What does research say about effective formal mentoring programmes

One of the most useful studies of mentoring programmes comes from Finkelstein and Poteet (2007), who surveyed the (primarily US) research literature and identified five critical characteristics of effective formal programmes. These were (with some additional context fro other research):

• Visible organizational commitment to the mentoring programme, from the top down. starting at the executive leadership level. Leaders ensured there were adequate resources to support the programme, served as mentors themselves, recognized and rewarded mentors, and took accountability for the programme.
• Having explicit programme objectives and intended outcomes. These made it clear why the programme was important, who was eligible for participation and why, how resources should be allocated, and what all stakeholders (including mentees, mentors and the mentee’s boss) should expect from mentoring.
• Clear and consistent processes for participant selection and matching. These needed to be fully aligned to the objectives and intended outcomes of the program.
• Clear expectations by participants and stakeholders about the programme, relationship and about mentor and mentee behaviours. This would typically be met through training, briefings and other communications.
• Monitoring and evaluation. At its simplest, this involved regular check ins with each of the mentoring pairs. These relatively unstructured conversations provide data for identifying and addressing immediate concerns about the programme or individual relationships. More formal measurement – for example, using surveys – provides comparison data and addresses longer-term development of the programme.

Finkelstein, L. M., & Poteet, M. L. (2007). Best practices in formal mentoring programs in organizations. In T. Allen, & L. Eby (Eds.), The Blackwell handbook of mentoring (pp. 345−368). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

© David Clutterbuck, 2016

Prof David Clutterbuck
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