Pay it Forward

1. Mentoring Program
Crafted by Vinod Mehra
Vinod.mehra@gmail.com
www.vinodkmehra.com
August 26, 2012
SS 30

2. ORIGIN
 In Greek mythology, Mentor
was a friend and trusted
counselor of Odysseus.
 When Odysseus left for the
Trojan War he placed Mentor
in charge of his son
Telemachus and of his palace.
 The goddess Athena disguised
herself as Mentor for the
purpose of giving counsel to
Telemachus. She encouraged
Telemachus to find out what
happened to his father.

3. WE REFER TO A MENTOR AS A WISE (WO)MAN
“An experienced and trusted adviser”
 (Oxford English Dictionary )
“A trusted counselor or guide, tutor, coach”
 (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary )

4. AGENDA
 What is SmartLife Mentoring Program ( SS 30)
 Who are the party ( Mentor & Mentee)
 10 Reasons to become a Mentor
 10 Reasons to become a Mentee
 Mentor Commitment
 Mentee Commitment
 Guidelines to an effective Mentoring conversation
 CHECKLIST Preparing for the first meeting
 The Mentoring Agreement
 Rules of engagement
 Deliverables
 Result
 Do’s and Don’ts
 Habits of an Ineffective Mentor
 Mentor/Mentee Agreement

5. WHAT IS SMARTLIFE MENTORING PROGRAM
 SS30 objective:
 Provide English speaking training
 Provide training on computer and other skills
 Ensure that every year up to 30 students life
is changed ( Financially and Role &
Responsibility)
 Blue Collar mentoring program
 Powerful program to bring up mentee to
meet the SS30 objectives

6. WHO ARE THE PARTY ( MENTOR & MENTEE)
 Mentee is the Blue collar Worker
 Mentor is the volunteer nominated by
Smartlife
 Who could be the Mentor ?
 White collar worker above the age of 25 years;
any nationality and with valid RP of UAE.
 Preferably mobile
 Spend 1 hour a week with mentee.
 Take up mentees calls when required
 Attended mentoring training program

7. 10 REASONS TO BECOME A MENTOR
1. You'll learn. By serving as a mentor, you'll learn from your
mentees
2. You’ll build your leadership and management skills
3. You’ll receive recognition
4. You'll review and validate what you know and what you've
accomplished
5. You'll probably feel satisfied, proud, and energized
6. You’ll get a new and fresh outlook on your own challenges
and way forward
7. Mentoring could have future personal payoffs
8. The opportunity to meet new people and expand your circle
of networking
9. You'll leave the world better than you found it. Leave your
legacy
10. Your chance to pay back

8. 10 REASONS TO BECOME A MENTEE
1. You’ll gain self knowledge, facilitating self management
2. You’ll receive honest and informal feedback
3. You’ll enhance your professional development
4. You’ll build your network of professional contacts
5. You’ll benefit from a different perspective on your current
situation
6. You’ll be exposed to new ideas, theories, practices, and/or
people
7. You’ll acquire another perspective on career management and
success factors
8. You’ll gain insights by exchanging your views, testing your
ideas
9. You’ll get support and acknowledgment from your Mentor
10. You’ll work smarter, not harder

9. MENTOR COMMITMENT
 Develop personal connection based on trust and
mutual respect and listen to my Mentee's needs
and concerns
 Help Mentee to define career goals and provide
networking opportunities to achieve those goals
 Share knowledge of educational and professional
requirements to prepare Mentee for his/her career
 Offer information, advice, references, and
resources to assist Mentee's needs
 Offer constructive feedback, and allow Mentee to
learn from his/her mistakes
 Extend help and support in a non-threatening way,
in a manner that the recipient will appreciate and
value and that will empower them to move forward
with confidence towards what they want to achieve

10. MENTEE COMMITMENT
 Responsible for my career goals and would enjoy
the benefit of a mentor's guidance to create a plan
for success
 Ready to listen and to share my ideas to develop a
give and take relationship
 Ready to receive objective feedback to consider
new ideas and new approaches suggested by my
Mentor
 Ready to give objective feedback to my Mentor in
order to work towards our objectives
 Realistic expectations for my Mentor relationship.
No one is perfect and good relationships take
honesty, effort and time
 I'm busy with work, but I'm ready to make a
commitment by meeting up / communicating with my
Mentor

