Mentorships in the workplace not only can be a good way of retaining employees, but also can provide opportunities to develop leadership skills and passing on skills.

Kirsti Coghlan, the human resources director at Mauch Chunk Trust Co., delved into the topic of mentorships at a recent Carbon Chamber Women in Business luncheon held at Roadies Restaurant at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe.

Coghlan said mentorships are created to develop specific skills, to enhance careers and to pass on new skills from younger employees to older employees in reverse mentoring.

“Skill-based mentors help you develop your skills and raise your performance to the next level in your career,” Coghlan said. “It doesn’t stop with new college or trade school graduates, it can be at any time in your career.”

This type of mentoring isn’t always through a specific mentoring program created by the employer. It can be through the initiative of an employee who wants to develop a skill helpful to his or her career.

If this is the case, then Coghlan recommends scouting out the workplace to see who might be interested in mentoring. It is also important to consider how the mentorship can benefit the mentor, too. Maybe there is a skill the mentee can pass along to the mentor.

“What can you offer in return? Is there a bartering opportunity there,” she said.

Coghlan said it’s important to set realistic expectations, timelines that are mutual and agreeable, and be specific about what skill sets are to be learned.

As for career mentorships, Coghlan said that when picking a career mentor, he or she should be someone that is trusted, someone the mentee admires, and is someone who can help guide the mentee in developing long term career goals.

“They need to be familiar with your short-term and long-term goals. They need to know how to help you to get there. It may not be one single person. It may be multiple resources,” she said. “Pick this mentor wisely because it requires a more substantial, long-term time commitment for both of you. That will set up your timeline structure.”

Reverse mentoring is a lot like regular mentoring, but the focus is on younger employees teaching older ones about things like technology, social media and current trends.

“You don’t think about that, but that’s actually really valuable,” she said.

Coghlan said older employees may be adverse to the idea at first, but show them the benefits of it.

“Everyone lacks knowledge in some area,” she said.

Where older employees may be lacking on technology, younger employees may be lacking in business etiquette or industry jargon.

“It empowers both sets of employees,” she said. “This allows the younger employees to exercise leadership and coaching, which is good for mentorships latter on down the road and may help them advance their career. Older employees may develop critical technical skills, which may add more value and achieve upward mobility as well.”

This also supports succession planning.

“If I’m mentoring someone who is going to follow in my footsteps, I’m setting up keys for success whether I’m stepping into another position or into my retirement,” she said.

Reverse mentoring can also help to eliminate the “us versus them” mentality that can develop between older and younger workers. It reduces the impact of stereotypes and assumptions, and increase the retention of younger employees, encourage diversity, and help the company keep up on technological advances.

“There’s a bonus to having that interpersonal relationship,” she said.