The purpose of this paper is to give an introduction to the definition and learning process of mentoring, a structured overview of the value of mentoring for mentees, mentors, organisations and society, as well as present the key element for designing and implementing successful mentoring programmes that gives full value to all stakeholders.
The article is based on more than ten years' experience in working with mentoring programmes, designing and delivering mentoring programmes in an organisational context, on studying research done by other scholars and consultants as well as on the knowledge developed through the Mentor+ Survey – a survey tool for evaluating mentoring programmes.
It is found that the potential for learning for mentors, organisations and even society is still not fully understood by organisations implementing mentoring programmes – and thus the value of mentoring programmes is still not fully appreciated and achieved, even for mentees.
This article is of value to HR professionals and managers who wish to use mentoring programmes to enhance the learning capacity of people and organisations, instead of as just a tool for knowledge transfer.
