Let’s try a little exercise: If you want to run a workplace mentoring program with Mentorloop Pro in 6-month cohorts of around 100 participants using blended matching, with the first cohort being used as a pilot, and only have about 30 minutes a week to dedicate to management, will it be doable?
Let’s get to it.
The Planning Stage
So you’ve done your research and you want to plan the program and present your proposal. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Download our mentoring program proposal template
- Fill out the sections on the template:
- program goals and objectives
- roles and responsibilities
- selection criteria and matching
- program details (cohorts, 6 months, 100 sports, pilot, etc),
- what kind of support & resources you need
- how it will be evaluated
*If you're still unsure about all of this, take 5 minutes to complete our Program Explorer
- Present to leadership and get approval
- Once approved, set up your Mentorloop account and go through the Program Builder where you'll choose a program theme, matching style, and set up your sign-up form.
- Play around with the Demo data to make sure you’re familiar with Mentorloop’s features. (Don’t worry, we’ll guide you along the way!)
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Before Launch
Week 1
- Write the copy for your emails, Slack messages, posters, etc.
- If you want to, you can create your own visual assets using tools like Canva, or ask your marketing department to do this for you. This is a nice-to-have though, not a must-have.
For some samples and templates for this and other kinds of comms, check out our Program Management Playbook.
Week 2
- Send out your announcement emails and Slack messages together with a digital version of your visual assets if you chose to have those.
- Post posters in common areas like bulletin boards and the break room.
- Announce the program on your website or intranet.
- Have a quick meeting with team leaders to encourage them and their teams to sign up.
For more on marketing your program using assets that are accessible to you, check out this video:
Week 3
- Send follow-up emails with more details on the program and invite questions from potential participants. Make sure you make some time to answer their queries.
Week 4
- Send your final reminders about the launch of the program on all the same channels you’ve used previously.
- On Mentorloop Pro, customise your settings. This includes the dashboard introduction message for your participants, your 1:1 Loop with your participants, Recommended Reading, and your integrations.
- Submit your payment for Mentorloop Pro and launch your program! 🎉
For more on marketing and recruitment, check out our comprehensive guide:
Advice from our Customer Success Team
Take advantage of Demo Mode:
"As you are working through the pre-launch prep phase, we recommend taking advantage of the demo mode on Mentorloop so that you are comfortable enough to manage the data, practice creating loops or bulk actions within the software and work on making your admin life easier!"
Pilot Launch
Week 5
- This is the time to send out your launch comms with your sign-up link! 📣 Make sure you shout it from the rooftops and use all the assets available to you. (e.g. email, Slack or Teams, your intranet, etc.)
- Make time to answer any questions and offer support.
Early Program Management
Week 6
- Check on the new sign-ups.
Who is stuck on the sign-up process? You can send them a message to see what they're having trouble with.
Who hasn't yet sent any match requests? Reach out and offer support or manually match them with someone you think will be a great match.
Who has too many active requests? You can manage this by reaching out to the participants to offer support, making certain participants "Unavailable" for further matching, or toggling the number of match requests allowed.
Don't hesitate to reach out:
"You can also check if they're coping well with the number of requests and make sure they know they have the option to make themselves 'unavailable' for match requests should they find themselves overwhelmed by the requests."
- Browse through your cohort’s profiles and see if any of them stand out as great matches. You can then match these people. We recommend that you also send them messages introducing them to each other and telling them why you thought they'd make a great match.
Week 7
- Send final marketing & recruitment comms to let everyone know that matching is happening and they can still get in. Sometimes, the sense of urgency and fear of missing out may just be the push some potential participants need.
- Ask for feedback! You might think it’s early, but knowing how your cohort found the sign-up process and what their experience was like as they went through matching will set you up nicely for making sure everyone has a good time.
- Hype up your Recommended Readings! You can do this by editing the message your participants see on their dashboard or sending a bulk message.
- Continue monitoring sign-ups and providing matching support.
Week 8
- At this point, you can end your marketing and recruitment campaign. You may choose to close the form or keep it open.
Better late than never:
"If you choose to have an always on recruitment process, be sure to check in regularly (once a week is recommended) to see if new participants are in need of matches. Otherwise, Mentorloop does provide guidance and support for all participants wherever they are in their mentoring journey via the Milestones."
- Continue monitoring sign-ups and providing matching support. Mentorloop assists you with this as you will receive an email signup digest of those that have signed up in the last 24 hours.
Week 9-10
- Continue providing matching support.
- Check for early issues that need troubleshooting.
Week 11
- Find out which participants haven’t met with their mentoring partners yet and send them a bulk message to encourage them to meet.
- Troubleshooting
For some tips and templates for program comms, check out our Program Management Playbook.
Ongoing Program Management
Week 12
- Momentum management
- Troubleshooting
- Real time feedback collection via the Sentiments tab and program measurement
For more on managing your program’s engagement, check out this video:
Keep your Mentors and Mentees on their toes:
"The great thing about our Recommended Reading list is that Program Coordinators are able to update this list as often as they like! Not only does this keep them engaged throughout any stage in their mentoring journey, but they are constantly learning and developing. Don't forget to inform your participants of these new updates!"
Program Close
2 Weeks to Close Date
- Send some comms to inform your cohort of the close date
What to communicate to the cohort:
"Be sure to include a thank you message, next step reminders for wrapping up, exchanging contact information if participants want to continue the mentoring relationship. If you like, you can also encourage some feedback on what participants enjoyed or what could be improved within the pilot program"
For some tips and templates for program comms, check out our Program Management Playbook.
1 Week to Close Date
- Send some reminder comms for the close date
- Export your reports, including the Loop data
Some pilot programs may require some sort of reporting before a proper launch or expansion gets approved or takes place. The Mentorloop Dashboard allows you to focus on actionable data charts that matter, to make it easy for you should there be a need to submit reports.
Close Date
- Send your final comms for the end of the pilot.
- Once you have communicated the closure of your pilot program, be sure to close off all the Loops, which you can do individually or in bulk!
- If you find that some participants want to continue their loops, you can easily re-open that connection by filtering for Loop Status: Closed by PC
Program Relaunch Prep
When the time comes to launch your new program, you can rinse and repeat the tasks from the “Before Launch” stage of this checklist.
For more on program relaunches, click here.
For more on making sure your pilot mentoring program is ready to scale, check out this video: