How to Start a
Mentoring Program
The Ultimate Guide
The Ultimate Guide
Creating a successful mentoring program requires careful planning and execution. So let us guide you through how to start a mentoring program that works, not just for your mentors and mentees, but for program coordinators as well.
Steps
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Prep
Define your goals and set up the foundation for all the other details of your mentoring program.
Define what success looks like and how you'll measure it
With Mentorloop, monitoring your program’s health is incredibly easy.
Real-time Sentiment data is made easily accessible on your program dashboard, freeing you up to focus on your larger program goals.
Why are you launching a mentoring program? What are your goals?
Your goals will tell you what success metrics you need to be tracking and guide you in forming a plan for collecting and evaluating this data.
By defining measurable outcomes, you’ll be able to assess your mentoring program’s health and how it’s tacking towards your organization’s goals. This will enable you to make adjustments as you go.
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Pitch your program and get stakeholder buy-in
It’s important to secure stakeholder buy-in early so they can feel involved in the program’s development.
Remember: Your stakeholders aren’t limited to your organization’s leaders. Especially for large organizations, it can include your Procurement, IT, and Marketing teams, among others.
Here are our top tips:
Communicate the ROI, not just the benefits
Chances are, your leaders have already had mentors and/or mentees and already know the value of mentoring. What they need to know is that there’s a return on the time and resource investment.
Don’t just ask for approval, ask for involvement
Asking for their thoughts and help allows them to feel some ownership over the mentoring program. You can even start getting them interested in participating in the program as mentors too.
Show long-term planning
Ensure they know that this program is not a short-term activity. Communicate that it’s a step towards creating a culture of mentorship in the organization and that their involvement and influence are key to achieving this.
Allow them to share their concerns and objections
And be prepared to address them. Acknowledge their concerns and don’t be afraid to go away and come back with a plan. It shows that you value their concerns and are willing to work on a plan to mitigate or resolve them.
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Mentoring Program Proposal Template
Create a mentoring program proposal that cannot be rejected
Brush up on resources and best practices
You want to feel prepared when you’re taking on an initiative like this.
So invest some time in reading up on the basics, getting familiar with best practices, and learning what to watch out for.
So invest some time in reading up on the basics, getting familiar with best practices, and learning what to watch out for.
Build
Once you’ve done your program prep, it’s time to build your program!
And while you could technically do this manually, we highly recommend using mentoring software.
Not only does mentoring software streamline the admin and help you match participants, but it also gives you a better way to report on your program, manage your participants, and collect feedback, among a whole host of other benefits.
Building a mentoring program has never been easier.
With Mentorloop Pro, you’ll get your program up and running in just 3 easy steps!
Share the basics
Your program population, timeline, and goals will assist in steering your program towards mentoring success.
Select a
matching style
matching style
Matches self-selected by your participants will benefit from trusted algorithmic recommendations, or simply make matches yourself.
More on Matching 
Choose a Program Theme
Based on similar programs from around the world, your program will be tailor made to steer you toward success.
More on Program Themes Need a more bespoke program for your large organization or association? No worries! With Mentorloop Enterprise, we help you make mentoring magic with powerful algorithmic matching, customisations, single sign-on and more.
Our mentoring specialists will be on hand guide you through the entire process – from building your matching criteria and signup form, all the way to helping you set up integrations and build your launch and program plan! They’ll also be on hand to onboard you and your team so you can confidently run your best mentoring program yet on Mentorloop.
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5 Key Ingredients for Successful Matching
Learn about the role that each matching ingredient has when it comes to your organisation.
Getting Started: Matching Types and Techniques
Learn about the different types of matching, how you can use them on Mentorloop, and what to use based on your program’s needs.
Launch
Once you’ve built your program, all that’s left is to recruit your participants and launch!
This is the exciting bit – you now get to announce this life-changing opportunity to your people!
There are lots of ways to do this and you can go as big or simple as you like.
So whether you go with an event or an email campaign, the important thing is to cover the basics:
There are lots of ways to do this and you can go as big or simple as you like.
So whether you go with an event or an email campaign, the important thing is to cover the basics:
- The “why” and the goals of your mentoring program
- Where mentors and mentees can sign up
- Links to more information about the program and what’s expected of participants
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Getting Started: Program Marketing and Recruitment
How to do pre-promotion prep, how to craft your comms, what assets to use, and more!
It’s time to press “start” on enabling life-changing mentoring connections in your organization!
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Launching Strong: A Guide to Your Mentoring Program’s Critical First Weeks
Learn how to follow through from a successful launch and set your program up for long-term success. Join Mentorloop’s Director of Customer Growth, Marina Sancho, and Customer Experience Manager, Kristin Nankervis, as they get into the details of how to maximise your mentoring program’s post-launch momentum.
If you’re looking for a more detailed version of this guide, head to the blog:
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up An Effective Mentoring Program.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up An Effective Mentoring Program.
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