3 Companies with Great Mentoring Programs and Why You Should Have One Too

Have you ever had a great mentor? Someone who guided your career, helped you learn and grow, acted as a sounding board, or helped you transition to various stages of work and life?

Unfortunately, I never had a mentor or a coach at any of the organizations I worked for. I suppose that’s one of the reasons why I went off on my own 15 years ago. I never really felt that anyone had my back, was willing to guide me, or help me grow personally and professionally, and that’s a bit sad.

It’s one of the reasons why I help organizations around the world today create places where people actually want to show up to work each day and leaders who others genuinely want to work with.

According to a recent survey published by Olivet Nazarene University, 76% of people consider mentors to be important, but only 37% currently have a mentor. The difference between those two numbers could be due to leadership and a lack of formal mentoring programs.

I had the chance to interview Luigi Gubitosi, CEO of Telecom Italia, for my new book, The Future Leader. He told me this: “I see the leader as a coach, as a conductor, as somebody who orchestrates the efforts of many. Whoever thinks leadership is a one-man show is in for a bad surprise.”

David Baiada is the CEO of BAYADA Home Health Care and he is also a big believer in prioritizing mentoring, he told me, “Getting the right people in the right chairs and actively coaching and supporting their ability to be successful is something that I work on every day. When each employee is sharing examples and coaching each other on our company values, it creates a sense of connectedness to the work and to each other.”

Mentoring develops employees, builds connections, and helps organizations strengthen their talent pipelines.

Here are three companies with great mentoring programs:

Caterpillar

The goal of Caterpillar’s mentoring program is to facilitate continual learning and development. Every new hire at Caterpillar is assigned a mentor for their first three years to provide guidance on corporate culture, work-life balance, soft skills development, and a variety of other subjects. All employees, no matter their seniority, can rotate between departments to learn about different fields and expand their networks. Caterpillar also has 13 employee resource groups for mentoring in a larger setting. In Caterpillar’s reverse mentoring program, younger employees mentor senior employees about things like new technology and generational changes.

General Electric

GE has long been a leader in mentoring and was one of the first companies to adopt reverse mentoring. Its mentoring program encourages collaborative learning by bringing in top executives to mentor employees at all levels. Aside from teaching critical skills, the mentoring program allows executives and employees to build real, human connections. The collaborative environment encourages employees to develop themselves and gives them the tools to succeed, which strengthens GE’s pipeline of future leaders and mentors. GE has other programs, including a two-year rotational program in sales and marketing and a wide variety of employee resource groups like Women’s Network and Transgender and Ally Alliance.

Bain and Company

In our digital world when many interactions happen through screens, Bain and Company aims to provide one-on-one connections and strong interpersonal relationships and growth. Every consultant at Bain has a mentor, including younger employees who are partnered with senior employees. Additional professional development is provided in specialized affinity groups, such as Blacks at Bain, Latinos at Bain, and Veterans at Bain, which give employees a chance to find commonalities and guidance with their peers.

Every company can and should have mentors. If your organization doesn’t have an established mentoring program, create one or find a mentor on your own. Building those connections and having someone in your corner can give you a huge advantage in your career and your life.

Building those connections and having someone in your corner can give you a huge advantage in your career and your life.

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