No matter how long you’re running your business, it’s always important to plan ahead and think of the future prospects of your growth. Wise and successful leaders always try to find reliable workers that can become potential leaders in the future and they invest in their development. In order to always have a backbone, someone who can take the leading position if needed, it’s essential to pay attention to the succession planning and mentoring system.
Let’s define what these two terms are and how they can benefit your business.
Succession planning
First of all, let’s discuss in more detail what exactly succession planning is. You can say that it’s a business evolution strategy in a way. It’s the process of distinguishing candidates with the biggest potential and finding ways to prepare them for becoming future leaders.
To be honest, no one can hold the leading position forever, as there will always be people that are younger, smarter, and more passionate. For any business, it’s beneficiary to recognize workers like that as soon as possible and teach them as much as possible in a short period of time. That’s why it’s crucial to come up with a well-thought, structured plan.
Mentoring
Now, it’s time to move on to the term “Mentoring” and define how it can influence your workflow and the development of your business. Probably, most people are familiar with this process.
In general, you can compare mentoring to teaching at some point. It is a way to guide your current employees and prepare them for upcoming challenges. Without any doubt, we can say that mentoring is an integral part of the succession planning process.
What benefits can mentoring offer you?
So, we briefly discussed what mentoring is. Now, let’s talk in more detail about what it can offer you as a leader and business owner and how it can impact your work in general. These factors we mention below greatly influence the succession planning process in your organization.
Narrowing the age gap between younger and older employees
When it comes to long-existing businesses or big corporations, having employees of various ages is inevitable. It’s not a secret that different generations might have contrasting views, and they might not get along well. However, mentoring can become a way of bonding for people of different ages.
Older employees will undeniably have more knowledge and experience that they can share with their juniors. Usually, they’re more familiar with the company’s work style and can pass this information on to the new employees.
Benefiting the institutional knowledge
Every company has its past – certain successes and drawbacks. This information can be way more important than you might think. Therefore it’s a wise decision to delegate it from generation to generation.
For example, it’s vital to remember the details about the permanent clients and ways of working with them. Through mentoring, experienced employees can hand this valuable data forward.
Creating a connection between different units
It’s natural that in big companies with hundreds of employees, not all people are familiar with each other as they’re a part of different work units that perform different tasks. Implementing a mentorship system can help:
- Create better communication between them;
- Share different aspects of the work instead of focusing only on the one you’re responsible for.
Passing practical knowledge
Another great advantage mentoring can offer you is the focus on practice rather than theory. We can all agree that anyone can read the book and learn the rules, but not everyone can make this information work.
A mentor is a person that will directly pass their knowledge and skills to their “heir” by presenting their work in real life. This kind of experience is extremely valuable, and this type of learning is certainly the most effective one.
It prevents excessive employee turnover
Most people that enter a new workspace usually expect to receive some help and support at the beginning of their way. Therefore, if they don’t get it, they might:
- Get disappointed;
- Not stay for a long time.
For any business, excessive employee turnover is not a good indicator, as it may significantly ruin the reputation of the company. That’s why creating a strong mentoring base might be really beneficiary.
It allows developing future leaders
As we have already mentioned, mentoring is one of the best ways to prepare talented employees to take the leading position in the future potentially. An experienced mentor can help grasp all the peculiarities and features of the company fully.
They can share their perspectives and plans for the future work and advancement of the company. Also, they can share their knowledge about all the possible pitfalls and how to avoid them.
It strongly impacts the perception of the learning process
Creating a mentorship system within your company can become a great motivation for your employees to seek other opportunities to learn and develop. By encouraging them to learn and share their knowledge with others, you set a solid base for them to become successful leaders in the future.
Summing up
In order to ensure that your business will grow progressively and will keep its top position for as long as possible, it’s essential to create a development strategy. One of the crucial elements of that strategy is succession planning. This process, combined with mentoring, allows you to define employees with the biggest potential and train them to become leaders in the future.
Above, we described some of the benefits these methods offer, and we hope you find our little guide helpful and you’ll implement it into your working process.
