Client: Mikro+Polo d.o.o.
Key stakeholder: Mirjana Mladič, Marketing, Communication & HRD
Participants: Employees from different departments training to become mentor: 

The Challenge

Using funds from programme ASI - Celovita podpora podjetjem za aktivno staranje delovne sile[1] Mikro+Polo saw an opportunity to further develop internal mentors and their mentoring skills.

All of the participants have been in the company for many years and have valuable skills and knowledge, not only professional but also about the workings of the company and its organisational culture. They could effectively use this knowledge in mentoring, however none of them really knew what mentoring is – so far they were only involved in the process of on boarding and/or on-the-job training.

The goal was to use mentoring as a support in building organisational culture, further develop employees potentials and retain new and key talents.

The solution

Based on the needs communicated by the stakeholder and the initial conversation about the level of skills of the participants, a learning programme was designed specifically for Mikro+Polo.

The purpose of the programme was for participants to familiarize with the concept for mentoring and how that is different from on-the-job training and to equip them with most important skills that will help them become confident and effective mentors.

The programme was delivered in four 4h workshops and it covered various topics relevant for the following goals of the programme:

 

 

• understand competencies of a good mentor
• clearly understand their role, priorities and how to work within mentoring system
• understand different forms of mentoring and way of working within each
• be able to prepare for mentoring, create a mentoring agreement and have a mentoring check-list
• be able to follow up and evaluate progress of the mentee and write a report
• understand different types of personalities and characteristics of different generations and how to work with them
• understand the meaning of sharing experience between mentors for continuous strengthening of their mentoring skills

The result

✔ 100% said the programme would help them to improve in their role
✔ 30% increase in understanding the difference between career and organisation culture mentoring
✔ 27% increase in being able to create a mentoring agreement
✔ 24% increase in being able to follow up progress of the mentee
✔ 19% increase in using feedback in strengthening of their mentoring skills
✔ 17% increase in ability to understand their role and responsibilities as mentors
✔ 17% increase in being able to understand different types of personalities and characteristics of different generations
✔ 13% increase in being able to motivate different people to learn and grow

On a more personal level the programme had an important positive impact on personal growth of the participants.

They gained new knowledge and tools, a different perception of people who are different than they are, became more flexible and better at listening and observing – skills that will undoubtedly be very valuable in their role as mentors.

What did they say?

Key Stakeholder – Mirjana Mladič, Marketing, Communication & HRD

 “The programme proved to be very useful and ‘hands on the job’. In four 4-hours modules the participants learnt all the basics of what mentoring is, how to become a mentor, how to develop a training programme, how to communicate with different types of mentees and to follow-up and evaluate the delivery of the mentoring programme.

The satisfaction of the participants with the training was very high (9,3 on the 10-level scale), 73% would recommend it to others and the comparison of their self-evaluation at the beginning and at the end of the programme has shown a significant improvement on all points.

In the course of the programme we have also developed all the necessary documentation for the mentors (internal instructions, rewarding system, forms, etc.), we formed the “mentors’ club” and agreed on regular exchange of experience. We have also published an article in our newspaper Mikrofon. Last but not least, we additionally trained 3 future mentors who were mentees during the programme (“mentor the (future) mentor”). The programme is one of the most rewarding in the framework of the project ASI.”

        

Statement from participants

"Mentoring isn’t something we are born to know how to do. I recommend to all to get this knowledge if they wish to be mentors, advisors or role models to their colleagues."
"If you want clear and simple guidelines, steps and tools to establish mentoring system in your company, I recommend you attend Fast Forward workshop."
"Mentors are role models in the company. I highly recommend the workshop, which gives you additional knowledge and much more."
"The workshop was very interesting for me, because with each module I got additional pieces of mosaic in how to become a mentor."
"Workshop for mentors is so much more than just a workshop. The learning you get is useful for life and better understanding of your friends, colleagues and other around you."
"Workshops for developing mentoring skills are fun, informative and interactive, the trainer encourages us to active participation during and after the workshop."
"Workshop is the best, it helps with self-image and effective transfer of knowledge and experience to the mentee."