Formal and Informal Mentoring Program

Informal mentoring is the natural coming together of a mentor and protégé. We do this by forming community friendships, through personal and professional respect and admiration from each other. It is usually a long-term relationship. Formal Mentoring differs from informal mentoring in that as an organization we develop a program and process for mentoring to take place using coaching tools and approaches tailored for the organization structure and business goals.

Formal mentoring is a highly structured relationship, while informal mentoring is an unstructured, naturally developing relationship.

It is worth emphasizing that formal and informal mentoring don’t have to be to be mutually exclusive – your organization can have the best of both worlds with an assigned, formal mentor and an informal mentor who you naturally seek out.

Ultimately, both formal and informal mentorship have advantages and drawbacks, so it is worth evaluating your organizational structure, business goals, and employee needs to determine which mentoring style is best for your team.