Page 213 - Retaining Top Employees

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Mentoring and Coaching Programs 201

• Consider “jumping” one reporting layer up. Can you
make the supervisor’s supervisor the mentor? Could your
manager act as the mentor of some of your key employ-
ees?
• If going up a level would put a strain on the numbers (as
there will be fewer possible mentors at the higher level),
then consider a many-to-one mentoring program at that
level.
• Pair with another company in a similar business but with
which you don’t compete, to swap mentors. Your local
Chamber of Commerce or similar organization can help
you find possible partners.
• Bring back retired employees to assist with the mentoring
program. They’ll love to be asked—and it certainly won’t
hurt your community profile.
• If the program is for new hires or junior managers, consid-
er appointing “high flyer” peers as mentors. This situation
needs to be handled carefully to avoid causing friction,
but where the “high flyers” are already well recognized, it
can work.
• Do you have multiple locations, but with limited numbers
at each location? If supervisors and managers from one
location make regular visits to another, try speaking to
one of them and “doing a deal” whereby he or she men-
tors some of your key employees while visiting and you
can mentor some of his or her employees. Between visits,
the mentors and their protégés can keep in contact by e-
mail and other methods.
• Consider “employees” with subcontract status. Some of
your best people are not technically employed by you,
but may make excellent mentors. Look particularly at
those who either have been subcontractors to you for a
long time (and therefore know your business well) or were
once on the payroll before going independent.
• Think about your supply chain. You or others in your
organization probably know some excellent potential