For years, mentorship has been and remains a key professional development tool for lawyers. However, in most cases, the success rates of formal law firm mentorship programs are low or unclear at best.
In the 2019 Millennial Attorney Survey, conducted by Major, Lindsey and Africa and Above the Law, which surveyed more than 1,200 attorneys, about 60% of respondents reported that an informal mentor has had either a significant (40.1%) or crucial (20.9%) role in their career, while 28.4% of respondents indicated that formal mentorship was irrelevant. This correlates with a further finding that most respondents indicated that the level of formal mentorship they received was weak (31.9%), while informal mentorship was viewed as strong (53.6%).
The reality is that most formal law firm mentorship programs are not as effective as they could be. Reasons for that are manifold (e.g., mentors and mentees are not clear about their responsibilities, the program lacks structure, etc.), but one of the key reasons is that many firms are not clear about what they want their mentorship programs to achieve.
Often, when we ask firms how they measure the success of their mentorship programs, we discover that no clear success metrics are set in place and that, at best, they rely on anecdotal feedback from the mentorship program participants. While it’s important to gather participants’ feedback, it’s rarely objective and does not help to paint the full picture. However, determining whether a mentorship program delivers the right results is key in deciding whether the program is working as intended and whether it’s worth the investment of time, money, and resources dedicated to it.
If you are ready to set success metrics for your firm’s mentorship program, here are the steps to follow.
1. Identify key organizational objectives and segments
The first step to setting clear success metrics for a mentoring program is to identify key organizational objectives (i.e., the broad areas of improvement that will be the focus of the program) and key segments (i.e., who the program will include). Here we are answering the question: “For whom and where do we want to see a change/improvement?” There can be several, but we do not recommend starting with more than a handful. Otherwise, it can become overwhelming to manage or track. Here is an example of the possible organizational objectives and segments a law firm can identify:
- Strengthen associate professional development
- Improve new partners’ management and leadership skills
- Create an inclusive, diverse culture firm-wide
- Effective onboarding of first-year associates
- Effective integration of lateral partners
- Boost employee engagement and morale firm-wide
- Improve internal knowledge transfer among partners
- Increase mid-level associate retention rates
2. Determine program initiatives
Once the key organizational objectives and segments are selected, the next step is to determine the key initiatives for each objective/segment. Here we are answering the question: “How will we accomplish our organizational objectives?” For example:
Objective/Segment“For whom and where do we want to see a change/improvement?” | Initiatives “How will we accomplish our organizational objectives?” |
| Increase mid-level associate retention. |
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| Improve partner management and leadership skills. |
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3. Set program’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets:
A KPI is a measurable value that helps us understand whether results are being achieved. KPIs answer the question: “What will tell us whether we are achieving our objective?” A target is a level or benchmark we are aiming to achieve for our KPIs. A target answers the question: “What levels or benchmarks do we want to reach for the initiatives to be a success?”
Your KPIs and targets will depend on the objectives, segments, and initiatives you choose. Though one type will remain consistent and it’s the overall quality of the mentorship program itself. This metric will be based on each participant’s individual feedback and the information can be gathered via a survey at the end of the program.
| Objective/Segment “For whom and where do we want to see a change/improvement?” | Initiatives “How will we accomplish our organizational objectives?” | KPIs“What will we be measuring to understand whether we are achieving our objectives?” | Targets “What levels or benchmarks do we want to reach for the initiatives to be a success?” |
| Increase mid-level associate retention. |
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| Improve partners’ management and leadership skills. |
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Armed with a clear understanding of your mentorship program’s objectives, initiatives, KPIs, and targets, you can effectively implement and measure the success of the program. And as Peter Drucker, one of the most widely-known and influential thinkers on management, (supposedly) said: “That which is measured improves.”
