In our previous article, we unpacked Gen Z’s surprising pivot toward AI-powered career guidance – a shift driven by their desire for always-on, bias-free, data-rich mentorship that traditional managers often struggle to provide.
But if AI is the new career advisor, where does that leave organisations?
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Blending digital and human: The hybrid mentorship model
Hot take: At TRG International, we believe that the solution is not choosing between AI and human mentorship but about creating hybrid models that leverage the strengths of both approaches.
Organisations can take advantage of predictive AI solutions to:
– Smart matching mentors to the right mentees: AI can be used to analyse personality traits, career goals, communication styles, and availability to create more effective mentor-mentee pairs than traditional manual matching processes.
– Progress tracking: Companies can “assign” AI to monitor mentorship relationships, identifying when they are thriving or struggling and suggesting interventions or adjustments to improve outcomes.
– Resource recommendations: AI can suggest relevant resources (such as on-demand courses, networking events, or skill development opportunities) based on the mentee’s current challenges and goals.
Infographic:Understand the Difference Between Coaching and Mentoring
Additionally, AI can help mentees prepare for conversations with their mentors:
– Suggesting thoughtful questions
– Surfacing relevant background information
– Offering context that makes the dialogue more meaningful
After meetings, AI can follow through by helping mentees process advice, set goals, suggest adequate next steps for mentees, and cooperate with mentors to build actionable development plans for each individual.
Even career planning gets a boost. AI can analyse skill gaps against industry standards. It then recommends targeted learning opportunities or models different paths and predicts outcomes. All these data-driven insights enrich the human mentor’s coaching and personal guidance.
How organisations adapt to the new reality
For HR departments, leaders, and employers, the rise of AI mentorship definitely presents brand new challenges that require strategic responses. Whether you like it or not, AI is becoming a reality that no one can get away from.
Redefining manager roles
The traditional way of managing and mentoring needs to evolve to incorporate emerging tech in the workplace. The solutions are present to empower us all to be more efficient, not replace our work. Managers need to upgrade their skills, not just solely rely on their experience and intuition.
We suggest prioritising the following areas:
– Interpreting AI insights: Understanding insights drawn from AI data to power their guidance.
– Providing emotional support: Focusing on areas where human connection remains irreplaceable.
– Boosting AI literacy: Encouraging team members to utilise AI tools whilst maintaining critical thinking skills.
Companies should also consider reverse mentoring, where Gen Z are offered opportunities to share knowledge or even mentor older colleagues on the latest tools, for instance, AI and other digital trends. This approach not only encourages a culture of continuous growth but also creates a collaborative environment where everyone can be a leader.
Extra tip: Instead of assigning one mentor for each employee, businesses can consider multi-mentor networks with AI-powered coaching assistants, peer mentors, external subject-matter experts, and role-specific guides. This variety mirrors how Gen Z already seeks input across digital and social platforms.
Investing in hybrid development programs
As the nature of mentorship and career development evolves, new programs need to be redesigned to blend AI capabilities and human expertise.
While AI can enable businesses to develop more personalised growth plans and learning paths based on individual performance, industry shifts, and personal goals, emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) can take mentorship even further.
VR can enable immersive experiences for richer and more interactive environments. Meanwhile, AI can anchor continuous learning ecosystems by curating relevant resources, recommending peer collaborators, and tracking growth across formal and informal development activities.
The goal is to optimise and elevate human touchpoints through smarter, more responsive systems to meet employees’ growing needs, instead of completely eradicating them.
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But cultural change is hard! Don’t organisations struggle to transform?
While the need for cultural change is increasingly urgent, especially in a digital-first, Gen Z-driven workplace, it is not an easy task.
Many organisations underestimate how deeply ingrained their existing norms, values, and structures are. As a result, cultural transformation failures or delays are not at all uncommon. Worse, some only succeeded on the surface, meaning they did not generate any meaningful behaviour change.
Why do companies struggle to transform? While cultural change is undoubtedly difficult, it is not entirely impossible. Here are some common pitfalls to watch out for and practical strategies to address each of them.
Resistance to change
It is only natural for employees to show some signs of resistance, especially those who have thrived under the old system, due to fear, uncertainty, or simply pure scepticism about the new direction. This resistance can be passive (e.g., disengagement) or active (e.g., criticism or pushback), and often spreads quickly if not addressed early.
How to turn resistance into progress: Communicate early, often, and with empathy.
Businesses need to ensure employees understand:
– Why is the change necessary?
– How does it benefit them?
– What support is available?
– How will the company carry things out?
– What is the path forward?
Read more:Culture Fit vs Culture Add: Transforming Company Culture for Growth
Moreover, don’t overlook the value of a structured feedback system, where employees are encouraged to freely share their concerns and get timely responses.
Leadership misalignment
Leaders need to be role models and be the most active (in communicating and modelling the transformation strategy). However, if leaders are divided in their understanding or commitment, transformation efforts lose credibility and momentum. Imagine leaders suddenly promote transparency, but they still lead in a rigid, top-down hierarchy. This can create confusion.
Note that employees take cues from what leaders do, not just what they say.
How to turn resistance into progress:Ensure senior leaders are visibly modelling new behaviours, not just involved in approving the strategy. Equip them with training and talking points so they can confidently lead culture conversations. Strong alignment at the top solidifies clarity, consistency, and credibility across the organisation.
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Superficial adoption
Let’s be honest! How many new initiatives did your organisation kickstart last year? And how many of those remain active (and thriving) today? It is easy to launch new value statements, ESG activities, or digital tools. However, without embedding them into daily operations and without clear structures, incentives, and accountability, cultural change becomes a mere buzzword rather than a real movement.
How to turn resistance into progress: Tie cultural values to specific behaviours, practices, and systems. If a company values collaboration, for example, that value should be embedded into performance reviews and promotion criteria. This helps make culture visible and more measurable, not out of touch.
Failure to engage employees
Culture cannot be dictated top-down. If employees are not involved in shaping the change through feedback, pilot programs, or co-creation, they may feel left behind, and you have guessed it, they will eventually rebel. Successful transformations need both ownership and engagement from everyone.
How to turn resistance into progress: Leaders can consider a shift from a top-down rollout to a collaborative evolution. Employees should also be involved in early phases, where they can contribute thoughts and ideas, rather than at a much later time when they are simply passively receiving the announcement.
There are several tools available to involve employees in co-creating projects for change, such as surveys, focus groups, pilot programs, or “culture ambassador” programs, where employees are promoted as champions and fully responsible for the initiatives.
Underestimating demands, and eventually, budgets
Cultural change takes time, training, resources, and most importantly, patience. If all that the company wants are quick wins, they are in it for a big fail. Or they might abandon transformation too early or fail to support it long enough for behaviours to take root.
How to turn resistance into progress: Budget realistically for training, technology, or practically anything required throughout the transformation. Appoint dedicated culture leads or task forces who will oversee setting goals, defining milestones, allocating budgets, assigning responsibilities, and many other complex project management tasks. Having a dedicated task force will put up a guarantee layer, ensuring targets are met.
Read more:5 Most Common Budgeting Approaches and Their Pros & Cons
Recognising these challenges early helps your business avoid common pitfalls and build more resilient cultures. It also reinforces why culture change must be treated as a long-term strategic commitment instead of a one-off project with a great-sounding headline.
The future of professional development
Looking ahead, the most successful organisations will be those that build sophisticated workplace environments where AI and human mentorship work together. As Gen Z continues to reshape the expectations for their employers, maintaining static programs at irregular cadence and unconstructive comments will get both employees and the company nowhere.
In this new paradigm, the role of human mentors does not disappear completely as we fear. AI helps deepen relationships and frees leaders and HR departments from the administrative and logistical burden of managing development manually. Embracing technology enables mentors to focus on what they do best: offering real context and emotional support.
For businesses willing to reimagine how mentorship and learning work, the payoff is substantial: a more engaged, future-ready workforce that feels seen, supported, and equipped to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
The question is not whether AI will reshape mentorship because it already has. The question is whether your organisation will lead this transformation or be left behind by it. The choice is entirely yours.
Ready to transform your mentorship approach? Start by assessing your current development programs! Our team at TRG International is always ready to help you unlock our employees’ potential. Share your concerns with us to see how our talent solutions can help you and your teams thrive!
