Educational Dealer February 2022

Mentoring for Employee Retention

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ike most business owners, you’d love to start the new year out strong, but the effects of the Great Resignation, the ongoing talent shortage and the lingering pandemic may be dragging you down. If that’s the case, Dr. Sherry Hartnett, a marketing and leadership expert, encourages you to explore mentoring. “It’s one of the most powerful things you can do to create a more productive, engaged, and committed workforce,” says the coauthor of High-Impact Mentoring: A Practical Guide to Creating Value in Other People’s Lives, a book she co-wrote with former Waffle House President and COO Bert Thornton.

Here, she answers six common questions about formal mentoring programs.

1. What is mentoring, anyway?

It’s a personal, helping relationship between a mentor – an experienced and trusted advisor, and a mentee – someone who is willing to learn from that experience. Effective mentoring

encourages and nurtures mentees by enhancing their knowledge, expertise, and attitudes to enable them to grow and develop.

2. Is there a difference between mentoring and coaching?

Yes! Mentoring is aimed at long-term growth and facilitates broad development and career progress. Coaching is typically for short-term performance. “The way I see it, the difference between coaching and mentoring is the same as the difference between training and development,” says Thornton. “Coaching is more about training to task, while mentoring is about developing someone to their full potential.”

3. What functions does a mentor provide?

Mentors provide role modeling, advice, and friendship.

They help develop the mentee’s sense of competence, confidence, February 2022 — EducationalDealerMagazine.com 19