In a recent post covering the latest around AI and its impact on tomorrow’s workforce (event today), the one constant that kept appearing in my research was the importance of mentoring.
Not just once mentioned but repeatedly.
There wasn’t anything besides the re-skilling and new skills, such as transitioning from current coding to AI programming, that showed up a bit.
But mentoring surpassed them all.
Yet, one of the major surprises is that, as a whole, the mentoring standalone systems are what I call overall stagnation.
This is one factor why the growth spurt and I forecast continued spurt will be driven not only by standalone, but rather by other learning systems (mentoring is under a learning system), such as an LMS, learning platform, talent development platform, workforce dev platform, and similar ilk.
Vendors on the non-mentoring initial standalone side are already fully recognized.
It is why, out of systems as a whole, sans AI, the #1 new feature being added is.
Vendors, though, seem to assume coaching and mentoring are the same.
One would think, “Okay, this is the minus, because those mentoring standalone platforms do know the difference, and never pitch the same.”
How wrong you are.
I encountered standalone mentoring platforms from companies whose sole objective, besides landing new clients and making money, is mentoring. Yet, they used the term coaching either in their marketing copy or during our discussions.
I found this odd.
It is one thing for the client to ask, “Can this be used for coaching, or do we want to do coaching?” and for the vendor to respond, “Sure, it can be used for coaching.”
Not ideal, but then again, any learning system targeting one specific thing or another can be used by the client in a completely different way.
Mentoring, therefore, is open to interpretation by the client – it should never be by the vendor directly.
Three years ago, I interviewed with Dr. Ravishankar Gundlapalli, who has written a book about mentoring. He covered a variety of topics in the blog post, including how mentoring is different from coaching.
It’s worth a read (the post that is).
The Basics
Let’s say you are looking at getting a mentoring platform, whether it is a standalone or already in another type of learning system, for purposes of the post, I will list the big two – LMS and a Talent Development Platform (which honestly, is an LMS with enhanced some serious performance aspects to it – I see the latter as the revamping of the old talent management systems and performance management systems which were quite lame by today’s standards, although a few are still around and still have the same lame mantra – seriously, it is 2025 folks!).
In your search, you are likely to find some commonalities across the board, regardless of the specific vendor.
The typical standard fare includes (I will add, how good the job they do is another matter)
- Pick a Mentor or mentors – Some vendors refer to them as experts. I question that assertion.
- Mentor selection can be based on a variety of criteria, including skill level, level of experience, job role, areas to improve, and location (more on that in a bit). I found it odd that a few lacked a preferred language, which, to me, is highly relevant. I know it is hard to believe, but not everyone wants to speak English.
- Mentor Profile – I should have listed this above the mentor selection. An avatar – i.e., a picture of the person is standard. I never saw like an animal for the “avatar” or some funny face thing – although that might be cool depending on your audience. Anyway, universally, it was the human themselves. In theory, it could be AI.
- A series of topics or interests that the mentee chooses ahead of time, before the match or matches. Most often, it was skill(s), but a few had additional options. I prefer a balance between professional and personal skills, rather than focusing solely on workplace skills. A mentor is well-rounded. A coach is only tied to that skill. Always remember that.
- Mentoree Scheduling – This is where the mentoree can schedule a session or sessions through a calendar of said mentor(s). The “on-site and online” were the two options. The former seemed odd to me in today’s workforce landscape; however, if you wanted to meet up with your mentor at Bob’s Greasy Food Joint since they live close by, then go for it. Just make sure they pick up the tab.
For the online – that truly is the route to go for a couple of reasons.
a. It is a recorded session – you and them. You can go back at any time to review, and if they ask for some deep dive/probing questions for you to think about and retort in a follow-up, there is now a way to recall.
b. You may choose to have it in your library of content – most systems offer a library of content, so the recording is a logical place for it.
c. Once the system offers an AI summary and transcript and other capabilities like this one – Grain (I use them, but there are others out there), then the whole recorded session takes on a whole new meaning and value.
