V. How the e-Mentoring process is structured?

The usual structure of mentoring process includes the following steps:

• selection of the Mentees and Mentors;
• training of the Mentors and Mentees;
• forming of the pairs or groups (group mentoring) and matching the most suitable Mentor for the group or individual;
• the initial mentoring session: starting the mentoring process;
• the further meetings of the groups or pairs: tasks-oriented mentoring sessions;
• the final mentoring session – evaluating of the results and ending the relationship.

The Mentee has to be aware that the first three steps are on the responsibility of the Manager of the mentoring process. Thus, the above you will find explanation only of the last three steps, in which Mentee has his/her own tasks and responsibilities.

 The initial mentoring session: starting the mentoring process

Group mentoring – during the initial meeting of Mentors and Mentees the formed groups meet each other for the first time and get acquainted with their Mentors. The main purpose of this meeting is to get acquainted with each other as individuals and to clear up if ”we are well matched”. The meeting could be organised in the Manager’s office or in another suitable place, like a cafe, a public park etc.

 During the meeting Mentees learn about the other members who consist their group, give the name for their group and formulate a motto of their group. After the Mentor is introduced to the groups and presents her-/himself, the Mentees present themselves to the Mentor; tell them about their background, family, hobbies, values, education, profession, etc. The Mentor listens and makes questions if necessary.

 Individual mentoring – during the initial meeting Mentor and Mentee meet each other for the first time and get acquainted. The main purpose of this meeting is to clear up if ”we are well matched”.

During the meeting Mentee presents him-/herself to the Mentor: tell about the background, family, hobbies, values, education, profession, etc. The Mentor listens and makes questions if necessary.

In order to succeed in mentoring, there must be a clear understanding between a Mentor and Mentee(s) of how to establish and build their mentoring relationship.  The Mentor and his/her Mentee(s) during the initial meeting must develop and agree on the “Contract of blended mentoring on employment related issues”. This document can be downloaded here. The Contract specifies the rules of their mentoring relationship and how they will continue to communicate. A Mentor and his/her Mentee(s) should discuss and  agree upon various items for the “Contract of blended mentoring on employment related issues” such as:

• duration of the mentoring process (start/end);
• the Mentee’s/(-s’) commitment and responsibility for setting and reaching the targets;
• the Mentees’ support to each other;
• the necessity for Mentee(s) and Mentor to be open in discussions;
• obligation for all participants to keep the confidentiality of discussions even after the mentoring process;
• emphasizing that the advices given by the Mentor or the other mentees are only guidelines and the mentees are responsible themselves for their own decisions;
• etc.

The “Contract” specifies the rules of their mentoring relationship and how they will continue to communicate. Therefore, it is also recommended that the Mentor will enforce and facilitate the defining of the “Code of Ethics” (see Module IV) and including it into the “Contract of blended mentoring on employment related issues”. Manager initiates the signing of the “Contract of blended mentoring on employment related issues” by all 3M-Actors. Contract could be updated by Manager within the mentoring process upon all actors’ agreement. Manager is responsible for uploading this tool to the e-Learning platform.

During the initial mentoring session the Mentees should also set their goals. For the group mentoring the Mentee(s) first set their personal goals for the mentoring process formulate the objectives – small steps needed to be done in order to reach the goals. The template for setting the “Personal goals and objectives of a Mentee for a blended Mentoring on Employment Related Issues” can be found here . Using this template Mentee can choose all the goals and objectives he/she would like to reach and also there is the possibility to add some additional goals and objectives too. Mentor is responsible for uploading the filled-in document by Mentee to the e-Learning platform. Then, the Mentor initiates the discussion on setting a common goal for the whole group and defining the first steps to achieve it. The Mentor suggests filling-in a document with group goals and objectives “Goals and objectives of the group for a mentoring on Employment Related Issues ” in which the first steps on mentoring are clearly defined.

