The document proposes a conceptual framework for a pilot mentor program at GRIDCo. The program would pair 20-25 new engineer and technician hires with mentors. The objectives are to assist mentees' professional development through coaching, challenging assignments, and exposure. Benefits include improving skills, motivation, and knowledge transfer. The framework defines mentor and mentee roles and responsibilities, and provides guidelines for recruitment, matching, meetings, and program management. The goal is to evaluate the pilot program before expanding it organization-wide.

1. A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR
DEVELOPING A PILOT MENTOR
PROGRAM FOR THE NETWORK
SERVICES ORGANIZATION
BY DENNIS CASELY-HAYFORD

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
Introduction
Program Mission
Program Objectives
Program Benefits / Outcomes
Definitions
Mentor and Mentee roles
Mentor and Mentee responsibilities
Program Guidelines
Mentor Recruitment, Screening and Matching
Program Management
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Conclusions and Recommendations

3. INTRODUCTION
There is the need to develop a formal mentoring program at GRIDCo to
encourage the personal and professional development of new hires
through the sharing of knowledge, expertise and experience by mentors
This presentation is a framework for a pilot program to be developed for
the Network Services Organization, before a formal program is rolled out
organization wide
The pilot program will target 20-25 Engineers and/or Technicians
recruited and employed in 2015

4. PROGRAM MISSION
The mission of the Mentoring Program is to
grow our own internal talent
by providing the participants with
leadership challenges and developmental
opportunities.

5. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Assist mentees in becoming confident and productive
employees with excellent leadership, communication, critical
thinking, professionalism and other skills important to the
transition to the world of work.
This will be accomplished primarily through the following:
Coaching
Challenging assignments
Exposure and visibility

6. PROGRAM BENEFITS / OUTCOMES
Organizational Mentor Mentee
• Widening of skills base and
competencies in line with organizational
goals
• Creates a culture of learning and
knowledge transfer/sharing
• Improves leadership and people
management skills
• Improves motivation and productivity
• Improves teamwork and co-operation
• Offers focused support that is more
relevant to the job in comparison with
classroom training
• Alternative to external training, more cost
effective personal development
• Gives satisfaction in assisting a
colleague in achieving his or
her professional and personal
goals
• Promotes sharing of knowledge
and demonstration of expertise
• Gains recognition and respect
for contributing to the
development of others in the
organization
• Increases job satisfaction
• Improves their own skills in
listening, communication, and
leadership skills
• Contributes to personal
development through
individualized one-to-one
teaching and opportunities for
experiential learning
• Encourages ongoing learning
and developing and identifying
learning opportunities in the
working situation
• Offers help with analytical and
problem solving skills from a
responsible neutral other
• Develops organizational and
professional knowledge
• Increases maturity
• Increases job satisfaction

7. WHAT IS MENTORING?
A means of developing human resources
About guiding others in their personal quest for
growth through learning
A stimulating journey of self-discovery and
development which provides opportunities for
personal fulfilment and achievement
A fundamental form of human development where
one person invests time, energy, and personal
know-how assisting the growth and ability of
another person
A method of encouraging individual growth

8. WHAT IS A MENTOR?
 A mentor is an individual with expertise who
can help develop the career of a mentee.
The mentor guides, trains, advises, and
promotes the career development of the
mentee
 A mentor is an experienced guide,
trustworthy advisor, a personal champion, a
constructive critic, a motivator, a listener
 Provides mentee exposure to broad
networks within the organization

9. WHAT IS A MENTEE?
A Mentee is the recipient of the
Mentor’s guidance and must be
committed to expanding his/her
capabilities, be open and receptive to
new ways of learning, and have a
sense of personal responsibility about
the mentoring relationship and his/her
own growth and development

10. WHAT IS THE MENTOR’S ROLE?
Career support by encouraging challenging and growth
opportunities
Emotional support: encouragement, recognition,
feedback, coaching
Acts as a role model
Access to learning opportunities, resources and
networking
Keeps the mentee on the right track to avoid aimless
detours

11. WHAT IS THE MENTEE’S ROLE?
Be committed to expanding his/her
capabilities
Be open and receptive to new ways of
learning
Be open to feedback
Have a sense of personal responsibility
about the mentoring relationship: take
ownership
Follow through on development plan and
coaching for his/her own growth and
development

12. MENTOR AND MENTEE RESPONSIBILITIES
WITHIN THE MENTORING PROCESS
Phase Mentor Responsibilities Mentee Responsibilities
Develop rapport and build trust • Share professional background and personal
interests
• Share personal interests and background
Communicating Expectations • Have a clear understanding of your
expectations for your mentee
• Clearly communicate those expectations
• Stay flexible in changing expectations
• Create goals with milestones and
deliverables
• Be realistic about setting timelines
• Have a clear understanding of your
expectations for your mentor
• Clearly communicate those expectations
• Stay flexible in changing expectations
• Create goals with milestones and deliverables
• Be realistic about setting timelines
Working Together • Advise, don’t dictate
• Offer constructive feedback
• Evaluate progress
• Support your mentee when he/she reaches
his/her goals
• Be consistent and reliable
• Listen and contribute to the conversation
• Accept constructive feedback
• Evaluate progress
• Celebrate success
• Be consistent and reliable
Meeting All The Goals • After mentoring is completed, follow up on
successes
• Provide an evaluation of the experience
• Provide an evaluation of the experience after
the mentoring is completed
• Say thank you

