Making mentoring effective

Mentoring is a proven method for the individual development of people in different phases of their career. It pairs an experienced person (mentor) with a less experienced person (mentee) to exchange knowledge, experiences and perspectives. In many industries, mentoring has proven to be one of the most effective ways of developing talent and building sustainable career paths. But what makes mentoring successful? And what factors are crucial to ensuring that both sides benefit?

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is a structured, trusting relationship between an experienced and a less experienced person. The focus is on the personal and professional development of the mentee. In contrast to coaching or training, mentoring is often based on a voluntary commitment and focuses more on long-term support.

There are different forms of mentoring:

• Classic mentoring: an experienced person supports a junior employee or a career changer in their professional development.
• Reverse mentoring: younger or less experienced employees share their knowledge and perspectives with managers or older colleagues, often in relation to digital skills or new ways of working.
• Peer mentoring: people at similar hierarchical levels exchange ideas and support each other.
• Cross-mentoring: Mentoring takes place across company or industry boundaries to broaden the exchange.

We have supported several mentoring programmes in our corporate practice and have seen first-hand how much such programmes can promote personal and professional development for both mentees and mentors. Let’s take a look at a real-life example.

Example: Mentoring for women in hospitals

As an example, I will report on my project in which mentoring is used specifically to promote women in hospitals. Three central pillars are combined here:

• Tandem relationship: regular discussions between mentee and mentor.
• Accompanying seminars: teaching key skills.
• Networking: establishing and strengthening professional contacts.

We deliberately chose networking as a pillar of our mentoring programme because it has been identified as a megatrend by the Zukunftsinstitut for years. [1] Women have less access to informal support relationships, which are crucial for career paths. This is precisely where the programme comes in, by connecting women with mentors in a targeted way and giving them access to relevant networks. According to the Institute for Employment Research, one in three positions is filled through networking; for management positions, the figure is as high as 80%. [2] Networking is therefore a key skill that we definitely want to strengthen in our mentoring programme. We do this, on the one hand, through regular network meetings for the mentees, where they can exchange ideas and network, but networking also plays an important role in the mentor and mentee relationship.

A good mentor actively supports their mentee in networking. This can mean taking the mentee to important events, introducing her to relevant contacts, or helping her formulate her elevator pitch. The mentor acts as a door opener and facilitator, helping the mentee find her way in the professional world and gain a foothold. He or she can also provide valuable insights into which networks are particularly relevant to the mentee’s career goals. By sharing their own network, the mentor enables the mentee to gain accelerated access to information and opportunities that might otherwise have remained hidden.

The glass ceiling in German hospitals

In a hospital, the ceiling is not made of glass, but of concrete! However, the term aptly sums up the situation. Women face invisible barriers in their careers, which often become apparent at the threshold to upper management positions, and to which men with comparable qualifications are not exposed in the same way. In the medical profession, for example, the glass ceiling disappears at the level of senior physician, and in nursing, too, the proportion of women in leadership positions is lower in relation to the workforce. That is why it is important to make invisible obstacles visible and to join forces – from below and from above – to create opportunities for everyone.

Why is equal opportunities important for hospitals?

Three central aspects play a role here:

1. Hospitals are under growing pressure to attract and retain employees. Nobody can afford to do without qualified women as employees.
2. In many medical professions, there are more female than male skilled workers. Working conditions must be designed to be attractive for women.
3. Improvements for women benefit everyone. Better structures and fairer career opportunities strengthen the entire system.

Is mentoring for women only about balancing family and career?

Quite the opposite! Compatibility is an important issue, but it is not the only one. Many women are concerned with questions of career planning, the transition to management or scientific work. The mentoring programme offers a platform for addressing precisely these issues.

Often, the first thought is that it should be about getting women into leadership positions. However, we see career development in a broader sense. Each participant is encouraged to consider how she would like to further develop her professional path. This may be in a specialist role or an expansion of the field of activity, e.g. working scientifically in addition to working in the clinic with patients.

What is the attitude of women when they join the mentoring programme?

From curiosity to frustration – their motivation varies. What all mentees have in common is a willingness to take their careers into their own hands and to actively work on their development. Of course, the personalities of the participants also play a role. Some may initially have the idea that they are being developed, while others are much more active in shaping things from the outset. But that is also something we actively address. We try to help everyone expand their comfort zone a little and allow themselves to take a brave next step, even if it’s just a small one. In doing so, they can rest assured that they will be accompanied and supported!

What is the response to the mentoring programme?

Many participants report that they experience a change of perspective through the mentoring.

