SETTING MENTORSHIP SMART GOALS

The pros of mentorship extend beyond just the mentee, benefiting the mentor and organization as a whole as well. In order to reap the full rewards, however, mentees must have a clear idea of what they want out of the mentorship. Mentor-mentee teams without a clear focus for their conversations will struggle to learn and grow. I created this project to help participants with sound goal-setting. The SMART Goal framework provides a clear path to setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound – in other words, goals that include action-steps, can be tracked, and are far more likely to be met. 

After analyzing the content and needs of the learners, I came to the conclusion that an ILT was the best course of action. This training will occur at the beginning of a mentoring pair's relationship, providing an opportunity to learn and work together in a guided environment to build a strong foundation for the rest of the program. It serves as a team-building exercise and builds excitement and momentum for the mentoring program as a whole. 

The session includes an ice-breaker activity to facilitate a relaxed and comfortable learning environment, thought-provoking prompts and opportunities for discussion to promote personalization, elaboration, and connections, a variety of instructional activities to maintain high levels of engagement, concrete examples, and, of course, the opportunity to apply the learning in a meaningful way while receiving scaffolding and feedback from the facilitator and fellow learners. 

I also created an accompanying Facilitator's Guide that provides the session facilitator with background information, tips, considerations, activity explanations, and a suggested slide-by-slide script that they are encouraged to make their own. The Facilitator Guide also includes a course evaluation. The Participant Guide provides background information, space for notes, and prompts and suggestions for the goal-setting activity. 

RESULTS & TAKEAWAYS

The benefits of mentorship are far-reaching and are not limited to just the mentees, but extend to the mentors and the organization as a whole. Metrics to track could be promotion rates, job satisfaction, or retention rates. For example: "As mentor-mentee teams actively participate in the mentorship program, retention rates for new hires after 2 years at Company X will increase from Y% to Z%." This Instructor-Led Training would improve the success of the mentoring program overall by setting participants up for success from the start. 

As one of my first forays into corporate instructional design, I was able to draw upon my experience creating engaging and effective educational experiences in a classroom setting and adapt that experience for an adult audience.