Companies that fail to plan for leadership needs are planning for competitive failure. Mentoring is a key step in ensuring the right talent is available to manage competitive challenges and relevant business initiatives.

No business will say they are planning for failure, and yet failing to plan for having leadership in place to drive specific business initiatives is the same thing. Having the right talent ready to manage initiatives in a hypercompetitive, globalized marketplace and lead the company through critical changes is unquestionably a requirement for long-term success. The challenge is finding the right methods of retaining and preparing current and future leadership able to meet business-specific challenges. It is a given that thriving businesses must be ready to efficiently implement business initiatives as the post-recession marketplace continues to evolve. If there are not people in the organization able to implement and manage those initiatives, the talent vacuum inevitably leads to poor business performance. Enter mentorship. Mentoring is a good way of ensuring the right talent is ready to manage the right initiatives at the right time.

In any business, preparing leaders to assume essential roles is a key longevity strategy. An initial hurdle to cross is successfully developing mentorship programs that produce specific results. The mentor program is actually a process designed to meet goals based on assessed needs, give mentees feedback and serve as an important progress strategy within the organizational development system. It best meets leadership requirements if a part of an organizational culture of learning and is not treated as a separate, stand-alone program.