Mentoring Can Overcome Slashed Training Budgets [HR Executive Magazine] Monday 03/07/05 2:53 PM
One answer to the dilemma of reduced training budgets is mentoring. Mentoring requires little financial investment with a potentially high payoff in improved productivity (cost is limited to employee time). Pair off highly skilled employees with those that need those skill sets. Some tips for improved success follow.
- Make mentoring official - Keep it directly tied to training and employee development to insure buyin from the organization and everyone involved.
- Measure Results - Set goals for the program and metrics to determine its success and to improve the program.
- Keep it flexible - Mentoring can be one to one as well as one to many.
- Select mentors based on how well they can convey their skills to others rather than the extent of the skill set.
- Commitment - Both mentors and mentees will be spending time and energy on the program, so both sides need to commit and take it seriously for it to succeed.
- Take Personality into account - When pairing mentors with mentees take into account not just the skill sets but also the personality traits of the mentor and mentee.
Many companies mistakenly slash their training budgets to save costs only to turn around and spend twice as much on consultants. Because consultants can be viewed as capital expenses, this looks like a net savings. Not only does it cost the company in the short term, but long term, it robs the employees of valuable training by delegating permanent employees to maintaining legacy systems with little chance for new technology training and projects. Mentoring is a low cost initiative that can compensate for declining training budgets.
Read Source
| |
