Did you know that according to Forbes, approximately 76% of people have reported that they find mentors useful?
Mentoring is one of the most effective methods to share valuable insights, knowledge, and experience. However, it requires a big commitment from senior management, it can take a lot of time, and establishing the right mentor relationships can be tricky.
Enter flash mentoring – the perfect solution to implementing a successful mentorship program in your institution/organization.
Flash mentoring is focused on making the value of mentorship accessible, in a fast-paced more “doable” fashion.
In this article, we will discuss what flash mentoring entails, and how you can effectively implement it for optimal success.
[activecampaign form=5]
What Is Flash Mentoring?
Flash mentoring is a type of mentoring process that spans a very short period of time. Unlike traditional mentoring relationships that are ongoing and result in long-term relationships, flash mentoring is quicker.
The main purpose of flash mentoring is to share mentoring knowledge in a matter of hours per time slot. This form of mentorship is easier to access and more convenient for everyone involved.
While flash mentoring isn’t designed to replace traditional mentoring relationships, it is an effective way to increase mentoring opportunities and make mentoring relationships more accessible and engaging.
How Can Flash Mentoring Benefit Your Organization?
Mentoring offers many benefits to any kind of organization/institution. It’s a process that lets people access valuable knowledge and insights from more experienced leaders.
Unlike traditional learning environments, discussions with mentors can help to unlock unique and customized advice/wisdom. This is something that everyone, regardless of age or experience, can benefit from.
Flash mentoring offers a unique take and can help organizations provide further value through mentorship opportunities, and most importantly, focus on employee development.
And given that so many companies are still working remotely, flash mentoring can accommodate this by offering virtual sessions.
Here are some of the main benefits of utilizing flash mentoring.
It Requires Less Of A Commitment
Unlike traditional mentoring relationships, flash mentoring involves far less of a commitment. Mentoring relationships are shorter, and they can have a clearly established timeframe.
This breaks down a major barrier in mentoring relationships, making it easier for mentors and mentees to get involved.
Fast Insights
Because flash mentoring is done at greater speed, this means mentees can access faster insights from their mentors. Less time is spent strategically developing the relationship, and more time is spent gaining knowledge, asking questions, and sharing advice.
Given that the sessions are short and sweet, mentees can utilize the time efficiently to ask questions and get the information/advice they desire.
It Fosters A Healthy Company Culture
Implementing flash mentoring can illustrate to employees that training and development are important pillars of the business. Thus, making staff feel empowered and more engaged.
Mentors Can Reach More Mentees
You can create a far wider positive impact with flash mentoring. Mentors can connect with more mentees to help create a greater impact. At the same time, more mentees can access expert insights and mentorship opportunities.
By using the flash mentoring approach, your organization/institution can offer mentoring opportunities to more people. This makes mentorship more accessible, which can help to add more value overall.
How To Use Flash Mentoring In Your Organization
Setting up a mentoring program in your organization can seem like a major undertaking. However, there are many ways that you can incorporate flash mentoring. This could offer a convenient way to make mentoring more accessible.
Here are some of the different ways you can do this.
Networking With New Hires And Leaders
A fast and simple way to introduce flash mentoring is to set up quick sessions between new hires and more experienced leaders. You can make this a standard part of the onboarding process to share knowledge between the two parties.
Use Your Alumni Network
Flash mentoring can be an appealing way to increase alumni engagement, while also making the most out of your alumni community.
Instead of setting up mentorship programs that require a large investment from mentors, consider offering flash mentoring sessions between your experienced alumni and newer members.
Share Knowledge Between Departments
This is a highly effective way to promote flash mentoring, as well as improve communication and engagement between different departments. To achieve this, bring together different departments for knowledge and experience-sharing sessions. This form of peer learning can offer some valuable interdepartmental insights, creating more cohesion throughout your institution.
Flash Mentoring Events
You could host events focused purely on flash mentoring (like a sort of speed-dating setup even). These events could give experienced leaders a chance to network with other members, answer questions, and provide insights. This is a useful way to share information amongst a larger group of people.
Weekly Discussions
Setting up weekly discussions between junior members and more experienced leaders is another practical way to promote flash mentoring. These sessions can be short, and casual, and provide a platform for in-depth discussions.
Succession Planning
You can use flash mentoring as a way to build and grow employees with potential. Create a structured long-term plan whereby they meet with key senior members for flash mentoring sessions in order to learn and work towards a senior position.
Use The Right Community Platform For Flash Mentoring
One of the best ways to promote and establish flash mentoring relationships is to use the right online platform.
With a platform like Aluminati, you can establish alumni and mentor communities within your organization. Members can set up their profiles, use the online directory to search for other members, and connect with each other seamlessly.
This provides a convenient place for your community to network, form causal mentor relationships, and share knowledge.
You can also use the platform to promote any upcoming flash mentoring events that your organization organized and hosts. This makes flash mentoring easier to access and engage with for everyone involved. It’s also a great way to make your alumni programs more accessible.
Summary
While traditional mentoring still holds a lot of value, using flash mentoring alongside it can open up many new opportunities.
Flash mentoring will help make the process more accessible to both mentors and mentees. This can add a lot of value to your organization.
With the right flash mentoring tactics and using the right platform to build and engage your community, your organization can reap the benefits of this convenient mentorship approach.
