Summer 2008

Mentorship programs: An innovative approach to recruitment and retention

Welcome to donnerwheelerconnect. This month we will be discussing mentorship programs, what they are and how to get started in developing one in your organization. Attracting, engaging and keeping talent at all stages along the career continuum is fast becoming the number one business driver in workplaces today. Leaders and managers are increasingly looking to innovative programs to help employees feel competent and valued in their work. Mentorship programs are one such innovation. Here are some things to consider as you determine whether a mentorship program is appropriate for your workplace and how you might begin to get something started.

Why a mentorship program?

Is your organization recruiting significant numbers of new hires but also losing many of those new recruits within the first year? Do you have a cohort of mid-career professionals who are at risk of leaving because they feel they cant find new challenge and opportunity in their current workplace? If your answer is YES, then you might want to create a mentorship program that capitalizes on the expertise of mid-career professionals, provides them with new opportunity and recognizes their value to the organization. A mentorship program acts as a retention strategy for mid-career employees and can be marketed as a recruitment strategy for new recruits, so that they feel supported, find satisfaction and stay with your organization.

How to get started

Communicate, communicate, communicate! We know this is the key to leadership and sound management practice. You might want to consider the following:

Talk to mid-career employees about what they need and want to increase their likelihood of staying with your organization.
Identify those who are looking for an opportunity to enrich their work lives and who enjoy working with new staff.
Ask them to identify their specific skills and interests and to identify what they can offer.
As you recruit and interview new recruits, talk to them as well. Ask them what they need and help them find a mentor who will relate to them and their needs. Then help them both learn to build a meaningful and productive mentoring relationship.

donnerwheeler, in collaboration with Integral Visions Consulting, has developed an experiential program that introduces mentor/mentee dyads to a five phase model that explores the purpose of the relationship; how to find and be a mentor; the development of a mentorship action plan; how to engage in the conversation; and how to complete the relationship and celebrate accomplishments.

If your organization is depending on informal mentorship relationships to develop, engage and retain talent you might want to reconsider a more strategic approach. donnerwheeler offers a program on Building Successful Mentoring Relationships and we have a publication from 2007, Coaching and Mentoring in Nursing published by the International Council of Nurses. Please contact us to discuss how we can help you develop a mentorship strategy that meets your recruitment and retention goals.

Related donnerwheeler activities

Mary Wheeler and Michelle Cooper will be presenting a workshop on mentorship at the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology conference in Newfoundland in September 2008. They also have a poster presentation at the 5th International Council of Nurses, International Nurse Practitioner/Advanced Practice Nursing Network Conference in Toronto in September 2008.

Our next semi-annual open enrollment Discovery Path Program begins October 2008. For more information go to www.donnerwheeler.com/discovery.