Virtual Mentoring: Benefits & Challenges of Virtual mentoring

There are new technologies and developments every day; with the modernization of lifestyle, people now have easy accessibility to tools and applications to learn about different things going around the world.

When looking for any guidance, you can only easily opt for virtual learning platforms to attain knowledge about anything. When mentoring is considered, people look for virtual platforms as it is easy and convenient to grasp understanding anywhere and anytime.    

Mentoring is a powerful way to establish things on which you are stuck, whether on a personal or professional level. You can go to their online software apps or websites and look for a mentor for your various needs. 

Mentoring can help you achieve your goals, such as employee retention, increase compatibility with your co-workers through effective communication, and improve your overall persona as a being in your business environment.

But with every boon comes a few negative aspects of these virtual programs as well. Let us look at some of the positive and negative characteristics of virtual mentoring.

Benefits of Virtual Mentoring

Virtual mentoring eliminates the hindrances caused by the location barriers, but its perks are not only limited to this, but it can provide other advantages too. Let us look at the other extra pros of virtual mentoring.

Exchange of Knowledge.

• Through mentoring sessions, mentees usually seek help from mentors. But the transfer of knowledge on both sides. 
• When connected through virtual platforms, both parties interact using different collaborative tools available on the platform. 
• The exchange of expertise can include personal, professional, cultural, and social topics as both parties may or may not share the same background or nationality. 
• The communication is compelling and engaging, helping both parties to possess new learnings from each other thoroughly.

No Restricted Meetings Timelines.

• When attending the traditional physical mentoring session, time and location are the main obstacles, but when you opt for virtual mentoring platforms, there are no constraints on timing.
• You can have meetings and sessions according to your scheduled timings. 
• It allows you to have more concentration in your sessions. 
• It is an edge for people with busy schedules; flexible timing can ease their struggle without letting them miss any conferences.

Bigger and Diverse Pools 

• As a mentoring organization, your goal is to promote your brand and attract more customers.
• Virtual platforms help you in attracting more customer attention as it is much more convenient and easily approachable. 
• Simultaneously, you can have a diverse customer group as people worldwide join your programs without letting the location barrier come the way. 
• Also, the auto-matching software reduces further wastage of time, helping individuals achieve their objectives faster.

Good Exposure from the Participants.

• As people worldwide can join online mentoring platforms, organizations get the best advantage of getting a diverse group of people, increasing the brand’s exposure worldwide. 
• People worldwide know about your organization, making it more successful and developed.  
• Hence, these are a few expected benefits that mentoring businesses enjoys when they are based on online platforms.

But there are a few things that become an impediment in the path of success for the virtual mentoring business. Let us see:

Challenges of Virtual Mentoring 

We have seen the perks of virtual mentoring over physical mentoring, but these are the challenges people face when opting for online platforms.

Not So Effective Communication

• Communication plays a prominent important role in any mentoring program. 
• Majorly these communications are made over phone calls, emails, etc. 
• When virtual communication is considered, it becomes limited as there is no understanding of the individual’s body language and facial expressions. 
• Ineffective communication can be sorted through video calls, but still, the visibility is not as clear over online media. 
• It thus increases the chances of miscommunications as well.

Different Time Zones

• Virtual platforms allow you to connect to the mentor and mentee from worldwide, but sometimes it can be a hindrance too. 
• People from different nations may have additional time zones, which can hinder the sessions and create challenges for both parties. 
• Because of the time zone issues, mentoring programs can lose a lot of finance. 
• It can also affect productivity and adds to the wastage of time.

Absence of Personalisation 

• Individuals interact through offline media to develop a personal attachment to the person sitting against them. 
• There is chemistry between the two parties, allowing a practical conversation flow. 
• But when virtual mentoring platforms come to play, they cannot find the same interaction and attachment to each other. 
• It can hamper the flow of conversation and be an obstacle to the company’s success.

Connectivity and Technology troubles.

• We may be in the best technological century, but glitches and connectivity issues are part of it. 
• It can be frustrating for people trying to connect and learn from the mentoring sessions as they interrupt the flow of meetings. 
• It can sometimes become a waste of time by obstructing productivity and engagement. 
• It is not something we can avoid, so one needs to prepare themselves for such nuances if they occur.

These are a few common problems that people face in online mentoring. These online platforms have both positive and negative sides, and the only solution is to understand how to use them smartly to dodge all the challenges and take advantage of all the perks it provides.