Making a Business Case For Mentoring

Mentoring is becoming ever more popular as an organisational strategy for attracting, retaining and developing people. However, while mentoring is an appealing concept, it is important to ensure that any program will provide a return on investment in terms of achieving the goals of the organization.  To get the funding you need for your program you must show sound, business reasons, that convince decision-makers that spending this money will help achieve strategic objectives.\

Mentoring, when well designed, properly implemented and adequately resourced can:

1. Attract and retain talented employees;
2. Develop people – those who mentor as well as those mentored;
3. Facilitate career planning and progression;
4. Reduce "silo mentality" and increase cross-organisational communication; and
5. Increase the return on your investment in learning and development and reduce turnover costs.

However, a good business case needs to present relevant and accurate data to your decision-makers. Here is a three-step guide:

1.	Find out where your organization hurts. Provide solutions to pain. Is retention an issue? Which staff leave? Why? What does it cost?
2.	Gather facts from your own organization, industry benchmarks or research data. Quote statistics. You will need solid figures for before and after measures.
3.	Write a budget, showing the cost of the program recouped in less than three years (the life span and planning horizon of most CEO's). Describe the benefits, phrased in language that is meaningful to decision-makers. Appeal to the values, link to strategic objectives, but lead with your best punch – dollars added to the bottom-line.

This article is an extract from: Five Reasons Your Organisation Need Mentoring, by Ann Rolfe. For a free copy of the full article, visit www.mentoring-works.com.