11. GUIDELINES TO AN EFFECTIVE MENTORING
CONVERSATION
 It must be completely confidential
 Active Listening: ask open-ended questions rather than questions
that can be answered with a "yes" or "no“, paraphrasing, don’t
interrupt
 Understand that a Mentee’s/Mentor’s view of the world may be
different from your own
 Avoid lecturing or passing judgment
 Sensitivity: be sensitive to cultural and gender differences
 Time: good mentoring takes time in active discourse and
preparation
 Don’t avoid positive confrontation, setting challenges together
 Mentors guide Mentees through a problem-solving process rather
than state a solution to a problem for them
 Summarize the conversation, agree on the outcome, take notes on
insights and next steps

12. CHECKLIST PREPARING FOR THE FIRST
MEETING BY MENTEE ( MENTOR GUIDELINES)
 Where might I meet with my mentor where we both would feel comfortable?
List a few ideas below.
 What are some things I could tell my mentor about myself that would help us get
to know each other a little bit? What about me and my life story might be
interesting and relevant to this mentor?
 What are some questions I could ask my mentor to get to know him/her a little
bit without prying? (Write some possible open-ended questions below)
 What do I want out of the mentoring relationship – what are my hopes?
 How can I find out what my mentor hopes to get out of the relationship – what
questions might I ask?
 Prepare a preliminary Personal Development Plan to go over during the meeting.
Be careful to listen to how your mentor responds to your preparation. Ask
him/her about the strengths or weaknesses of the plan. What does he/she think
you need to work on? Can the mentor see opportunities for growth within your
career?

13. THE MENTORING AGREEMENT
 Create a set of specific short term and long term objectives
for the relationship
 List the preliminary developmental goals for the Mentee
 Note the expectations that both of you have for the
relationship
 List the necessary contributions that both must make so the
relationship will work
 Create a tentative schedule for your formal meetings
 Set up a procedure for handling informal contacts between
formal sessions
 Determine who has the chief responsibility for driving the
relationship
 Agree on confidentiality

14. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
 Mentor:
 Initiate call or a visit every week
 Meet at least once in fortnight
 Know the background of Mentee : Family and professional
 Discuss the challenges, extend advise and document the
consent
 Agree on course of action for the week and the month
 Set goals – Family and Professional and measure progress.
 Monitor progress
 Document progress and file with SL30
 Mentee:
 Initiate call or a visit every week
 Meet at least once in fortnight
 Know the Mentor - Professional
 Share the challenges, seek advise and agree plan of action
 Agree on goals – Professional and Personal
 Measure progress and take corrective action.

15. DELIVERABLE
 Weekly:
 Phone call or visit
 Monthly:
 4 call wherein 2 meeting are mandatory
 Quarterly:
 12 calls wherein 2 monthly meetings are
mandatory
 Achieve Short Term results
 Visible Long Term Results

16. RESULT
 Short Term:
 Resolution of Challenges
 Better Communication or other skills
 Positive Attitude
 More confident
 Others
 Long Term:
 Financial raise : Double the salary
 Promotion : Recognition and/or promotion
 Better Job – Role and financial

17. DO’S AND DON’TS
 No exchange of gifts – financial/non-
financials
 No monetary assistance
 No commitment; the program is an
advisory program wherein commitment
should come from the mentee. Mentor
commitment is advise and stay along the
journey

18. HABITS OF AN INEFFECTIVE MENTOR
1. Think that you know better than the mentee what’s in his or her best
interest.
2. Remind them frequently how much they have still to learn.
3. Decide what you and the mentee will talk about and when; change dates and
themes frequently to prevent complacency sneaking in.
4. Do most of the talking; check frequently that they are paying attention.
5. Make sure that they understand how trivial their concerns are compared to the
weighty issues you have to issue with.
6. Remind the mentee how fortunate he/she is to have your undivided attention.
7. Neither show, nor admit any personal weaknesses. Expect to be their role
model in all aspects of career development and personal values.
8. Never ask them what they should expect of you – how would they know
anyway?
9. Demonstrate how important and well connected you are by sharing confidential
information they don’t need (or want) to know.
10. Discourage any signs of levity or humour – this is a serious business.
11. Take them to task when they don’t follow your advice.
12. Never, ever admit that this could be a learning experience for both of you.

19. MENTOR/MENTEE AGREEMENT
 Achieve your agreed milestone
 Celebrate your success

20. Q&A