- Goal setting – Pretty standard – but the level and quality of what you can do, etc, varied all over the map.
- Role-Based Permissions (if your mentoring platform or mentoring piece in another type of learning system lacks this – run..run and keep running)
- Video Conferencing integration – Extremely standard. I should give kudos to Chronus, which offers its own VC option too. I’m not sure if they charge extra for it, so it’s best to ask. I think they do, but it’s worth checking.
- Custom Program Creation – Parameters of what should be included in the program. The level and types of parameters vary as a whole, but duration is common. Milestones aren’t, but they should be, and objectives were a mix.
For me, the objectives are intriguing. If the goal of the mentoring is long-term, meaning you can tap into them from time to time, are the objectives relevant?
This is subjective; nevertheless, vendors recognize that many clients want this, and the whole set of these objectives must be met.
For me, it depends on what you need the mentor’s assistance or guidance with, and how you define the goals and milestones. The admin or whoever oversees the program will see it the same way.
- Admin functionality overall, I found similar; there were a couple of items that stood out, but that was definitely due to the system itself, rather than the industry as a whole—a shame.
- AI – Overall, it existed in more platforms than it lacked. Nevertheless, some vendors lack it; some are offering machine learning only (a form of AI), and a couple are doing a combo Gen AI and machine learning. As with any learning system, the AI is at a very, very early stage.
- AI Tutor or similar. This is where the whole “coach” side of this can co-exist or exist alone. You can tap into an AI tutor (think AI answer engine with “tutor” and some data points you can see – depending on the platform), and then have a human enter the picture after that. I strongly recommend a human element here. I mean, it’s mentoring. Not asking whether or not you can wear sunglasses at night – Cory Hart says you can. I trust him!
I will add a FWIW – that they (researchers) are finding that mental well-being is becoming a crucial need with AI. Too many people are taking AI’s advice to heart, both mentally and behaviorally, which is leading to some fatal consequences.
And I won’t go into the whole AI partner relationship, which is becoming an issue too – again, with some fatal results.
Trust me when I say this: you must include a mental well-being program in your learning strategy and talent strategy if you have or plan to use AI.
I think you should do it regardless, since your employees are already using AI at home or online.
Yeah, I know I got off the subject a bit, but it isn’t something to gloss over or ignore.
UI/UX in general is pretty standard.
Yes there are standouts, but overall, I went into it with “let me see different,” and walked away thinking, “This is it?” – It’s like everybody got into a room at Disneyland (like they need the business) and said, “Hey, let us all do this or that, what do you all think? And everyone was “Yeah, that’s great. Why do they charge so much for a park map?”
Guided Mentoring
This is one area that I found of most interest. And while one vendor noted that they didn’t or weren’t aware of any other system doing this, I found another one that did.
Each of them, Chronus and Mentor+ from NovoEd, approaches it differently, as they should, but it is guided mentoring.
This is without a doubt a huge plus, IMO.
Intriguing Potential
There is a lot to cover in mentoring platforms, and time is limited – I mean nobody wants to read a 10,000-word scribe from me on this happy week (isn’t every week a happy one – Bobby McFerrin thinks so – although a factoid – he hates signing the song. Guess, he isn’t happy).
Pre-Assessment
Chronus does this, and I loved it.
As with any analysis, it only works if you are 100% true about yourself and not answering the way you think you should reply.
Their system relies heavily on the analysis, so being honest is the crux here.
I still have my assessment – and yeah, overall, I concur.
It was fun to take, and made me think – a plus!
Many moons ago, CrossKnowledge conducted a pre-assessment from a non-mentoring angle. Although it had potential and some interesting aspects, it never reached its long-term goals—a bummer.
Regardless, CK wasn’t into mentoring then, and Chronus is – that’s their whole stake here, so kudos to them.
Role, Segment, Audience, et al..
