It’s no secret formal mentoring programs can increase employee engagement. They’ve even been proven to increase promotions for mentors and mentees five to six times more than non-participating employees. But if a mentoring program is mishandled, it can ultimately do more harm than good. In fact, negative mentoring experiences can have more lasting effects than positive ones. Research has even found that poor mentoring experiences can lead to lasting physical and psychological effects. A bad interaction can also erode trust and confidence in an employer. Yet, many of the mistakes we see in mentoring programs are entirely preventable.
