How can mentoring activities affect job performance?

Of many factors that affect the performance of a company, human resources is one of the most important ones. Unlike other assets which can be imitated or replicated, human power is singled out by its uniqueness, and irreplaceability. When other resources are the same, the company who possesses highly-qualified, highly-motivated staff is the winner. As a result, mentoring is an activity which equipped employees with suitable skills and knowledge in order to perform their jobs well, and to reach the organizational goals.
Mentoring will contribute to the job satisfaction as it increases the day-to-day interactions; along with improving the relationship between employees, as a result, leads to stronger social working environment. Job satisfaction, in return, will positively improve performance. Besides, mentoring activities can develop social skill, and encourage employees participate in citizenship behaviors. When an employee gets helps from another, he, in return, will be more willing to help others; it in general can strengthen the staff’s solidarity, enhance the staff’s moral, and of course, will improve job performance. In addition, the mentoring is the process of communicating and exchanging information, sharing experiences between employees; it can generally enhance the organizational learning, and increase the firm’s competitiveness.
Generally, staff is a “live” resource of an organization, so in order to keep them motivated, besides the physical factors like salary, compensation, or fringe benefits to satisfy their most basic needs, the firm also needs to focus on unphysical factors through job-related mentoring, individual recognition, performance awards, or power sharing to meet their higher needs and keep them motivated. The more a person feels he is respected and satisfied with the job, the more likely he devotes to it, and the more efficient the job performance will be.