Throughout the ages, people have sought out the wisdom and counsel of those more experienced. Could you benefit from having a mentor? Does your employer encourage mentorship?

Mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals of all ages in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education and build their networks. As Baby Boomers look to retirement, there are newer employees who could benefit from those who have knowledge and experience. Today we all need to work smarter, not just harder. Knowledge and experience are key to working smarter.

If your employer does not have a “formal” mentoring program, consider an informal mentoring relationship. On the other hand, employers might not realize the need. There might be some cost involved, but mentoring relationships or mentoring networks can vary. What’s the cost of a mentoring discussion over a cup of coffee or a monthly luncheon?

Barb Foote, Human Resources Vice President of Enterprise Talent Office at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has been with the organization for 31 years, yet her department was created just over a year ago. The fraternal insurance company is forward thinking as they created the department “to build the pipeline to meet future talent needs, create leverage and synergy.”

“We have formal and informal mentorships in the corporate and sales area,” states Foote. “Thrivent want employees to get more connected with what is going on, learn best practices and be intentional about the process of mentoring. Our mentorships create awareness and a set of expectations. The mentee drives the agenda.” Thrivent encourages mentoring so newer employees do not feel like they are part of a machine. Foote explains their strategy makes mentoring easy so mentees can learn on the fly, transition into the culture and have a “go-to” person.

Thrivent is encouraging employees to pass on the legacy, the wealth of information. They find the Gen Yers are welcoming the relationship and prefer more give and take or evenness in the approach. Thrivent expects mentoring will aid in their recruitment and retention especially as they seek to attract more diversity and women to be financial representatives.

Another approach to mentoring was created by the Menttium Corp. to offer internal, virtual and cross-company mentoring that support the development and advancement of key talent. Since 1991, over 50,000 people have participated in Menttium’s mentoring programs for male and female employees. A number of Fortune-ranked companies have used their mentoring model. A special offering is Menttium 100 that fosters the development of talented women by matching them with a senior executive from another organization or industry for a year. More information can be found at www.menttium.com.

What can mentoring do for you?