First and foremost, it should be noted that based on a wide swath of conversations from mentoring platform standalone, and those with another type of learning system plus mentor, there are some commonalities on who is buying a mentoring platform (today)
Large Enterprise by far. We are talking more than 25,000 learners here. And in many cases exceeding 100,000.
Enterprise is next up – and as I always note, it depends on what a vendor defines as Enterprise. What I heard is the 5,000 and up side, which, to my delight, is how I define Enterprise (5,000+).
FWIW – Large Enterprise to me is 20,000 plus. The industry as a whole ranges from 10,000 to 50,000, with Large Enterprise being an additional tier, which doesn’t matter – say 10,001 and above, to cover large enterprise.
Anyway…
The target buyer by job role?
CLO – yes, the CLO. And where do you find that fine title??
Overall, they are on the Large Enterprise side.
Before you spam me that your company has 2,000 people and your title is CLO, I get it. The above is based on feedback from vendors.
Retail and Hospitality – you would think it is the driver vertical here, but it isn’t. There wasn’t one specific vertical that stood out as far and beyond the dominator, although technology and manufacturing are popular.
It’s easier to identify the weak side (i.e., not a huge amount).
Financial Services by far. You would think, sure, FS sides, such as insurance and banking, would be ideal for mentoring.
I also found healthcare to be on the low end.
If you have 250 or more employees, implementing a mentoring platform can be both feasible and highly valuable. As a small business (defined by the industry as 50 to 999 employees), you can still benefit from mentoring.
And any industry where churn (here one day, gone tomorrow) (hello – retail and hospitality) is high, a mentor is relevant and beneficial.
It was interesting to see how many mentoring platforms seemed to fail at recognizing the idea that someone in an industry – a solo practitioner – could be a mentor or offer a mentoring program to those new to the industry they are in, let alone a mentor program between a university (current, or recent grads) and an alumni (I see this all the time with my undergrad – right after they find me seeking funds – how is it possible that every other place can’t locate you after you move, but your college/uni can see you – uh, seeking money).
Anyway, the above use case(s) do exist – nevertheless, across the board, the majority of vendors seemed incapable of wrapping their head around the use cases, especially a solo or a couple of folks in an industry offering mentoring to others entering the industry (example: a few real estate execs – owners of RE firms – offering mentoring to those entering the real estate market).
Current Leaders in the Standalone Mentoring Platform Market
Based on my research, including conversations with a lot of mentoring platforms, standalone or otherwise, these vendors were listed as the leaders (in no particular order)
The mentoring platforms as a whole never brought up any providers who were not learning focused with mentoring per se – I found many who were unaware that Together had been acquired by Absorb, which thus changes the dynamic, and therefore the retort – of none to okay, actually one of these folks because they bought Together.
The Mentor Template Percentage Success
Using my mentoring section with my Learning System Template, only three vendors achieved a score of more than 90% on the 36 items listed.
Those vendors are
- Mentor+ by NovoEd (they scored the highest) – Brand new to the industry. Can be a standalone, or you can add it to Learn+ (their LMS)
- Chronus is a terrific mentoring platform – far better than Qooper or MentorCliq (how are these folks the top leaders in the mentoring side?)
- Together by Absorb – Together was a standalone entity before Absorb acquired them. You get the Together platform when you buy the Absorb Learning Suite – it is already fully integrated. If you prefer only Together, you can purchase it.
Bottom Line
Mentoring.
It’s a novel idea for many companies across various segments, markets, sizes, and company culture focuses.
It doesn’t have to be limited to the Global 2000 or other very large enterprise entities.
It doesn’t have to be limited to a company that has a CLO or one where L&D is running the show.
It can be for your customers. Your members. Your students. Your alumni (no need to contact me for funds, URI).
Think of your interns. Apprentices and recent graduates entering the workforce, particularly within your company, can benefit from ongoing assistance through mentoring.
Employees who have been at your company for six months or more can all benefit from mentoring.
In the end of it all,
Mentoring only works
If you are willing to be part of the mentor world
Whether it is for yourself
Or someone
Else.
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