What the sponsor does
- Opens access to people and opportunities
- Provides a meaningful stretch project
- Recognises contribution and advocates for advancement
Mentoring and coaching for your rising leaders
The Torch Sponsored Mentoring Program pairs internal executive guidance with Torch leadership coaching, granting emerging leaders both development and the spotlight to shine.
A globally recognised technology hardware company
0%42%
Rated “ready now”
for promotion
By their sponsor, in a completed customer cohort.
Explore the resultsShine a light on your talent
Co-created with a globally recognised technology hardware company to prevent rising leader burnout and key skill losses.
Private coaching stays private.
How this worked inside a gaming company with a stringent five-year release cycle
A globally recognised technology hardware company
After a roughly five-year hardware generation cycle, burnout and the loss of key skills put valued people at risk. Sponsored mentoring connected rising leaders with senior recognition, stretch work and a development opportunity inside the business.
In Torch’s account of the work, the programme helped the company retain key talent.
What the coach does
- Develops the rising leader through individual coaching
- Helps them apply feedback and navigate challenges
- Connects leadership practice with the stretch project
Sponsor, rising leader and coach align through agreed check-ins and a shared review of progress.
Outcomes from a completed cohort
0%42%
Promotion readiness rating by sponsors across the programme
92%
Planned to keep meeting
Sponsors intending to continue after the programme.
Looking to establish a mentoring program?
Leaders can provide guidance and opportunities, but rarely have the time needed to invest in a sponsee’s development. That’s where Torch comes in.
See how it worksEvidence says you should be mentoring
Mentoring pays back across the whole organisation: the business, the people who mentor and the rising leaders they support.
For the organisation
9% to 24%
A more diverse leadership bench
Firms that introduced mentoring programmes saw the share of Black, Hispanic and Asian American women, and Hispanic and Asian American men, in management rise by 9% to 24%. [1][2]
10 years
Commitment that lasts
In a study of more than 1,000 US Army officers, those who had been mentored were more committed to the organisation and less likely to have left ten years later. [3]
For mentors
6x
Mentors move up too
At Sun Microsystems, mentors were six times more likely to be promoted than colleagues who did not mentor, and 28% received a raise, compared with 5% of managers who did not mentor. [5]
Single-company study
Higher pay
Career success for mentors
Employees who mentored others reported higher pay, more promotions and greater career success than those who had not. [6]
1,600+
More satisfied, more committed
Across studies of more than 1,600 people, mentors were more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to their organisation than people who did not mentor. [7]
65 samples
A sense of contribution
Wanting to help the next generation grow is linked with stronger motivation and wellbeing at work, and mentoring gives people a direct way to act on it. [8][9]
For rising leaders
5x
Faster advancement
At Sun Microsystems, employees who were mentored were promoted five times more often than those who were not. [5]
Single-company study
Pay and promotion
Careers that progress
Mentored employees tend to receive more promotions and higher pay, and report greater career satisfaction, than those who are not mentored. [10]
Stronger ties
Relationships that last
Across workplace studies, people who are mentored tend to be more committed, build better working relationships and help colleagues more than those who are not. [4]
Published research and one company study. These findings are associations rather than promised outcomes, vary by programme and relationship, and are separate from Torch’s own results.
- Dobbin and Kalev (2016)Why Diversity Programs Fail, Harvard Business Review (opens in a new tab)
- Kalev, Dobbin and Kelly (2006)Best Practices or Best Guesses? Assessing the Efficacy of Corporate Affirmative Action and Diversity Policies, American Sociological Review (opens in a new tab)
- Payne and Huffman (2005)A Longitudinal Examination of the Influence of Mentoring on Organizational Commitment and Turnover, Academy of Management Journal (opens in a new tab)
- Eby et al. (2008)Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis, Journal of Vocational Behavior (opens in a new tab)
- Fisher (2007)Being a mentor could boost your own career, reporting Sun Microsystems’ five-year study of about 1,000 employees, Fortune (opens in a new tab)
- Allen, Lentz and Day (2006)Career Success Outcomes Associated With Mentoring Others: A Comparison of Mentors and Nonmentors, Journal of Career Development (opens in a new tab)
- Ghosh and Reio (2013)Career benefits associated with mentoring for mentors: A meta-analysis, Journal of Vocational Behavior (opens in a new tab)
- Wiktorowicz et al. (2022)Does generativity matter? A meta-analysis on individual work outcomes, European Journal of Ageing (opens in a new tab)
- Musselman and Becker (2023)Resolving the double-edged sword of mentoring: the role of generativity, Journal of Managerial Psychology (opens in a new tab)
- Allen et al. (2004)Career benefits associated with mentoring for protégés: A meta-analysis, Journal of Applied Psychology (opens in a new tab)
Let Torch bring your vision to life
A clear role for your organisation.
Connected support from Torch.
- 01
Choose your people
Give your dedicated Torch customer service manager two lists: executive sponsors and rising leaders.
- 02
Torch makes the matches
Torch curates sponsor pairings for your approval, then matches each rising leader with a professional coach.
- 03
Shape the opportunity
The sponsor provides a stretch project or shapes existing work around organisational goals. Agree development goals and protected time.
- 04
Develop and recognise
Combine mentoring, coaching and skills practice. Review contribution and readiness for the next opportunity.
Keep development moving between sessions.
The coach directs the skills to develop. Lantern gives rising leaders voice roleplays, repetition and feedback to practise them.
A few practical questions.
What is Torch?
Torch is a leadership coaching and alignment platform. Sponsored Mentoring connects internal executive sponsorship, professional coaching and skills practice with real business opportunities.
How are people matched?
You provide sponsor and emerging-leader lists. Torch curates their pairings for your approval, then matches a professional coach to each emerging leader.
Who receives coaching?
The emerging leader receives individual coaching. The internal sponsor provides mentoring, access, stretch projects and advocacy. The sponsor, rising leader and human coach join agreed development check-ins. Sponsors are not automatically counted as additional individual coaching participants.
What does Lantern do?
Lantern is Torch’s AI coach. The human coach directs the skills to practise; Lantern supports skills development through voice roleplays, repetition and feedback between coaching sessions.
Are coaching conversations private?
Yes. Shared check-ins cover agreed goals and progress, not private coaching dialogue. The coach agrees the skills to practise with the rising leader. Reporting and sharing boundaries are agreed before the programme begins.
Does the programme guarantee promotion or retention?
No. Advancement depends on performance, available roles and your talent processes. Readiness, actual promotion and employee retention are different outcomes and are tracked separately.
What does a programme include?
Together, we agree duration, coaching, sponsor preparation, assessments, skills practice and check-ins. Your organisation provides committed sponsors, meaningful stretch opportunities and protected time for participation. The programme can also broaden senior access for people from groups underrepresented in leadership.
