COMPASS

Creating Opportunities for Mentoring and Partnerships to Achieve Strategic Success

The RMSHRM Mentor Program (COMPASS) is an exciting new program where mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to establish a mutually beneficial relationship. Mentors can share their strengths, abilities and networks while the mentees can seek advice from seasoned professionals and benefit from their experience. Both participants have equal responsibility to establish this relationship.

Mentors provide:

  • Expertise on challenges that may be new to your mentee; help guide to the correct path while avoiding costly mistakes
  • Act as a sounding board on day-to-day issues found on the job
  • Provide career advice including tips on interviewing for a first job or next job, critiquing a resume or offering to make introductions
  • Share a network of resources
  • Challenge the mentee to move out of their comfort zone
  • Offer encouragement and teach by example
  • Real world perspective on how bosses may be looking at things in order to help mentees better communicate

 

Mentor responsibilities:

  • Help build self-awareness
  • Offer challenging ideas
  • Help build self-confidence
  • Encourage professional behavior
  • Candidly confront negative behaviors and attitudes
  • Listen to problems/issues and be supportive
  • Establish trust
  • Encourage mentees to take risks

 

Mentor benefits:

  • Broaden your skills and knowledge through teaching
  • Gain satisfaction by sharing your experiences with others
  • Energize your own career
  • Increase personal and professional networks
  • Watch others develop from your experience(s)
  • Gain an ally in promoting your organization’s well-being
  • Receive a new perspective to your current job/role
  • Gain an understanding of how to communicate with and motivate the next generation

 

Mentee responsibilities:

  • Be dedicated to the mentoring relationship by investing your time and energy
  • Assess your own developmental needs and be willing to have an open discussion
  • Take the initiative in your own career development and skill progression plan
  • Actively participate in the mentoring relationship – don’t just look for advice
  • Take full advantage of the training or assistance offered
  • Be willing to accept and follow through on the mentor’s advice
  • Employ the rules of confidentiality
  • Develop and utilize the skills of professionalism
  • Have realistic expectations regarding a mentor’s time and influence
  • Be honest and share specific work frustrations, needs and goals

 

Mentees should be:

  • Receptive to advice and new experiences
  • Interested in education and advancement
  • Active in their own career advancement
  • Willing to receive critical feedback in areas such as communication, interpersonal relationships, leadership skills, etc.
  • Interested in gaining new networks

 

Time commitment:

We ask that both mentees and mentors commit for one year and expect to spend about 1-2 hours a month interacting. The mode of communication is determined by the pair depending on availability and schedules of both parties. We do encourage a face to face meeting at the beginning of the relationship at a very minimum.

 

You may continue the relationship much longer than this one year program, and we encourage you to do so! We also encourage mentees who are interested in participating in the program for more than one year to consider choosing a second mentor so they can have multiple perspectives and an even larger network.