Creating a structured mentoring program requires a solid understanding of mentoring dynamics.

There are myriad examples of mentoring programs that failed because organisations mistakenly believed they fully understood mentoring. Rather than create a successful program, they negatively impacted the careers of both mentors and mentees. Typically, such programs have put people together without clear guidelines, offered no training about mentoring relationships, lacked internal support, paired employees with the bosses of the employees’ immediate supervisors, and violated other fundamentals of mentoring.

The amount of outside expertise needed to establish a mentoring program varies from organization to organization. Most organisations have found that using a consultant to set up a pilot program has made the difference between success and failure