Mentoring is a valuable, low-cost way to make onboarding easier for new hires, foster a sense of teamwork, and improve productivity and retention simultaneously. A mentoring program that focuses on legal support staff helps these team members do better work and to pool their professional talents, ultimately benefiting lawyers and clients as well.
How does a mentoring program help your legal support team? Consider:
- Good mentoring brings new hires on board faster. A mentor provides a reference point for a new legal support team member. The mentor is there to introduce the new hire to the rest of the team, to answer basic questions, and to provide a model to guide the new employee’s work in the crucial first few months on the job. Boost the benefits of mentoring for new hires by offering mentor training that focuses on the details of effective onboarding.
- New hires learn policies more quickly. An effective mentor helps new hires learn workplace policies more quickly by emphasizing not only the “what” of each policy, but also the “why.” Experienced mentors understand why certain processes are in place and how they help the firm or department run more smoothly. They can pass this information on to new hires, helping them see not only what needs to be done, but how it benefits the entire organization when done correctly. New hires thus learn policies more quickly and are more likely to implement them effectively.
- Good mentoring benefits the mentor as well. Mentees gain better onboarding and a sounding board for career planning from their mentors. But mentors benefit from a strong mentorship as well. Experienced legal support staff gains satisfaction and a sense of teamwork from mentoring new hires. They also strengthen their own leadership and communication skills and their reputations as experts in their field – support professionals who know their work well enough to be entrusted with teaching it to newer staff members. As mentees grow, they often introduce their mentors to their own professional networks, benefiting everyone.
At Kent Legal, our recruiters focus on matching legal support talent with law firms and legal departments in which a cultural “fit” allows staff to thrive. Contact us today to learn more about our legal support staffing services in Toronto.
