The business mantra of profit-margins and return on investment has changed little since we decided that we had something which we could exchange for more than it cost to create.
However, the focus of increasing sales and reducing costs over the years has now become a science of micro-management. Many fledgeling businesses have become colossal giants. Others have fallen by the wayside.
So, what are the drivers and where is a business is likely to be wasting resources? We look briefly at two areas.
Staff turnover
Employers are beginning to realise that their staff are their greatest resource. Happy employees work harder and job security helps to create a sense of belonging whereby personal sacrifices of time (such as putting in extra hours at work, taking work home or being on call 24/7) are willingly given to achieve the end result: higher productivity.
Companies with mentoring programmes signal positive corporate cultures wherein employees are valued. Properly selected mentors can guide their protégés towards positive career paths in their chosen fields.
In a perfect company environment of nurture and responsibility, high staff turnover will become a thing of the past. Reduced expenditure on recruitment and training leads to higher profit margins.
Mentoring aims to instil in mentees the desire to promote the firm while feeling proud to work in a thriving business. Happy employees become valuable ambassadors as representatives of the company they work in when they feel they have some degree of ownership of company performance.
Lack of continuity in management
All organisations, new and established, require strong management. Start-ups can benefit from business mentoring wherein invaluable networking contacts can be shared and passed on by mentors who are experienced in that particular industry. Even within well-established businesses, how often do we read of companies closing as a result of leadership or succession issues?
A mentoring programme can pre-empt this whereby a mentor develops and identifies protégés with leadership potential to ease into the role of management as a key element in succession planning.
A mentor is a sage, giving advice and guidance to the recipient. They are a friend, someone the mentee can go to, in trust, to share challenges and together, find mutual solutions to problems faced within the organisation or the mentee’s role. Successful mentorship programmes can only serve to attract the right talent to an organisation. Who wouldn’t want to be one of the pack? A musketeer? One for all and all for one?
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