Mentoring Software

Mentoring software is a type of enterprise software tool that helps UK businesses, HR departments, coaching services, and educational institutions to implement, manage, and streamline mentoring schemes within their workplace or as part of their clients' learning journeys. Mentoring platforms consolidate the way employees, trainees, students, and clients connect, share, and expand their knowledge, increasing engagement and promoting inclusion. While some are used to transferring existing mentorship schemes onto a digital format, others are deployed to define and develop original mentoring programs.

An online mentoring platform can assist with implementing mentoring initiatives like recruiting, matching, evaluating, and managing mentors, often integrating with the organisation's LMS for even greater accessibility and versatility. They can accommodate several mentoring programs, including the one-on-one model, the coach-driven format, and group-based sessions. Customised to manage goals, set KPIs, and continuously monitor relationships between users and the coaches they are connected with, mentorship software seeks to reduce administrative workloads, boost engagement, improve the flow of information between mentees and mentors, and boost return on investment.

Mentor software can cater to several industries, as in-house staff, HR departments, and outsourced consultancy services can be set up to manage mentorship programs with minimal IT skills. They can benefit universities, schools, government agencies, NGOs, the tech sector, international corporations, and SMEs alike. In a higher education context, mentorship platforms can manage the student and alumni database, blast emails, and maintain job boards but also help boost engagement in the same way that Alumni Management Software seeks to do. They can encourage student participation in mentoring sessions, charitable events, donation campaigns, and volunteering programs. They can also assist educators and coaches deliver intelligent solutions with algorithmic matching, personalised prompting, on-platform chat, forums, and interactive learning modules.

Within a corporate environment, mentor software can empower workforces to share their growth, make their voices heard, and have a say in the way their learning journeys are developing. HR staff, career developers, and supervisors might use mentoring platforms in their onboarding and professional development initiatives, just as they would Training Software. Alternatively, they may employ them in performance appraisal activities, alongside or in place of 360-degree feedback or performance appraisal software, or more comprehensive Human Resources Software.

Regardless of the field of application and the industry verticals, it’s developed for any platform should be able to provide these basic capabilities to be classed as mentorship software:

• Centralise the organisation’s mentor program development
• Algorithmically match users with qualified and suitable mentors
• Provide features such as recruitment, enrollment, and mentor matching
• Streamline mentoring program management
• Manage the curriculum, manage goals, set action items, and track progress
• Collect performance metrics and report the results automatically and on demand

What is Mentoring Software?

Mentoring software tools help organisations develop and implement mentoring programs. Using this tool, businesses, charities, universities, and local support groups can enrol mentors, match them to their most suitable mentees, and organise various types of sessions for them based on their availability. Fields of application include corporate training, employee development, career coaching, performance appraisal, alumni guidance, and talent management.

Mentor software captures user information and creates complex profiles. It uses algorithmic matching technology to pair participants with the most qualified and knowledgeable mentor, nurturing trust, capturing feedback, and enabling users to visualise progress in real-time. It also replaces conventional mentoring programs, which are vulnerable to 'matching bias', random matching, and limiting the pool of candidates to immediate networks.

Businesses, schools, health associations, and other public or private organisations use mentorship platforms to boost member engagement, develop leaders, carry out succession planning, retain talent, apply inclusion and diversity strategies, and deliver on their DEI goals. From career coaches to mental health practitioners, mentors with a wide range of backgrounds can digitally engage with mentees on these platforms, assigning them tasks, assessing their progress, providing guidance, upskilling, hosting psychoeducation workshops, and steering them towards their goals.

From worldwide membership and empowerment organisations to SMEs and public sector institutions, the mentorship software user base is heterogeneous. It's also a fast-growing user base, as professionals strive for jobs in what the University of Birmingham Blog calls 'The Great Reshuffle'. Mentoring platforms are adapting to these changes and scaling up their business models to accommodate an eclectic pool of mentees in search of one-on-one mentoring, group support, and coach-driven sessions. Mentor matching platforms can address these needs by helping participants make authentic connections, enabling companies to leverage their brands and networks in their recruiting, retention, and professional development initiatives.

Like many of today's software tools, online mentoring platforms are generally available as cloud-based services via the SaaS model. This enables companies, agencies, and institutions to provide and access their mentoring services online, at any time, from virtually any mobile device, and anywhere around the globe. However, as discussed in On-Premise vs. Cloud: Which Option Is Better for Your Company? there are alternatives. Organisations willing to invest in, maintain and protect an infrastructure of their own with enhanced security measures, servers, and other hardware can opt for conventional mentor software, sometimes available as on-premise versions.

What are the benefits of mentoring software?

The benefits of mentoring software tools stem mainly from their ability to match people into effective mentorship programs at scale, improving outcomes for mentees and their employers in a type of win-win scenario. This translates into greater retention, engagement, and success. The greatest advantages of using mentoring may be:

• The efficiency of mentorship programs: Program managers put a great deal of time and effort into managing a mentorship scheme manually. This may involve single-handedly scheduling sessions, tracking meetings, capturing feedback, drafting performance reports, carrying out impact analysis, and dealing with surges in demand by investing more time and energy, which would be better utilised elsewhere. With automated mentorship solutions, all these tedious and repetitive activities can be carried out in the background, with results displayed on a central command module for immediate action.
• Enhanced mentor-mentee communication: Mentoring relationships are founded on bi-directional communication. Online mentorship programs facilitate this communication seamlessly, enabling participants to engage in fruitful exchange in closed or open online groups, allowing program managers to track this engagement in real-time. Users can view the frequency and duration of sessions, the amount and quality of communication flowing from either side and the participants' assessment of each session. This data can be displayed individually or in bulk, regularly and on-demand—in a format users can easily understand—so that they can take action to improve engagement, reassign mentors, or suggest alternative formats for their sessions.
• Streamlined feedback management: Participant feedback is essential in improving mentoring programs. With real-time feedback from mentors and mentees, program managers can identify challenges, find workarounds for minor bugs, and prevent any issues from escalating. One of the main advantages of online mentoring platforms is that they enable users to run automatic surveys regularly using templates and create single-use surveys. Being able to send feedback forms instantly, after each session, when onboarding mentees and mentors, when completing a program, or anytime in between makes it more likely that the participants' suggestions will be fresh, relevant, and salient. Mentoring platforms can time these surveys for maximum engagement, collate the responses and analyse them instantly, often flagging up terms and behaviours that are concerning. Neatly displayed on the dashboard, these responses are quantified and simplified for the user's benefit, helping point out areas for improvement and bringing actionable ideas to fruition quicker.
• Tangible professional development: By the very nature of their activity, mentors providing training, upskilling, and new ideas can help mentees develop professionally, advance their careers, and gain the confidence for a career change. With collaboration tools, networking features, and access to knowledge, mentoring software can speed up professional development and improve their knowledge curves, giving them an edge over other professionals. Thanks to recording tools and session logs, mentees and mentors can also revisit their knowledge base, reinforce their training, and transfer their skills to real-life scenarios.
• Real-time performance tracking: Mentoring software generates reports, provides analytics and shares the results with authorised stakeholders. With tables, graphs, charts, and diagrams conveying engagement rates, session details, relationship development, satisfaction levels, and overall program performance with eye-catching and easy-to-understand visuals, program managers can gain essential insights and make strategic decisions that affect investment, resource allocation, and expansion options for these programs.
• Seamless online learning: The rising importance of work-life balance and the global shift to flexible work alternatives limits how mentees and mentors can connect. An online mentoring platform addresses this shift in lifestyle by enabling participants to carry out their sessions virtually and remotely, without the need to travel, dress for the occasion, and juggle engagements. This newfound virtual channel enables professionals to develop their talent and skill set in any situation, including health crises, travel disruptions, and work restrictions.

What are the features of mentoring software?

The features of mentoring software will vary based on the industry vertical it was developed for. For instance, educational institutions may insist on advanced progress-tracking tools, while corporate coaching providers may require tools that help them comply with the UK's Coaching and Mentoring Code of Industry Standards and Ethics. Whatever the level of complexity and the specifics of the user base, organisations should be able to count on these basic features of mentoring systems:

• Mentee and mentor enrolment: Allow participants to register for mentorship programs through their employer or directly. Mentoring software should come with registration forms, ideally with pre-populated and auto-populated fields, built-in address lookup, speech input, and other tools that can streamline the process. Otherwise, they should offer custom forms and support document attachments or accept a participant's registration in a different format. By integrating with HR tools and learning platforms, mentoring software may also be able to import mentee data.
• Mentor-mentee matching: Pair every mentee with a suitable mentor. Using algorithms, anonymous mentee profile data, and their preferences, the software should be able to match each applicant to the best available mentor. Using information such as qualifications, skill set, work experience, goals, and interests, the platform should not only pair individuals automatically but also enable mentors and mentees to review the pairing and have their say in the interest of transparency.
• Scheduling: Schedule sessions based on the availability of all participants. While one-on-one sessions make up most mentoring activities, group sessions should also be made available, especially in corporate and educational settings, where real-time discussion and debates in small study groups can benefit both sides of the table. Rescheduling tools are another must-have feature in a fast-paced business environment, which makes integration with calendar tools and time-slot-based self-scheduling all the more critical.
• Progress tracking: Enable program managers to have a bird's eye view of all their programs and assess engagement with specific programs. Managers should be able to gauge engagement and overall success by tracking session participation, assigned activities, goal completion rates, assessment results, participant feedback, and milestones reached over periods relevant to the employer, university, or another provider. For instance, in succession planning, an employer may be more interested in a worker's overall performance instead of last month's achievements. However, a university may only be interested in this term's progress for a returning student.
• Dual portal: Offer a dual portal, with access for the mentor and the organisation their work benefits. Being able to access program data, such as upcoming sessions, communications, announcements, and assessment results, gives the employer or educational institution a better understanding of the trainee's progress. They assess the amount of work and commitment the employee is investing in their development, their motivation levels, their readiness for a new role, and what they may be able to do on their end to help them grow at the required level.
• Communication management: Give participants the option to engage in discussions through a private and secure messaging portal. While some mentoring tools only feature direct messaging in closed groups, others can offer discussion forums, social media posting, and live input from industry specialists. This can help foster familiarity and trust between employees with the same career goals and interests.
• Relationship management: Visualise the extent to which the mentee is invested in their relationship with the mentor. With this capability, the mentor can assess the strength of their relationship with the mentee, assess their progress against expectations, and make comparisons. They can then look for new ways to nurture trust and ensure compliance, keeping the student's engagement on track.
• Feedback management: Conduct surveys, collect testimonials and monitor participants’ satisfaction. Being able to automatically send surveys and draft questions relevant to their teaching gives the mentor more control over their relationship with the mentee and enables them to assess pain points and new areas for improvement. This would also enable them to detect a change in satisfaction levels and report back to the program manager, employer, or other leaders.
• Goal management: Set goals for both mentors and mentees. A goal management tool used by all stakeholders (mentee, mentor, and program manager) provides more transparency and helps draft more realistic development goals in line with what all parties hope to achieve from the program.
• Custom branding: Enable program managers to personalise their branding in line with the organisation’s vision. Custom web pages, online forms, and message layouts displaying the organiser's logotype and other identifiers help instil trust in the program and its mentors, boosting engagement for all participants.
• Reporting, statistics, and analytics: Automatically generate reports and analyses based on accurate, real-time data. This information can then feed into important decisions about the direction of the program, as well as facilitate performance reviews and employee recognition initiatives.

Mentoring platforms provide these features as standard, but there are several other features worth researching on the Capterra software directory, as they may influence a buying decision. Scrolling through these listings, filtering based on requirements, and comparing offers will help readers shortlist mentoring software that is up to par and likely to impress mentees, mentors, and program managers alike.

What should be considered when purchasing mentoring software?

When purchasing mentoring software, users should assess how well it matches their company or university's unique culture and vision. Once they are satisfied that it would enhance their image and improve their relationship with their employees, the next step is to ask themselves these basic questions about their mentoring platform of choice:

• How does the matching mechanism work? Most newly-developed mentor software tools operate based on an algorithm. Some offer a fail-safe to maximise the chances of a good match, such as requesting the program administrator's approval for each match or double-checking with mentors and mentees that they agree with the pairing. It's essential to determine how the software pairs these participants and if the option is viable for the company.
• How is the mentoring program structured? The structure of the mentoring program has a significant impact on its outcome. The tools made available to mentors and the resources placed at the disposal of the mentee, such as scheduled activities, reading materials, and communication channels, can strengthen or weaken the mentoring relationship. While most mentees and mentors thrive in a well-structured environment, some give their best when all sides are flexible.
• Does it integrate with other tools? Mentors often need a host of other software tools to perform to a high standard. Whether it's a calendaring tool for planning and scheduling sessions that syncs calendars for all participants, a collaboration platform that enables them to make live annotations together during a session, or an email blast tool that can help bring all participants up to speed, the integration will add value to the mentoring program and maximise its chances of success.
• Is the mentoring software scalable? Mentoring programs must adapt to changes in demand, but not all software tools can keep pace. High employee turnover rates, new succession and promotion opportunities within companies, and newly-released software features will impact sign-up levels—one that is hard to anticipate and prepare for. Cloud-based SaaS packages can often adapt to changes in mentor availability and mentee demand instantly, with obvious fee adjustments.

What are the most relevant mentoring software trends?

The most relevant mentoring software trends of our time are derived from new expectations in terms of lifestyles, work-life balance, and learning. Unimaginable decades ago, these trends were likely a harbinger for even greater societal change. Program managers and organisations trying to prepare for the future would do well to contemplate these emerging trends in mentoring:

• AI technology is pervasive: The success of a mentoring program relies heavily on the mentor-mentee relationship. Using AI, program managers can maximise the chance of successful pairings and allow both parties to feed usable data into the system. However, at this early stage, AI technology has its limitations. Issues such as programming bias and the possibility that it can unwittingly propagate flawed logic shouldn't be ignored, as they may result in lost opportunities for employee development.
• Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/ VR): Online coaching and virtual sessions are far from ideal as there is a sense that the connection they create isn't as rich and authentic as face-to-face meetings. Using AR and VR technology, mentoring platform developers can address this limitation to some extent, giving people a sense of closeness and emulating the real-life experience. It's also an efficient alternative to large face-to-face workshops and coaching events, where the mentor may not be able to interact with each mentee in the allocated time, whereas a VR headset may help them interact effectively in a near-realistic environment with hundreds of participants simultaneously.

Sources:

The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in Capterra's directory that offer them. The following sources were used for this document:

1. What is Mentoring Software- Guider (Date accessed: Sat, June 25, 2022)

2. The Great Resignation, The Great Reset, The Great Reshuffle, and The Great Retention- Birmingham Blogs, City REDI Blog (Date accessed: Sat, June 25, 2022)

3. On-Premise vs. Cloud: Which Option Is Better for Your Company?- Capterra UK Blog (Date accessed: Sat, June 25, 2022)