How mentors, mentees and entire organizations benefit from the sharing of institutional knowledge

On the surface, the current state of mentoring in the business world does not appear to be very healthy. In a recent survey of c-level executives by specialist staffing firm Robert Half International, 58% said it was unusual for entry-level employees to be matched with mentors, either formally or informally, in their organizations.

That's really too bad, say human resources experts, because in the 21st century marketplace, where young workers can expect to hold a dozen or more jobs during their careers and loyalty is a fast-fading commodity on both sides of the employer-employee relationship, the benefits of mentoring are more relevant than ever before. It's important to note that those benefits accrue for everyone involved in a mentoring relationship.

Research conducted by psychologists at Texas A&M University suggests that mentoring fosters a stronger emotional attachment—"affective commitment," in psychology lingo—to the organization among employees, making them less likely to leave. Since reducing employee turnover is an important goal for many small and mid-sized businesses, that's a strong argument in favor of mentoring.

Mentoring may be instrumental to the initiation and maintenance of an employee's socialization into an organization, speculates Stephanie Payne, who conducted the research. One of the key components of this organizational socialization is the understanding and adoption of the organization's goals and values. "Individuals who share the company's goals and values tend to have higher levels of emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in the company," she says.

A study of Sun Microsystems conducted by research firm Gartner in 2006 found that both mentors and mentees were more likely to get promoted, receive raises and stay with the company longer than employees who did not participate in the program. Along with higher retention rates, the company benefited from increased employee productivity and job satisfaction.

While traditional mentoring programs, where supervisors are responsible for developing the employees immediately beneath them, have fallen out of favor since the downsizing wave that began in the 1980s, informal approaches thrive at many companies. These often involve newer hires tapping several older, more-experienced employees for a wide range of job-related guidance and advice.

Likewise, the goals of mentoring programs also stray into nontraditional areas these days. That's been the case for Sea Coast Management, a Topsham, Maine-based company that owns and operates three adult retirement and resort communities in the state. In line with current trends, the company's internal mentoring program is informal and diffuse, self-contained within individual departments, says Jon Leahy, Director of Marketing and Sales at Highland Green Adult Resort Community and Golf Club, one of the firm's properties.

However, the company leverages the principles of mentoring to create added value in the services it provides to its clients. "What we have been focusing on is intergenerational mentoring, which involves putting programs in place that provide an added outlet to the community for our residents," Leahy explains. The company has launched several programs that team residents of its properties in mentoring relationships with high school and middle school students from nearby communities. The concept, Leahy says, has been a hit with both constituencies.

"The students are benefiting because they discover that older people have a lot of useful knowledge and experience to share," he says. Residents participating in the programs are experiencing an improved quality of life and greater overall satisfaction with their living arrangements. "The mentoring program is burnishing our image in the community, and having more-satisfied customers makes the workplace environment better for our employees," Leahy adds.

Retailing is one industry where the majority of mentoring programs are informal in nature, with more than 90% of companies relying on managers to coach newer employees, according to a study by the National Retail Federation. Joe Rancatore, owner of Rancatore's Ice Cream, uses that approach at his three-store chain in the Boston suburbs.

Eclectic would be an understatement in describing the friendly and slightly offbeat atmosphere in Rancatore's stores. Exposed brick, red oak tables and a giant stuffed parrot in the window mesh well with the mix of background music and an enthusiastic young staff devoted to customer service.

"We're actually very selective about who we hire," Rancatore says. "Because we have such a good reputation, we get a lot of applicants for jobs. We start by picking the candidates we think are most likely to mesh with our work environment, and then we mentor them throughout their stay with us."

Rancatore is heavily involved in the mentoring process, not only with store managers but with employees at all levels, he says. Managers, in turn, continue to work with the employees they supervise. "Our goal is to make the culture of Rancatore's contagious among our employees, and it is working very well," he says.

Mike Walrath is the founder of New York-based Right Media, an open exchange to help buyers and sellers trade digital media more efficiently. His approach to mentoring was tempered in the furnace of the dot.com bust, a period when he learned valuable lessons that he's since passed on to those he mentors at his company.

Downsizing and layoffs at many tech companies following the bust forced the survivors to learn how to do more with less, Walrath says. He describes the experience as "a business school for me." He recognized the value inherent in the extent of knowledge-sharing required to keep firms afloat at that time, and when he started Right Media in 2003, he incorporated that kind of collective mentoring into its corporate culture.

The bottom line is that no matter what the industry or how big or small the company, any business can benefit from mentoring. The key is finding the right approach and then sticking with it.