How much does mentoring cost? The price of participation in the mentoring program

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Mentoring has many advantages and great benefits for everyone – for Mentees, for Mentors, for organizations. Developing specialized, soft skills, building relationships, improving well-being and job satisfaction leadership development in an organization are just a few. But like all forms of development, mentoring also has its limitations. One of them is the price – the cost of mentoring. In this article I will try to answer the question of how much mentoring costs. I will mainly touch on the perspective of Mentees, although there will be something for Mentors and organizers as well.

Financial cost of participation in the mentoring program

If we break down the cost of mentoring into its components, probably the first and most obvious one is the actual financial cost – the specific amount of money you have to spend when you want to take part in a mentoring program.

For Mentors and Mentresses, of course, participation in any program is free. It should also be noted that they usually do not receive compensation for participating. Of course, there are dedicated smaller programs or individual processes where Mentors get paid, but this is definitely not a widely common practice. Even more so if we look only at processes organized by companies or NGOs.

Organizers of mentoring programs usually try to compensate for the dedicated time of Mentors and Mentees by providing them with knowledge, including training and workshops. For many participants, the very possibility of being accepted to participate in the program is a great honor to boast about in their social networks. Besides, the mentoring process in itself is extremely beneficial for Mentors developing their competencies and expanding their worldview.

In the case of Mentees, the situation is already more complex. There are free programs, organized by universities, for example, in which Mentees do not bear any costs. There is, of course, a similar situation with programs within companies, where it is the organization that takes on the costs in order to develop and motivate its employees. But there are also programs organized within specific audiences, within organizations and foundations, in which Mentees either bear a small administrative cost, or the programs are already so well-known that participation costs up to several thousand zlotys.

I think it is also necessary to mention here individual processes, in which Mentee uses the assistance of a Mentor or Coach on an ad hoc basis, billed at an hourly rate. In such a situation, the price of one hour of consultation is usually in the range of 100 – 300 EUR.

The cost associated with engaging in the mentoring process

The second type of cost of participating in mentoring is, of course, the investment in one’s own time. Mentoring involves a significant commitment from all parties, and in most cases this commitment is the biggest or even the only cost.

This is, of course, both a disadvantage and an advantage. Advantage for those who can and want to carve out their time without wanting to incur financial costs. A disadvantage for those who expect easy results with minimal commitment.

The time commitment in the mentoring process can be divided into several categories:

• Mentoring sessions – is the sheer amount of time spent meeting as a mentoring pair. Each mentoring process is different, but let’s say we can average it out so that during one process lasting 9 months, the pair meets 9 times devoting 1.5 h per meeting.
• Preparing for sessions, homework – this is the time spent mentoring between sessions. Mentees should consciously engage in the process during this time as well, for example, by doing “homework” agreed upon during the session. Very often, however, these homework tasks are related to their duties at work, which in a way provides an opportunity to optimize costs. The case is different for Mentors and Mentees, who should prepare for each session. An effective Mentor, for example, consciously selects techniques or prepares in advance a coaching question to be used during a given session, depending, of course, on its topic and purpose.
• Organizational issues – like any process and mentoring involves some bureaucracy – the need to apply to the program, go through a vetting process, contact organizers, pair up, set dates for sessions, etc., .
• Training and workshops – as I mentioned earlier, organizers of mentoring programs often provide knowledge to participants by organizing trainings or workshops. Typically, these are about the implementation of mentoring itself, but there are also training sessions that go beyond mentoring itself – for example, on soft skills.
• Interviews and supervisions – a well-structured mentoring program should also have room for interviews and supervisions, i.e. meetings with Mentors and Mentorees to improve their mentoring skills and solve any challenges related to their mentoring pairs. Most often such meetings are held once – in the middle of the process + sometimes also at the end of the mentoring program.

Well, after all, what is the commitment? This, of course, depends on a huge number of factors, but we can assume that for both parties, participation in mentoring is a commitment of 4-8 hours per month for the duration of the process.

Optimize the cost of mentoring

Is 4-8 hours per month for development a lot or a little? That’s a question you’ll have to answer yourself. From my perspective, I will only add that, like everything, the time needed for mentoring can be optimized.

How?

• I mentioned earlier about homework -their implementation definitely requires commitment, but as I wrote the task itself can relate to already present duties at work. For example, a task linked to a process aimed at improving presentation skills could be to consciously point out mistakes made during an already scheduled meeting with a client.
• Improve workflow – it is good practice to keep all materials related to the process in one place – whether in a specific folder on the cloud or in a solution dedicated to mentoring (such as Mentiway).
• Organizing access to knowledge – here, too, I strongly encourage you to keep all materials related to new knowledge – links, PDFs, documents in one easily organizable place. Here too, of course, Mentiway will come to your aid 😊 .
• Scheduling appointments – From experience, we know that it is also a good practice to schedule subsequent appointments while the previous one is still in progress. By having both people open their calendars live and agree on a date and time, the whole process will go faster and without unnecessary flipping of emails.  

In the end

Mentoring is a rather specific form of development, but thus easier, more accessible for many. The process is definitely longer than, for example, in workshops and trainings, but by the same token, the necessary commitment here is spread over time. This gives the Mentee, under the guidance of the Mentor, the opportunity to gradually acquire knowledge and improve it in practice, spending a lot of time in total, but with a much smaller one-time intensity.

Hi, my name is Thomas. I am the Co-Founder of Mentiway. We are happy to share our knowledge and support organisations on their way to success! 💪 If you are interested in how to efficiently and effectively implement a mentoring programme in your organisation using technology:
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