• Mentees gain insights into the way managers think and better understand the challenges they face.
• Mentors reflect on their own leadership behaviour through the exchange and recognise how their decisions are received by employees.
• Mentees recognise common challenges among themselves and support each other.
• The way they see the hospital is changing: participants perceive the organisation as a whole and develop a deeper understanding of other departments.

What conclusions can be drawn from this for other industries?

While this example comes from the hospital sector, many parallels can be drawn to other industries. In other sectors, there are also glass ceilings that slow down women and other underrepresented groups in their career development. Mentoring can play a crucial role in every industry to:

• promote equal opportunities by making systematic barriers visible and addressing them.
• making career paths more accessible by specifically connecting women and other disadvantaged groups with decision-makers.
• tackling skills shortages by helping companies diversify their talent pipeline and retain employees over the long term.
• facilitating cultural change by raising awareness among managers of the challenges and potential of diverse teams.

It is apparent across industries that mentoring is not only an individual career tool, but also a means of achieving structural change.

How do you measure the success of mentoring?

We don’t see mentoring as being separate from corporate strategy, but rather recommend always linking the implementation with a corporate objective. This could be in the context of talent management, to develop internal potential, or for equal opportunities, because it has been recognised that in times of a shortage of skilled workers, it is wise for the company to adapt its structures so that women can also pursue careers. In order to evaluate whether a mentoring programme is the right approach and to make it sustainably successful, appropriate evaluations should be carried out.

The following key figures and methods help to measure the effectiveness and success of a programme:

Before-and-after survey:

• Career progress of mentees (promotions, job changes, taking on new tasks).
• Change in the mentees’ self-confidence and initiative (e.g. through self-assessment).
• Satisfaction of mentors and mentees with the programme (feedback questionnaires, interviews).
• Network formation and internal exchange (number of new contacts and opportunities for cooperation).

Mentoring success goals:

• Individual development: improving leadership skills, career planning, knowledge transfer.
• Organisational effects: Strengthening talent development, employee retention, promoting diversity.
• Long-term impact: Anchoring mentoring as a fixed development measure.

Adjustment and optimisation:

• Regular feedback loops between participants and programme managers.
• Analysis of dropout rates: Why do mentees or mentors leave the programme?
• Adjusting the content focus: Which topics are particularly in demand?
• Identifying hurdles and challenges: What structural barriers are emerging?

Through continuous evaluation, companies can ensure that the mentoring programme is not only well-intentioned but also designed to be effective. This way, it remains a vibrant, evolving tool for promoting talent.

Mentoring is of little use if the system remains as it is

Mentoring as a means of promoting women must also be critically reflected upon: it must not lead to only individuals being ‘made fit’ while the structures of the working world remain unchanged. Women often feel uncomfortable in contexts that are completely natural for men. This includes, among other things, not interrupting or standing up for themselves and asserting themselves.

Women are often said to suffer from impostor syndrome. In fact, it is often the circumstances that simply do not fit. The world of work was made for men. A little anecdote about this: when the bicycle was invented and women suddenly became more mobile and thus more independent, it was claimed that women who rode bicycles a lot had a so-called bicycle face syndrome. [3] Bicycle Face Syndrome describes the change in facial features caused by the wind when riding a bicycle. [3] It is therefore quite common for new social developments to be met with a countermovement that seeks to prevent them.

Conclusion: Mentoring as the key to individual development and structural change

Mentoring is much more than just a career tool! It is a sustainable strategy for promoting talent, developing organisations and creating structures that provide equal opportunities. Practice shows that well-thought-out mentoring programmes not only strengthen individuals, but also help companies to position themselves for the future.

Particularly in the hospital sector, but also across all industries, it is clear that the glass ceiling continues to exist, often in a particularly hard form. Mentoring alone will not eliminate these barriers, but it can help women to become more aware of their options, find support and actively initiate change in their organisations. It is crucial that companies not only make individual women ‘fit for leadership’, but also critically question and adapt their structures.

The success of mentoring should therefore be measured not only in terms of individual career progress but also in terms of organisational change. Targeted evaluations can determine whether the programme is really helping to promote diversity, improve equal opportunities and retain talented employees in the long term. Companies that use mentoring strategically are not only investing in their employees but are also actively shaping a sustainable, inclusive corporate culture.

To sum up, mentoring is an effective tool, but it must be used wisely and linked to structural changes. Only in this way can it achieve its full potential and help ensure genuine equal opportunities and long-term business success.

Notes (partly in German):

Are you looking for support with strategic networking or mentoring? Then get in touch with Katharina Nolden.

[1] Zukunftsinstitut: Megatrend-Map zum Herunterladen
[2] Institute for Employment Research: Jobs are often filled through personal contacts
[3] Bicycle Face Syndrome

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Katharina Nolden has published more articles on the t2informatik Blog, including: