National Mentoring Month 2025: The Value of Investing in Relationships

The start of a new year is the perfect time to emphasize the importance of investing in people and relationships.

We hope that you’ll join us in celebrating National Mentoring Month along with the WFU Mentoring Resource Center throughout January 2025 – a time to recommit to one another as a campus community and to consider how we can better support, encourage, and build relationships with each other through mentoring.

The focus for this year’s National Mentoring Month is on how to intentionally invest in relationships and build social capital. 

Social capital is essentially the network of relationships and connections that you have formed with people by building mutual trust, sharing resources and information, and establishing goodwill. 

We all need people – those safe support structures – who we can turn to for advice, information, and resources, and with whom we can reciprocate those efforts. Ultimately, social capital is all about building meaningful relationships that you need now and in the future.

In fact, did you know that…

• 85% of jobs are landed through connections?
• 55% of college grads say they met one of their closest friends at their college/university?
• Highly connected employees in the workplace experience 92% more professional growth than their peers?

What exactly is the difference between networking and relationship-building?

With networking, you’re typically reaching out to someone who you may or may not know to make an ask for something specific – maybe a job referral, for career advice, or help with connecting you to someone else. In making the ask, you’re hoping and expecting that another person will respond and deliver what it is that you’re seeking.

Relationship-building differs from networking in that your ultimate goal is to establish social capital and goodwill between you and another person. You want to build up trust and a mutual reciprocity of support. Think of it as you making deposits before taking withdrawals. The relationship isn’t based on you asking for something – instead you’re considering what you can offer first. Check out the following short video to learn more.

As you consider with whom and how you want to invest in people, consider your possible future withdrawals. For example, you might need a letter of recommendation for graduate school, a job/internship reference, or a request to get connected to someone. People in your social network are more likely to respond positively to requests from you if they feel as though you have mutually invested in the relationship.

As you build social capital, here are a few specific examples of how you can invest in other people:

• Time – Be present and make the effort to show up for other people in those moments when they need your support. The giving of your time demonstrates to other people that they are a priority to you.
• Talent or expertise – Do you have specific skills or talents that are of value to other people? Share them!
• Trust – Establishing that you’re a person who can be trusted is vital to establishing meaningful relationships. You can do this by showing up on time, following through on your commitments, and maintaining confidentiality.
• Communication – Take the time to check-in with people via text, email, or a quick message. Just reaching out to say hello, thank you, or ask how someone is doing goes a long way in building your social capital.
• Reciprocity – Don’t just be a taker. A huge part of building relationships is reciprocity, where both parties have something to offer.