For individual mentoring, the Mentee only sets the goals and objectives for him/herself and fills-in only “Personal goals and objectives of a Mentee for a blended Mentoring on Employment Related Issues” following the steps described above for the group mentoring.

During the initial meeting Mentor and Mentee(s) also have to agree on the “Session plan for blended Mentoring on employment related issues”. This tool can be found here. In this form the date/-s and topic/-s for next meeting/-s and type of the meetings/sessions should be filled-in. Also the homework to be done till next meeting should be written in this tool, as well as the name/-s of the Mentee(s) who will be responsible for filling-in the diary of next mentoring session/-s. Dates of the blended mentoring sessions and titles of each session could be defined in advance by Mentor and Mentee(s) for the whole period of mentoring or filled-in after each mentoring session.

This tool is being filled during the initial meeting and could be changed according to the needs of the mentoring group during the process or filled-in at the end of every mentoring session with the plans for the next mentoring session. Mentor is responsible for developing, updating and uploading the updated versions of the “Session plan” to the e-Learning platform. This document is the main managing tool for communication during the whole mentoring process as it indicates the clear dates of the mentoring sessions (face-to-face and online). It also informs the Mentee about the next steps of the mentoring process.
 

The further meetings of the groups or pairs: tasks-oriented mentoring sessions.

 After the initial mentoring session, which is mostly dedicated to the organisational issues, the mentoring on employment-related issues is started and is running in accordance with the developed and agreed “Session plan of e-Mentoring”. This document is updated by Mentor after each mentoring session and placed into the e-Learning platform, thus Mentee could always check the time of the next regular meeting and the homework which has to be done before the next meeting.

In the e-Mentoring platform the communication between Mentor and Mentee(s) could be synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous communication is used during the regular meetings of the Mentor and Mentee(s) agreed in advance. During such meetings the common chat is used for the communication of the Mentor and Mentee(s). Between the regular meetings the Mentee(s) and Mentor could use the tools of asynchronous communication – forums, e-mail, Skype, etc.

To facilitate your mentoring process on employment-related issues the Mentor could suggest you to use Open Educational Resources (OER) on employability and entrepreneurship for self-learning and improving your skills. You can find more explanation on OERs in the Module VI and Module VII. 

The group or individual meetings should be organised according the agenda, suggested by the Manager:

1. How is everyone?/ How are you?
2. Current issues;
3. Dealing with the target;
4. Agreeing upon the topic (the point of view) for the next session;
5. Homework for the Mentee(s) for the next session.

In each mentoring group/individual meeting, each particular session in the (“Diary for blended Mentoring on employment related issues”)  should be filled-in. The mentoring diary should be filled in according to the meeting agenda and placed on the e-Platform or the Mentees’ folders according to the form of the mentoring selected. In group mentoring at the beginning of each meeting, the group decides who will fill in the diary and how. The suggested method for filling in the diary is that one of the Mentee fills in the diary by rotation. In individual mentoring, the Mentee always fills in the diary by him/herself. At the end of each meeting, the Mentor writes some comments at the end of the diary. Mentor is responsible for uploading the updated version of diary to e-Mentoring platform.

If e-Mentoring or blended mentoring is used, the “Contract of blended mentoring on employment related issues”, “Session plan” and “Diary for blended Mentoring on employment related issues” are placed in the special e-Platform and are available for all the Mentees during the whole mentoring process.

During each mentoring sessions the Mentees and the Mentor follow the realization of the established goals. In the last group meeting the Mentees write down what has been reached and how to continue.

The final mentoring session – ending the relationship

 When the meetings of the mentoring groups or individuals come to the end the Manager should organise the final meeting/discussion of the Mentor(s) and Mentee(s). During the final meeting the Mentor with the Mentee(s) should evaluate their achievements during the whole mentoring process, have they reached their goals and what has changed in their lives into the bright side. Every group or individual should prepare the conclusions of the mentoring process and should evaluate such points – where they started, how they worked together to achieve the goals, what they succeeded in, what they got from the process, what problems they had, what they would change in the process, where they stand now – what next?