Mentoring

Our Mentoring-Approach

The target groups for mentoring are diverse.

For example, a program can be used to support language learning among refugees, accompany students on their way into professional life, provide job application training or, for example, develop the leadership skills of your own employees. Mentoring is a very effective (personnel) development measure. The mentoring measure is as simple as it is effective: an experienced person (mentor) accompanies a less experienced person (mentee) or a group of mentees for a period of time defined in advance, e.g. on the way from school to work. During this time, mentees and mentors meet for personal discussions. In this way a trustful cooperation can develop - which in many cases does not end with the completion of the mentoring program. Mentoring can be conducted in the course of different types of activities and formats: Please access a compilation of different GoTeach face-to-face activities here and find about our virtual intitiatives here.


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Individual Mentoring

How!

Whether for individual parts or for the entire implementation of the program - the support of external experts or partners is highly recommended for both sides. Especially the matching of the mentoring tandems is a great challenge. It is also helpful to have an experienced partner at your side when identifying the topics for mentoring and possible conflicts that may arise in the context of the individual mentoring tandems as well as the rather resource-intensive organizational framework.

Goals!

Only those who know what they want can achieve their goals! This can be the desire for language skills, access to "locals", feedback on one's own appearance, support in choosing a career, or, or, or, or... The final content of the program is as varied as the participants. It is important that the mentor and mentee clarify right at the beginning of the program what should ideally be achieved and what should be the focus of the mentoring so that the time can be used optimally. A standardized questionnaire, which is filled out together when getting to know each other, can help here. It is also helpful to ask about your wishes and goals before the matching process and thus to achieve a better fit during the matching process.

In career entry mentoring, mentees are at a biographical crossroads: it is about career orientation and decisions and exploring possible career paths and application strategies. In order to make well-balanced, confident decisions on future careers, it is necessary to develop a sound knowledge base. This can be developed with the help of the mentor's experience and discussed together. An important prerequisite is also the sensitivity of the mentor towards the topics of equal opportunities and social integration. The participation of the mentors is based on personal commitment and on an honorary basis.

Matching

A matching process is used to find a mentor for each mentee who has the desired personal characteristics or experience, who is familiar with the mentee's career aspirations in the field, and who brings parallels in topics such as hobbies or family context. What makes matching quite challenging is that one usually only has the mentee/mentor's own details and, if necessary, individual personal information from e.g. teachers or colleagues. Over time, a certain level of competence develops, but it is still very helpful to have professional support on board.

General conditions for a successful mentoring relationship  
  • Voluntariness Mentee and mentor take part in the program voluntarily and see in it a personal benefit / value for themselves
  • Independence There is no relationship of dependency between mentee and mentor, i.e. no direct or   indirect employment or care relationship
  • Defined period The mentoring relationship exists for a defined period of time, but can also be continued informally beyond that time.
  • Personal contact Getting to know each other personally is of great importance for the success of the mentoring relationship. The meetings can be supplemented by e-mail correspondence, telephone calls or, if necessary, Skype contacts, etc.
  • Confidentiality The mentoring discussions take place in a protected environment and are to be treated as strictly confidential by the participants.
  • Commitment The binding and reliable handling of appointments and agreements is an essential Basic requirement for a successful mentoring relationship.
  • Expectations and agreement At the beginning of the mentoring partnership, the conditions of the cooperation (e.g. contact, feedback, confidentiality) between mentor and mentee should be clarified and the   expectations and role concepts are communicated. Personal goals for the mentoring period and possible topics and issues are to be discussed.
  • Process character Mentoring is understood as a process. For the process character a mutual openness on both sides should be   so that at the end of the mentoring process, plans or solutions are not necessarily finished   must stand. Even the sharpening of individual development perspectives or   Strategy development of the next steps are valuable results.


Contents of the mentoring

The range of topics in the mentoring relationship is diverse. Mentors contribute their varied experience and knowledge and thus provide valuable individual support. Possible topics are:  

  • Definition of goals and development of individual strategies Joint development of objectives (short, medium and long-term) and the necessary Steps and implementation or solution strategies
  • Development of personal competencies Reflection and development of personal competences, e.g. by means of a location analysis, potential analysis and strengths/weaknesses analysis, if necessary diversity dimension analysis
  • Transfer of informal knowledge bases Transfer of informal knowledge and rules of the game in the desired field of activity
  • Networking   Tips on the practical procedure for establishing and maintaining professionally or personally relevant networks
  • Choice of profession What can he or she wish for; development of realistic scenarios with alternative options. What can the path to this look like. Development of strategies.  
  • Career entry When starting their careers, mentees find themselves at a biographical crossroads: career orientations and decisions and the exploration of possible career paths and application strategies. In order to make well-balanced, confident decisions on future careers, it is necessary to develop a sound knowledge base. This can be developed with the help of the mentor's experience and discussed together. An important prerequisite is also the sensitivity of the mentor towards the topics of equal opportunities and social integration.  
  • Application What does a proper application look like. How to successfully pass an application interview. What do you need to know about an entrance test. Types of application. Tips on practical procedures, practising situations and sharing personal or network information.
  • Integration Support for the development of language skills. Access to "other" social groups and thus to other life worlds. Analysis of possible offers of help that can be taken advantage of. Assistance with authorities.
  • School leaving certificate Analysis of the possibilities - which degree > which profession. What support is needed to achieve the desired degree.


Group Mentoring

In general, mentoring-experiences beteween mentors and mentees can also take place in a group-setting. Especially in terms of virtual mentoring formats, these group-activities showed special effectiveness and scope.


Good Practices

Please access different good practices of mentoring-programs all over the globe in the Good Practice Examples chapter of this Wiki.


Chapter lead Susanne Novotny


Attachments

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