Many organizations value employee development but don’t have formal mentorship programs. In hybrid and remote environments, mentorship can be easy to overlook. But informal mentoring is something we all can cultivate at any level.
In “The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships,” Lois Zachary defines informal mentoring as “unstructured, casual, need-based, and natural.” When you have a quick question or want to build upon a creative idea, consulting your constellation of micro-mentors gives you support and perspective. These relationships tend to be low-pressure and collaborative, with give-and-take depending on the moment.
What Informal Mentorship Looks Like in Practice
Informal mentorship rarely begins with, “Can you be my mentor?” It might start with a quick Slack message, a 15-minute call to sanity-check a decision, or a short exchange after a meeting. Over time, those moments add up, especially when your network includes a variety of people.
Let’s say you work in enterprise learning and development (L&D) as a strategist. You’d naturally form connections with a variety of professionals who work directly in your space and adjacent to your role—people who know how humans think, how businesses scale, and how compelling stories are told.
These mentors might compose your Tier 1: Inner Circle:
- The behavioral scientist: Someone who can pressure-test learning myths and point you toward evidence-based strategies, such as spaced repetition and retrieval practice.
- The creative writer: Someone who helps you shape dry material into hooks, character arcs, and episodic narratives people want to follow.
Your Tier 2: Project Peers might include your project counterparts who specialize in complementary areas:
- The product manager: In the corporate world, learning is often a “product” employees “consume.” A product manager can help you design learning journeys, improve user experience (UX)/user interface (UI), and spot friction, such as platforms that are hard to use (and easy to abandon).
- The data storyteller: Need to justify a budget, present the story behind your metrics, or boil survey data down to its essence? Someone who specializes in interpreting data is a go-to informal mentor, especially if they bring it to life visually.
Don’t overlook Tier 3: Weak Ties—people you don’t know well but whose thinking keeps you out of your own echo chamber. You might follow them online or exchange articles occasionally:
- The community builder: Someone who facilitates connections and engages people around common interests: an event planner, a brand community lead, or someone who cultivates belonging in an online space.
- The AI ethicist or AI leader: Someone in your sphere who works in the ever-changing artificial intelligence (AI) space can help you keep up with how generative AI is changing the skills people need. They also can help you find healthy ways to work with AI while avoiding landmines (such as data privacy).
How to Seek and Maintain Informal Mentorship
How do you find people who can illuminate different paths on your professional map? You might already work with some, while you’ll encounter others through professional events, online connections, and even your social circles.
Your first tool is genuine curiosity:
- Follow the questions: Who’s answering the questions you’re wondering about?
- Use warm referrals: Who do trusted colleagues recommend?
- Start small: A specific note on something they shared is a good place to begin.
You don’t need a formal invitation—just a low-pressure point of connection. Remember: You’re not seeking out a North Star, and you don’t have a quota to meet. It’s less about recruiting and more about curation and synthesis. Diversify your sources. Your constellation won’t shine as brightly if everyone in it thinks the same way.
An obstacle of informal mentorship is worrying that you’re being a “burden.” If this is a barrier, approach contacts with generosity. Instead of asking for in-person coffee, start by letting them know you benefited from something they wrote or shared. Then offer them something of value, such as a related article, before you ask for anything. This sets your relationship up for mutual reciprocity and demonstrates respect for their time and attention.
Once you make the connection, take some deliberate steps to keep it alive. Consider sharing a relevant link with, “This reminds me of what we were chatting about last time.” Offer specific praise. Instead of, “I admire your work!” tell them why you admired how they handled a difficult situation. And if you know someone who could help your mentor, proactively make an introduction. These are all ways you can keep the connection warm and create the conditions for expanding your universe.
How to Position Yourself as an Informal Mentor for Others
The most effective informal mentorship systems are inherently reciprocal. It helps to have a clear understanding of your skills and passions. What type of work makes you lose track of time? Don’t discount your knacks and quirky skills. These are the tools you can offer others.
Other tips for signaling you’re open to informal mentorship:
- Offer a 15-minute “office hours” slot periodically for quick questions.
- Share one resource and why it matters.
- Set some parameters: “Happy to help—can you send a few questions ahead of time?”
Results and Takeaways
The healthiest work cultures embed and encourage mentorship, with or without a formal program. When organizations normalize informal mentorship, they communicate to employees, “This is a place you can grow, and we’re providing the time and tools to support you.”
Formal programs are helpful, but most growth still happens in hallway moments—except now the “hallway” might be a chat thread or a quick call. Build your constellation with intention: a few people for craft, a few for perspective, and a few who challenge your assumptions. Use a simple conversation tracker to spot patterns and create continuity between chats. Then do the part most people skip: Apply what you learned and follow up with a quick thank you or a useful resource.
