Mentoring program design

Why a program, and why now?

• Experienced people's knowledge is passed on instead of lost
• New managers don't spend their first year alone
• Successors for critical roles get ready faster

Mentoring isn't a training course. It's a system that redistributes experience across the organization.

Programs stall in three places

1. Matching is done by hand and the reasoning is lost
2. Sessions quietly stop after the first month
3. Results can't be shown to leadership in numbers

Your design has to solve these three from day one.

1. Write the goal in one sentence

"Reduce first-year attrition among new store managers."

A good goal ties to a number leadership already tracks.

2. Narrow the audience

• A pilot group of 20–30 people
• A unit whose managers back the program
• A similar group that doesn't take part, for comparison

3. Choose the format

4. Prepare the mentors

• Volunteers, with at least two hours a month
• Kickoff workshop: listening, questions, feedback
• How mentoring differs from managing
• Confidentiality rules

5. Write the matching rules

• Required: no reporting line, not the same team
• Weighted: strength in the growth area, similar path, proximity
• Preference: the mentee's requests

Write a one-sentence reason for every pair.

6. The first 30 days

1. First session date set in the week of matching
2. A ready-made first-session agenda
3. A short working agreement
4. The second session's date is set in the first

7. Measure at four levels

8. Close the cohort

• Closing meeting and thanks to mentors
• A one-page report for leadership
• The goal for the next cohort