Informal Mentor Programs for ESOPs - A Great Way to Build Skills and Culture for Your Business: UPDATED
For those who are not familiar with Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOPS), these are companies that give employees ownership interest in the organization. ESOPs are much more than a retirement plan. When organizations are set up as Employee-Owned, a trust is formed that purchases some or all of the shares of the company. This structure generates tax benefits for the company and establishes a culture of shared ownership. ESOPs provide employee-owners with educational opportunities, shared data on performance, increased business literacy, and enhanced employee involvement. By involving, educating, and informing employees in day to day business operations, this "ownership culture" builds innovation that leads to bottom line improvement and strengthened performance.
A few of my clients, including King Arthur Baking Company and Resource Systems Group are ESOPS. I have also been an employee of an ESOP, Hypertherm, that is 100% employee-owned. Because employees are owners of the company, they have a say in how the company is run. I find that when I work with my ESOP clients, they have a strong commitment to both the performance and culture of their organizations!
Mentor programs are a natural fit for ESOPs, as they can support continued development and knowledge sharing of ownership culture. I have designed successful mentor programs for ESOP clients that have resulted in a strong Return on the Investment. Informal mentoring can happen throughout various levels within an organization. Sometimes it is an official program, and often it is not. Now more than ever, mentor programs are being designed and deployed providing positive ROI for businesses. Mentoring is also one of the most cost effective ways to share knowledge between employees, in addition to meeting the constant request for continued development by employees.
Informal mentoring sometimes resembles a more experienced person taking the time to teach skills to a new hire. At other times, it may appear when someone in the community or a professional organization takes a person “under their wing” to help them learn the culture or build their network. Most mentor program are informal.
Characteristics of Less Formal Mentoring
In an informal mentor program, goals are less specific. Often there is little to no training of the mentor on how to be an effective mentor or the setting of expectations within the mentor relationship. Typically, there are also no time limits or set schedules for these mentor/mentee interactions and little to no expense incurred to a business. The outcomes of these less formal programs are often not evaluated, resulting in less data about their success rate.
Benefits of Informal Mentor Programs
The benefits of a less formal program are that they are often organic and happen throughout the organization without needed staff resources. They are flexible and can be started or ended easily. If the mentor and mentee are not the right fit, it is simple to stop the guidance. These programs are very simple, but can add huge value to the business!
Example of an ESOP client Informal Mentor Program
I built an informal mentor program for King Arthur Baking Company a few years ago to support immersion of new hires into their culture. Mentors from each department were identified and received information about objectives and expectations. New hires were matched with a mentor from a different part of the business for their first 90 days. This informal mentoring program resulted in many benefits to King Arthur Baking Company, both as an organization and for its employee-owners. These benefits include:
Informal mentor programs can provide a cost-effective way to support knowledge sharing and culture of an ESOP, while strengthening the business bottom line!
Let’s connect to discuss building a successful mentor program for your ESOP!
Did you know Sarah hosts business mentoring workshops for teams and organizations of all sizes? Learn more about business workshops here.
New Digital Course: Mentor Program Design for Positive ROI
Check out my short Mentor blog posts:
Positive Use of Power: Mentor Programs Strengthen Culture and Produce Strong ROI
Questions from the Maine HR Convention Keynote - Effective Mentor Program Design
Peer Mentoring - An Effective Way to Help you Grow in your Business Career
Informal Mentoring - A Great Way to Build Skills and Culture for Your Business
Questions? Let’s connect. I would love to hear your success stories. Please send them to: hello@sarahscala.com or visit www.sarahscala.com
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About the Author:
Sarah Scala is a senior talent management leader and executive coach with 20+ years of experience providing organization development, change management, and leadership development solutions for diverse global and local industries. She is a collaborative consultant, coach, and educator supporting performance transformation of executives, leaders, and teams. Sarah is a methodical, results-driven leader recognized for helping clients reach their highest potential, increase revenue, reduce turnover, elevate business profitability, build competencies, and improve performance.
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