Tradition Meets Technology with Web-Based Mentoring
By Laura M. Francis
Web-based mentoring: what it is, why it’s important, why it’s the next phase of learning for people, and why organizations are flocking toward it.
What do you picture when you think of mentoring? A wizened old man guiding a young adventurer on a journey? An adult interacting with a child through Big Brothers Big Sisters? A teacher helping a student after school with extra tutoring? An executive taking a talented future leader under her wing and showing her the path to take to achieve success?
All of these are common examples of mentoring, embodiments of teaching, guiding, and helping someone through life. Now imagine these relationships in today’s fast-paced world where everyone is as addicted to email, cell phones, PDAs, and the web as they are to their morning cup of coffee. This is the reality behind web-based mentoring.
Web-based mentoring defined
Just as e-learning took the classroom online, web-based mentoring blends the traditional practices of mentoring with technological advances. As communication devices and the Internet become ubiquitous, mentoring practitioners and organizations realize that they can provide a means for learning and knowledge sharing that breaks down time and distance barriers and helps eliminate silos at work. People can now work in virtual offices and communicate and interact with co-workers around the world, so why not allow them to learn from one another and mentor one another, regardless of location?
Moving mentoring onto the web is a natural progression that many organizations are taking advantage of. From for profit to not-for-profit to government to education, all types of organizations see the power behind opening the doors of learning and development through web-based mentoring. Participants in web-based mentoring programs are able to find partners throughout the organization, regardless of location. This lets organizations tap into one of their greatest assets with ease and forethought without spending vast amounts of money or time.
The world continues its progression toward a knowledge-based society in which what you know equals the degree of your success. In the global economy, knowledge workers are enormous assets to organizations, and facilitating the freely offered give-and-take of knowledge and skills through web-based mentoring means organizations allow continued growth and advancement for everyone, whether they are across the hall, across the country, or across the globe.
So how does web-based mentoring compare to traditional mentoring? The biggest difference is the web factor (or E factor, if you choose to call it e-mentoring). The inclusion of the web means that many pieces that were once done by face-to-face now occur using technology and computers. For example, in traditional programs, administrators had mentors fill out print questionnaires that gathered biographical data, work history, relevant experience, and areas of expertise. Using web-based mentoring, administrators can now have mentors fill out these questionnaires online, creating what will become mentor profiles that mentees or administrators can search as they find a partner. Additionally, the use of technology helps with the management of mentoring projects for the participants and helps facilitate communication through email, chat, video conferencing, phone conversations, and much more.
It is important to understand that web-based mentoring programs don’t “do” the mentoring for you. The web is not HAL 9000, of 2001:A Space Odyssey fame. The computer cannot think for people or give them advice regarding their unique needs. Computers are still only as smart as we make them, which, given the problems created by HAL 9000, may be a good thing. Yet, the web can help facilitate mentoring relationships for people, particularly those taking place at a distance.
Most web-based mentoring programs allow participants to
- identify their own areas of strength and learning needs
- determine goals for the mentoring relationship based on these needs
- find a partner via automated matching of mentee need areas to mentor strength areas
- keep track of relationships—important dates, feedback on goals and progress, threaded conversations, connections between goals and job-related projects, and so on
- access resources for additional education.
Think of it as online dating, if you will. You no longer have to rely on a limited network of matchmakers to set you up with someone. With web-based mentoring, you are in control of the matchmaking and have an entire pool of qualified and available candidates waiting for you to choose them. You can then use the program to manage your relationships, and end them when you deem appropriate.
Web-based mentoring makes managing a mentoring relationship easier for mentees and mentors, not to mention easier to oversee for program administrators. It is still the participants’ responsibility to actually mentor, but the program can help guide the way.
Multiple reasons, multiple values
Numerous organizations are moving their traditional mentoring practices to web-based programs for the simple fact that they are a low-cost, high-impact way to spread organizational knowledge and best practices throughout an institution. As most training and development practitioners would agree, employees are a key asset of organizations. Web-based mentoring allows for more and more people to become involved in mentoring without dramatically raising the overall cost of the program.
Unlike traditional classroom mentoring seminars or training sessions in which an additional participant means thousands of extra dollars, web-based mentoring allows for multitudes of participants without stretching the budget. It is a scalable solution that can expand with an organization’s needs. This elasticity helps Web-based mentoring have an impact on organizations both in the sense of dollars saved and employees engaged. It allows employees’ expertise and skills to be shared with one another in all parts of the organization, enhancing the overall influence employees can have on a company. Passing along knowledge and best practices remains one of the most beneficial contributions an employee can make—and web-based mentoring lets organizations make that possible.
While passing along knowledge and skills is one of the biggest reasons why organizations offer mentoring, there exist many more reasons for moving to web-based mentoring. Consider the following factors.
Low administrative burden. Web-based mentoring removes some of the administrative burdens associated with traditional mentoring practices, such as hand matching participants based on paper evaluations. By using the web, organizations can let mentors select competency descriptions, as well as allow them to create profiles of themselves that mentees can view.
