Mentoring Business Case

1. Mentoring
Business Case Template
©️ Art of Mentoring Pty Ltd ABN 31 620 225 372
Restriction on use and disclosure of discussion document information
The information contained in these documents and associated online links
and demonstrations constitute information that is considered proprietary. It
is furnished to the recipients of this document in confidence, with the
understanding that it will not, without the permission of Art of Mentoring, be
used or disclosed for other than evaluation purposes.

2. Why mentoring?
Program Purpose and Goals
Program Specification
Measuring success
Resourcing the program
Benefits and Risks
ROI
Are you ready?
CONTENTS
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3. 1. Allen, T. D., Eby, L. T., Poteet, M. L., Lentz, E., & Lima, L. (2004). Career benefits associated with
mentoring for proteges: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 127–136.
2. Sun Microsystems Study (2009), downloaded from
http://spcoast.com/pub/Katy/SunMentoring1996-2009.smli_tr-2009-185.pdf
WHY
MENTORING
Mentees have higher
career satisfaction,
higher jobsatisfaction
as well as greater
intention to stay1
Compensation and
promotion is higherin
mentored individuals1
Mentees are promoted
5 x moreoften2
In a study by Sun,
retention amongst
mentees (72%)and
mentors (69%) was
favourably compared to
organisational rate of
49%2.
Sun claims to have made
$6.7 million in savings
in avoided turnover and
replacement costs2.
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4. PURPOSE
Why mentoring for your organisation? What organisational
objectives will a mentoring program address? What is the
overarching reason for implementing this mentoring initiative?
PURPOSE AND GOALS
GOALS
What are the specific objectives of the program?
1. Program outcomes e.g. (number of participants)
2. Mentoring relationship outcomes
(e.g. high satisfaction rate with partner)
3. Mentee and Mentors outcomes
(e.g. better network, gain promotion, learn new skills, give
back to the organisation or profession)
4. Organisational outcomes (e.g. improve diversity,
strengthen leadership bench, effective onboarding of new
staff, increase engagement and retention).
This is (or is linked to) PURPOSE
Get Key stakeholders to
agree to this before
you go any further.
All other decisionsflow
from this page.
See Goal Setting | The Ripple Effect | Case Studies | Benchmark Report (view in Presentation mode to access links)
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5. PROGRAM
SPECIFICATIONS
See The Ripple Effect | Case Studies (view in Presentation mode to access links)
1. Don’t be tootempted
by fads. Tried and
true mentoring
formats work!
2. Program events
help keepMentees
engaged and provide
opportunities for
further learning
by Mentors.
TYPE OF MENTORING
Is it a standard 1:1 program or something different?
DEGREE OF STRUCTURE
How formal or structured do you want the program to be? Informal
programs are less time-intensive to manage but may have a much
higher drop-out rate.
PROGRAM EVENTS
How many and what type of program events will be included?
PROGRAM DELIVERY MODE
Will your program be face-to-face, virtual or a hybrid of these? This
includes program events as well as how the mentoring pairs will
engage. Face-to-face events for big groups can be costly but may
help drive more engagement.
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6. 1. Build your goals into
survey questions for
participants
2. Consider post-
programmeasurement
as well (e.g. how
many were promoted/
retained/engagement
results).
MEASURING
SUCCESS
How will you measure what has been achieved by Mentees,
Mentors and the program?
When will you measure and by what means? (e.g. surveys, focus
groups, individual interviews, discussion at program events)
See Goal Setting | The Ripple Effect | Benchmark Report
(view in Presentation mode to access links)
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7. Who will manage the program? Is there someone internal
to do this or will you outsource it?
Apart from a program manager, what resources will the
program need?:
• Technology
(e.g. videoconferencing, mentoring software)
• Training materials
• Supporting tools and templates for use by Mentees
and Mentors
• Travel budget, venues for meeting
Will you create your own or buy them?
What are the costs involved to successfully set up,
launch, implement and review the program?
RESOURCING
1. Best to plan this at the
outset so you can
create a budget
2. Don’t skimp on resources
– it greatlyaffects
program quality
Item Estimated Cost
Program Manager time
Mentoring Software
Other Technology
Resources
Travel, venue
Other
TOTAL
Cost per pair
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8. Think about risks to:
1. Implementation
2. Impact on stakeholders
– e.g. who might resist
a program targeted to
special interestgroups?
3. Would a poorly run
program be worse than
no program at all?
4. Go back and re-work any
other sections that needit
after identifying risks
BENEFITS & RISKS
What are the anticipated benefits and results
of investing time, resources and money into
this mentoring program?
What are the potential risks to program success and how
could these be mitigated?
See Common Pitfalls | Getting Value for Money
(view in Presentation mode to access links)
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9. RETURN
ON INVESTMENT
CALCULATIONS
Improvement in
Employer ofChoice
ratings
Job satisfactionscores
and intention tostay
Improved
performanceof
mentors as well
as mentees.
Job mobility.
Diversity and
Inclusion results
Retention
rate
ROI
PROGRAM
COST (PC)
R
D
E
A
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10. ROI
RETAIN
DEVELOP
ENGAGE
ATTRACT
MY ROI
CALCULATIONS
Using Retention alone, a 10 point*
improvement in a 50-pair mentoring program
with average salary of $80,000 per annum
would save the cost of replacing 10people.
10 x $80,000 x 0.5 = $400,000
(assume replacement cost = 0.5 times salary).
ROI = $400,000 / $50,000 = 8x i.e 800%
* In the Sun Microsystems study, there was a 20 point improvement in retention
and ROI was calculated at more than 1000%. 10
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PROGRAM
COST (PC)
$ $
$ $ $

11. ARE YOU READY?
What are others in your profession, industry or market doing with
regard to mentoring programs and what can you learn from them?
Is your organisation ready for mentoring and is mentoring the right
intervention now? Take this Readiness Self Assessment to check if
you are ready.
Summarise evidence that supports organisational readiness for your
mentoring program. If your organisation is not ready now, what will
you do about this?
Book a free
consultation
See Goal Setting | The Ripple Effect | Case Studies | Benchmark Report
(view in Presentation mode to access links)
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12. MEET PEOPLE AND
CULTURE
CHALLENGES AND
ACHIEVE
GREAT THINGS
QUESTIONS?
Contact us for a complimentary*
Situation Analysis Session
Book a free
consultation
* Free if your organisation qualifies
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13. ©️ Art of Mentoring Pty Ltd ABN 31 620 225 372
Restriction on use and disclosure of discussion document information
The information contained in these documents and associated online links and demonstrations constitute information
that is considered proprietary. It is furnished to the recipients of this document in confidence, with the understanding
that it will not, without the permission of Art of Mentoring, be used or disclosed for other than evaluation purposes.
Contact information:
ALEX RICHARDSON
m +61 406 737 422
t: +612 9113 7265
e: alex@artofmentoring.net
THANK
YOU
Thank you for taking the
time to find out more
about Art of Mentoring.
If you would like any
additional information or
to discuss how we can
work together, contact
our team today.
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