A mentor gives a new trainee someone to learn from and someone to ask. These steps help a host employer set up a mentoring arrangement that is clear, fair and easy to run.
A mentorship program for trainees gives each new starter an experienced person to learn from, ask questions of and talk to about their progress. Done well, it helps trainees settle in faster and feel supported.
You do not need a large organisation to run one. The eight steps below suit a small host business as well as a big one.
Decide what the program is for. Common aims are:
Your goals shape everything else, from who you choose as a mentor to how you judge success.
Look for people with solid experience and the right manner. Good mentors tend to be:
Ask people if they want to mentor. A mentor who is forced into it rarely does the job well.
Skill at the job and skill at teaching are different. Brief mentors on:
Give them time in their week for mentoring. If it is squeezed into spare moments, it will not happen.
Think about personality, communication style and career interests. A quiet trainee may do better with a calm, encouraging mentor. An ambitious trainee may want someone who can talk about career paths.
Pairing is not an exact science. Check in early and be ready to change a pairing that is not working.
Ambiguity causes frustration. Agree:
Involve both mentor and trainee when agreeing these, so both feel responsible for the outcome.
Make it safe to say "I do not understand" or "I made a mistake". Mistakes are normal in learning. Mentors should respond with help, not blame.
Short informal chats between meetings can catch problems before they grow.
Give mentors and trainees what they need: time, a place to meet and access to training materials. Some workplaces run peer groups where mentors share ideas. Recognise progress and good mentoring publicly.
Support also means protecting the mentoring time when work gets busy. If meetings are the first thing cancelled, trainees notice, and the program loses credibility. Agree in advance what happens when a deadline clashes, such as moving the meeting to the next day rather than dropping it.
Meetings work better with a loose structure. A good pattern is to start with what went well since last time, move to what was hard, agree one or two goals for the next period and finish by noting any support the trainee needs. Keep notes short. The trainee should leave knowing what to do next, and the mentor should know what to follow up.
Look at whether the program is meeting the goals you set. You might consider:
Ask for honest feedback from mentors, trainees and supervisors, then change what is not working.
Future1st is the employer of the trainees it places with host businesses in Victoria. The host provides daily supervision and mentoring. Field officers visit workplaces and training institutes to monitor progress and can talk with both sides if the mentoring is not going well.
It is a structured arrangement where an experienced person supports a trainee's learning and settling in.
It depends on the workplace. Weekly or fortnightly is common. Agree a rhythm early and stick to it.
It is not required, but brief preparation on feedback and goal setting helps a lot.
Not always. A supervisor directs the work. A mentor focuses on learning and development. In small businesses one person may do both.
Change it. Say so early and try another mentor.
A simple, well-run mentoring arrangement makes a real difference to a trainee's first months. If you are thinking about taking on a trainee or apprentice, see how you can hire an apprentice with Future1st or call (03) 9656 9797.
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