Conversely, they can let mentees select competency descriptions that depict their areas of learning need. The web-based mentoring program can then show a mentee (or administrators, if using third-party matching techniques) the names and profiles of the mentors whose skill areas match the mentee’s learning need areas, and the mentee or administrator can select the mentor who most closely fits the need.
Automated matching simplifies and streamlines the whole process. By using automated matching, web-based mentoring programs build the foundation for organizations’ mentoring and development initiatives to gain widespread involvement of employees because they can be offered to a greater number of participants, but without increasing the administrative duties and overwhelming those in charge of the initiatives. One of the hardest tasks of an administrator—matching mentees and mentors by hand—is done for them in an objective manner through web-based mentoring.
A benefit for all. Because web-based mentoring programs can be expanded infinitely, they represent a benefit that organizations can offer to all employees. As such, organizations can use their commitment to mentoring as a recruitment strategy when trying to hire the best candidates available. It can be the factor that sets them apart from the competition and brings the top candidates to them. In turn, this benefits the organization and gives it a competitive edge because it has the best and brightest working for them.
Increase retention. As with using mentoring as a recruitment tool, organizations can use web-based mentoring as a way to increase retention among current employees and new hires. Because of reduced costs for administering a web-based mentoring program, organizations can offer it to employees as a way to explicitly show that they value and want to support them in their growth and learning. For employees, having the opportunity to participate in mentoring gives them a confidante to go to who can help them grow in their skills and advance in their career. It directly correlates to retention efforts because people tend to stay at an organization that offers tools to help with their continued development.
Improve morale. In conjunction with retention, improved morale can be another result of a web-based mentoring program. By implementing a program, organizations show that they care about employees and their continued success. Consequently, this improves the morale of the employees because they see that the organization is doing something for their benefit. This improved morale often leads to improved work efforts, making this an attractive reason for companies to implement Web-based mentoring programs for all of their employees.
Uphold social justice. As described already, organizations are choosing web-based mentoring due to its scalable nature, meaning the program can be expanded infinitely to be easily offered to all employees. By opening the program to everyone, organizations counteract social justice issues that may arise when limited programs are implemented, in which only a select few are special enough to receive mentoring.
Demonstrating that all employees are worthwhile and deserve mentoring opportunities will address any negative feelings people may have by being left out of more selective programs. In addition, organizations build loyalty with employees when they show that they value and see potential in everyone.
Support training efforts. Another way organizations are using web-based mentoring is as a posttraining option. Many organizations and employees lament that classroom training is only marginally effective because there is no real life implementation after the training course. By using web-based mentoring, organizations are able to build on the ideas and skills taught in the seminar by providing a way for employees to actually use them on the job.
When people can find mentors for a related topic that was covered in a classroom seminar, they are able to apply their new learning and skills in a practical way on the job. This effects the organization by reinforcing the skills taught in the classroom and spreading the best practices they were trying to teach. Additionally, it builds camaraderie among people with similar interests.
Support multiple initiatives. Due to the scalability of web-based mentoring, it can be used to support multiple initiatives within an organization. The lowered administrative burdens offer a streamlined solution for what had traditionally been separate initiatives or projects. Organizations can choose to keep mentees and mentors for unique initiatives separated, so that each project has its own unique group of participants, or they can choose to open up the matching process regardless of initiative affiliation. By opening up the pool, organizations enable people to find mentors across the enterprise, creating wider teams and greater interaction. This helps spread knowledge and best practices outside distinct departments and across the entire organization.
Encourage multiple relationships. The focus for mentoring relationships should center on the goals and learning needs of the mentee. Few people are experts on all areas, so encouraging mentees to find multiple mentors for their various learning needs (such as, one for leadership development, one for marketing practices, and one for team building skills) streamlines the learning process and empowers people to address their needs when they want and how they want.
The fact that web-based mentoring programs can easily accommodate a multitude of users makes the process of mentoring for the masses a simple solution. It also means more learning takes place concurrently, speeding up the process of development for mentees. Typically, this means that relationships end more quickly (when the mentee’s goals are met), which can help stave off mentor burn out.
The ultimate prize
The ultimate prize for most organizations is creating a mentoring culture—a way of working and living in which learning and growing are at the center of all you do. Knowledge sharing and development are the keys to success, and mentoring provides a vehicle for these. In relation, web-based mentoring offers a way for these characteristics to permeate an organization so that everyone can take part in development and be a part of the process, truly building a culture of learning. The question is no longer: Why should we do it that way? The question is now: Why wouldn’t we do it that way?
Laura M. Francis is communications director for Triple Creek Associates. Other articles written by Francis can be found on Learning Circuits and in T+D magazine. Contact her at lfrancis@3creek.com.
Triple Creek Associates creates web-based mentoring programs using its unique expertise in leadership, learning design, and technology. Its full service and support model sets it apart and has won it clients from leading organizations, such as Dow Chemical, Motorola, The United States Air Force, and The University of Texas. It offers free mentoring resources online at www.3creek.com.