today.