Mentoring

Mentoring is a far reaching yet cost effective way to develop leadership capacity within an organization. By matching protégés with experienced mentors who are not their bosses, mentoring programs offer a two-way learning environment that accelerates the development of up and coming leaders, retains high potential talent, and enhances the job satisfaction of those providing the mentoring.

Kwela’s mentoring programs are designed to transfer the critical skill sets to your next generation of leaders. Clarity and balance are key characteristics of a successful program and to achieve this Kwela will:

• Prepare mentors & protégés: Mentoring doesn’t just happen so we train all participants to understand their respective roles and responsibilities.
• Set clear program boundaries: Programs that demand too much time fizzle quickly so we set clear guidelines for time commitments, check-ins, and exit strategies.
• Incorporate an action focus: While the personal aspects of the relationship are important, we set measurable goals to ensure that the program delivers results.
• Match mentors and protégés: We take criteria such as skill-gap analysis, succession planning, and learning styles into account to establish the relationship.
• Provide incentives for mentors: We educate mentors on the benefits they will recoup and create tie-ins to reward and recognition systems.
• Measure, evaluate and innovate: We regularly survey mentors & protégés to monitor successes and improve the program.

Mentoring is a developmental experience for both mentors and protégés, but the benefits don’t stop there. Mentoring can also have a profound effect on your organization as a whole because it promotes a culture of shared learning, improves communication, reduces hierarchy, and increases trust at all levels.