For Mentors

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What is Mentoring?

Mentoring is a process in which a more experienced individual (mentor) helps a less experienced person (mentee) discover new areas of knowledge and insights in a particular field. Mentors also potentially assist mentees in setting professional goals through a series of ongoing, time-limited, confidential conversations and other learning activities. It is a relationship based upon mutual trust and respect.

Programme Framework

Goal Setting

Supporting a young person to set their own goals is a vital part of a mentoring relationship. We have designed a Goal Tracker to allow the mentee and mentor to set goals and measure progress during their mentoring relationship.

When?

The Goal Tracker is an optional tool most commonly used by mentors. It is designed to be completed by both the mentee and mentor at agreed stages.

1st report: this should be completed after the second mentoring meeting
2-3 weeks check in: this should be completed after a two to three weeks stage to allow for reflection
5-6 weeks check in: at this stage the report can be used as an additional check-in stage, before a further six weeks support is undertaken, or final report to end the relationship if development is no longer happening or a positive outcome has been achieved

You can download Goal Tracker (doc, 4kb) for your own mentoring relationship.

What to include?

The goals identified should be a mixture of short term and longer-term goals. They could also focus on soft skills such as motivation and confidence, as well as more tangible hard results such as achieving employment. Goals may change after each month, if new goals are identified or amended.
 
Goals set should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Specific).

Check-In

Each check-in point offers the opportunity for the mentee and mentor to reflect on how they feel the mentoring relationship is going, and if it should be continued.
It may be the case that progress isn’t being made through a lack of commitment from one party of the relationship, a clash of personalities, or that a mentor with a different background (in industry) would be more suitable.
 
Alternatively, you may feel that progress is being made and both parties are happy for the relationship to continue. Use this section as an opportunity to highlight any successes that have been made and to justify your decision to continue, or end the relationship.
You can download Learning Log (doc, 3kb) for your own mentoring relationship.

SWOT

As a mentor, you play a crucial role in supporting your mentee’s career development. One effective tool for self-reflection and goal setting is SWOT analysis.

Encourage your mentee to use our SWOT analysis templates to:

Gain self-awareness: Help them identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Set Informed Goals: Work together to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals based on their analysis.
Develop a Growth Mindset: Foster a positive mindset that focuses on learning, improvement, and seizing opportunities.

You can download SWOT analysis Template (doc, 3kb) for your own mentoring relationship.

Why reports are important

Reports allow us to identify themes around the support our young people need in this kind of relationship, which can impact the training we provide and the resources we develop. On a more practical level, reports enable us to track the impact that a mentoring relationship is having on a young person.
 
The impacts of not reporting can be far reaching and may lead to:
The Programme not knowing the current status of each of our young people – are they being effectively supported or not?
The increased likelihood that our young mentees will fail because they have not been given timely and appropriate support
Programme and volunteer staff being rendered ineffectual through lack of information and therefore unable to provide full support to our young people
An inability to achieve an improvement in our performance year on year
The effectiveness of the mentor process being impossible to assess

Celebrating and ending a mentoring relationship

All RISE mentoring relationships have to come to an end eventually. For mentors and mentees, the expected duration is 8 weeks. 
 
As a mentoring relationship comes to an end, mentors and mentees should prepare themselves accordingly, with careful plans to allow a winding down process. It is at this point that having established professional boundaries will serve both mentors and mentees well.
 
As a mentor, if you and the mentee feel that they still need some support, you may wish to use your last meetings together to direct them to Programme Coordinator.
  • Acknowledge – acknowledge the change early and discuss it together.
  • Prepare – review the goals that you have been working towards and discuss what you hope to achieve before the mentoring relationship ends. Set up additional sources of support if required.
  • Recognise achievements – endings are a great way of defining and celebrating the achievements of the relationship. Mentor reports and record sheets can be used to look back at how the young person has progressed.
  • Celebrate your achievements – think about nominating young people for the Celebrate Success Awards.
  • Review and evaluate – identify the lessons that have been learned and what’s changed over the period of your mentoring relationship. Review your Goal Tracker (if you have used one) to measure the progress that the young person has made.
  • Future friendship – you may wish to stay in contact with each other on your own behalf. This would not be within the terms of RISE Mentorship programmes or the volunteer role and is your own personal choice.

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