Selection and Development for Mentoring and Coaching Within a Multi-Generational Workforce

Mentoring and coaching practices can help you establish independent leadership skills in your team members. Setting up these types of relationships establishes a culture of personal ownership over professional development, skill-sharing, and the long-term vision of your organization.

 After you decide you want to use mentoring, the next step is choosing who participates. Then, you'll work on developing the core skills that allow them to succeed.

The goal is to strengthen your organization through productive relationships. It takes skill and practice, but you can develop a mentorship structure uniquely suited to your company.

Selecting Your Core Mentors

In a multigenerational workforce, your group of core mentors is going to be diverse. Some will be experienced workers who have applied and refined their business skills for decades. Others will be younger, brought up with technical skills that can propel your organization forward.

For me, this selection process is like choosing the clubs for your golf bag. You need enough options so you can handle any situation you encounter out on the course.

By the same reasoning, it's important to remember you have limited space available. Every club in your bag should be there for a unique reason — that way, you'll be prepared for any shot you take.

Developing New Mentor Skills in Others

Up to this point, we've been talking about hard skills. What can each mentor share? What do they know? What can they do?

The hard skills are there. Development will probably lean more towards practicing soft skills: listening and empathy, for example. Focusing on this will help your mentors be better at their roles. It will also help them become leaders and advocates as you expand your mentorship programs throughout your organization.

Building a Culture of Internal Partnership and Education

Mentorship goes beyond skill training. It establishes an internal network of people helping each other grow. It also helps reinforce company culture, especially when generational tendencies would otherwise get in the way.

When people are in a mentor-student relationship, the focus is on professional growth and development towards a single, unified vision. Both sides — both the teachers and the students — need to reach across any divide.

The way to overcome generational differences is by finding similarities. In this case, the natural common ground is the overall vision of your company.

Working together towards that vision not only enables the mentorship in the first place, but it also reinforces the feeling that everyone is working for the same thing — even if they do it in different ways. In other words, it reinforces your culture.

An Ongoing Process

If you find yourself struggling while building a mentorship program, remember that this takes practice. In that way, it's the same as many other leadership challenges.

You might have to develop some of your own skills to become better at identifying and developing good candidates. The result — independent transfer of skills, knowledge, and culture throughout your company — is worth the work.

What skills are you considering to foster a mentorship program within your company?