Mentoring can build a variety of skills that prepare aspiring HR leaders for a fruitful career. Leah de Silva from the CIPD Trust explains how its Aspiring HR Directors programme can create mutual benefit for mentors and mentees.
Ask anyone in the workplace and they can normally name key individuals who have, either formally or informally, influenced their own career story.
These mentors – knowingly or otherwise – help to spotlight opportunities, showcase strengths and offer a safe space for reflection. Without their intervention, we might not be in the roles we fulfil today.
Mentoring can be hugely beneficial on both an organisational level and an individual level, building skills, confidence, and accelerating career development.
In the very best examples, these pairings create impact on both sides that is not limited to just mentees.
An effective mentoring relationship should be a collaborative process, with enough chemistry to get the conversation going, but enough difference to create real learning for both participants.
We’ve seen this first hand at the CIPD Trust, where we run a series of mentoring programmes utilising the brilliant skills of HR professionals to support those who face barriers to employment and progression.
HR and L&D teams often have a key role in designing and managing mentoring programmes for colleagues, but mentoring can also be a very effective tool for aspiring HR leaders to progress to the next level of their own career.
Mentoring matters
The CIPD Trust Aspiring HR Directors programme gives people professionals from underrepresented backgrounds the chance to learn from senior HR leaders over 12 months.
Our ‘Leading with Purpose’ report recently highlighted the tangible and positive impact this has had, with half of all participants in the programme securing promotions to senior roles since it began.
But it’s not just about securing the promotion – that’s a happy by-product. The feedback around increased confidence, greater empowerment and personal advocacy speaks for itself.
In the latest mentoring cohort alone, almost all mentees (94%) felt better equipped to advance in their careers, while 81% reported a positive change in their employment status within the first six months of the programme.
Mentees described increased confidence, for example tackling imposter syndrome and having the confidence to change roles, more networking opportunities, and getting the support they needed to make the transition into leadership.
The positive feedback from mentors on the programme extended far beyond the ‘feel-good factor’ they experienced by supporting their mentees.
They cited strengthening their own leadership capabilities, broadening their perspectives, and embedding more inclusive practices within their organisations.
They talked about mentoring as a brilliant way to develop leadership skills, from refreshing their listening and communication skills, to increasing empathy and understanding of someone else’s lived experience.
Mentoring programmes can pay off for organisations too, by boosting employee engagement and retention, building an internal talent pipeline to recruit from, and encouraging more supportive organisational cultures.
Making it work
If you’re thinking about getting a mentoring programme off the ground in your own business, it should be a part of the overall L&D strategy across your organisation.
There are benefits to both internal and external mentoring programmes, although the approach you go with will depend on budget, organisational culture and the existing development practices you have in place.
External mentoring involves partnering employees with mentors outside of your organisation. This can enable employees to have an objective, impartial and safe space to explore any career difficulties, confidence gaps or barriers, with less concern about how the conversations could impact their career trajectory at their current organisation.
When selecting external mentors, there should be a set of criteria to match the individual and organisational needs and a well-communicated purpose.
Internal mentoring can provide slightly different benefits. For example, an internal mentor will have a better understanding of the environment they’re navigating and may even be able to facilitate opportunities and advocate for the mentee within the organisation.
To maintain a level of distance and objectivity, it may be helpful if the mentor is from another department and a clear set of ground rules should be agreed, along with a contract of confidentiality.
Mentoring provides a personal approach that allows aspiring leaders to learn and explore what they want from their career, what barriers they may be facing, and the strengths they can lean on to help them to achieve their goals.
In reality, it’s storytelling in a compelling and real way – allowing both sides to share their vulnerabilities and learn from each other. That wider perspective and access is gold dust.
Whether you’re someone looking for support to get to the next level, or someone keen to give back – reciprocal mentoring in this way can act as a real catalyst for next steps.
The CIPD Trust offers mentoring programmes for aspiring HR leaders, people with convictions, refugees, and parents and carers returning to work.
The real-life stories, for example from our most recent report, are a powerful reminder of how game-changing a two-way conversation can be.
If you’re thinking about supporting our programmes or developing your own, visit our dedicated website.
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