13. SUGGESTED PROGRAM GUIDELINES
How often do we meet?
 Mentors and Mentees may meet for at least one hour per month
How long does the relationship last?
 The relationship should be maintained for one year
Where should we meet?
 It is up to the Mentor and Mentee to decide the best location to have meetings
What is expected of me?
 We ask for your commitment. If your are matched with a Mentor or Mentee, we ask that you maintain
communication with your partner for the duration of the program. We also ask that you maintain
periodic communication with the Program Coordinator to let him know how things are going
What happens if my Mentor or Mentee and I are not a good match?
 If the Mentor or Mentee feels that the pair is not a “good fit”, they can notify the Program Coordinator.
The Program Coordinator will begin steps to rematch both the Mentor and Mentee with a new partner

14. SUGGESTED GUIDELINES FOR MENTOR /
MENTEE MEETINGS
FIRST MEETING:
 Get acquainted and establish a relationship
 Mentor should make contact with Mentee within one week of assignment
 Find commonalities and share personal interests, hobbies
 Share professional background, education, and areas of expertise
 Learn about what is most important to each one of you (e.g., personal and professional goals of
Mentee, skills Mentee desires to develop, etc.)
 Set Expectations
 What does the Mentor expect from the Mentee? (e.g., create goals with milestones and
deliverables)
 What does the Mentee expect from the Mentor?
 How will we measure and evaluate outcomes?
 Complete a Mentoring Partnership Agreement
 Discuss and complete a partnership agreement to agree on goals, objectives, and ground rules for
the mentorship relationship

15. SUGGESTED GUIDELINES FOR MENTOR /
MENTEE MEETINGS CONTD.
ON GOING MEETINGS:
Set a specific time, date, and location
Meet at the agreed time and be punctual
Have an agenda prepared in advance
Types of mentoring discussions can entail the following: career
development, job challenges, individual development, gaining new insight
and experience, and special projects
Have a summary of notes from the last session
Follow up on action items from last meeting
Agree on what will be discussed in next meeting
Agree on action items to be accomplished against development plan
Mentees and Mentors have one final meeting to share learnings and
celebrate their success

16. RECRUITING AND SCREENING MENTORS
Develop and write a mentor position description that define
qualifications and attributes, including eligibility for participation
Initiate recruitment and marketing campaigns (i.e., printed
promotional letters, single sheet flyers, advertisements in
newsletters, information sessions, etc.) to build awareness and
attract prospective volunteers
Screen volunteers via face-to-face interviews to ascertain suitability
to be a mentor and aid in establishing match
Incorporate a written application as part of the screening and
interview process

17. MATCHING MENTORS AND MENTEES
Mentors and Mentees should be given the
opportunity relative to the following:
State their needs and personal preferences with regard to
the match
Know how matching decisions are made
Request a different match, if after a reasonable effort, the
original match is not satisfactory

18. POSSIBLE MATCHING CRITERIA
Personal
Preferences
• Mentees and mentors
may request someone of
the same gender, a
certain age range,
language, culture or
another characteristic.
Such requests should be
honoured whenever
possible
Temperament
• Try to ensure that
personality and
behaviour styles mesh
• Match a mentor with a
young person who
responds best to the
mentor’s particular style
Life experiences and
interests
• Matches made on the
basis of similarities (e.g.,
hobbies, lifestyle, shared
interests and family
makeup) usually lead to
strong relationships

19. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT
To ensure that the program is well-
managed, it is critical to institute
the following:
• Designate an individual to coordinate the
program
• Consider forming a Mentor Committee to
assist the Program Coordinator implement the
program
• Define role and responsibilities of Program
Coordinator and Mentor Committee

20. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CONTD.
The Program Coordinator or Mentor Committee will play a
significant role by:
Establishing requirements for participation in the program and
creating program forms
Identifying and recruiting mentors
Matching mentors with mentees
Acting as an arbiter in any disagreement or dispute between mentor
and mentee
Monitor and evaluate the results of the program
Planning for the training of mentors

21. PROGRAM MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Follow up with participants to ensure that
mentors and mentees have made initial
contact by deadline date
Request a quarterly written summary of
their mentor experience from all
participants
Conduct periodic group meetings to make
sure participants are meeting regularly,
determine the quality of the relationship,
and discuss ways to improve the program
Conduct year-end interviews to ask for
program feedback
Have all participants complete a program
evaluation form at the end of the program
Use the information obtained through
meetings and evaluations to assist current
participants in achieving their goals and to
improve the program for future mentors

22. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Develop a mentoring handbook and program forms
that explain the mentoring process
Designate a Program Coordinator to manage the
mentor program to ensure program accuracy and
efficiency
Ensure that the program has a written recruitment
plan and well documented matching strategy
Establish a public relations/communications strategy
to promote the mentoring program and recruit
mentors
Provide training to mentors to ensure program quality
Monitor and evaluate the results of the program to
ensure that it is on track in meeting program goals