Many people underestimate the power that mentorship programs have, but they can have an extremely positive impact on your business. They are an awesome way to build strong and successful teams, and due to that, we have been organizing mentorship programs internally for a long time. Recently, we have decided to take a step further and organize mentorship programs on different subjects for everyone that wants to learn more, advance in their career, and get a chance for immediate employment once the mentorship program is completed. One of the mentorship programs that was successfully organized and completed was our Cloud Mentorship Program with our Cloud Practice Unit Manager, Zoran Nasev. We decided to ask Zoran several questions about how the mentorship went and the effects that it has on the team, and company culture.
IWC: Why did you decide to organize a mentorship program?
ZORAN: Internally, we have been using mentorship programs for our own employees. In fact, almost all of the new employees in our company have some type of mentor. We have seen that this practice of appointing mentors to employees has a lot of benefits and decided to organize and create a different mentorship program that will include candidates who are not our employees, will be free, and will provide the candidates with a real hands-on experience with Cloud computing on Amazon web services. Driven by our core values of unconditional contribution and adventurous growth, the mentorship program was successfully organized and completed. It lasted 8 weeks and the candidates that showed the best results were offered employment.
IWC: How does the mentorship program improve candidates’ skills?
ZORAN: Mentorship programs are a great way to improve candidates’ personal and professional skills. At first, they give them the opportunity to learn the subject they are interested in via practice, and second, they get a chance to experience what it will look like working in a team. Thus, the mentorship program is no different than real-time working situations, improving candidates’ skills to work independently, and in a team, and to resolve challenges and conflicts alone and/or in a team.
IWC: How does the mentorship program build the team?
ZORAN: Mentorship programs have positive effects not only on the mentees, but also on the mentors, and the entire team. Mentors become better leaders and mentees become better team players. Additionally, once the mentorship program was completed, several candidates got employed in our company. With their participation in the mentorship program, they became closer and got to know each other better. Thus, the team that was created is a strong one with a lot of trust and free communication. In a nutshell, mentorship programs are an awesome way to build successful teams.
IWC: What is the effect of the mentorship program on the company culture?
ZORAN: Besides building a strong team, mentorship programs have a strong influence on the company culture as well. Mentorship programs nurture a culture of learning, growing, and sharing knowledge. This effect of the mentorship programs completely aligns with our vision and core values which include unconditionally providing knowledge to those in need without expecting anything in return.
IWC: Your opinion on mentorship programs
ZORAN: In my opinion, mentorship programs give candidates a fair chance to learn and demonstrate their capabilities. Sometimes, interviews cannot provide you with enough information about the candidate’s qualities. As a result, many quality candidates which have the potential to grow and develop professionally might end up not being employed due to not having the chance to improve and show their skills properly. Mentorship programs are an awesome way to ensure that they get the opportunity to grow professionally and become professionals.
Mentorship programs indeed create strong teams, but for this to happen it requires a lot of dedication and hard work from the mentor and mentees. In my case, the entire process created a special bond between me and my team, and today we are colleagues sharing the same culture and beliefs.
