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General Questions
Menttium 100 Questions
Q. What are the criteria for being a mentor in the Menttium 100® Program?
A. Mentors are male or female executives with 18 years of business experience. Mentors have proven leadership track records, strong listening skills, a willingness to share their experiences and the commitment to provide time and guidance to a talented business woman for a 12 month period of time.
Q. How much time does mentoring in the Menttium 100 Program require of the mentor?
A. Our Menttium100 Programs are 12-month formal mentoring partnerships. Mentors must be willing to commit 1.5-3 hours a month to meet with their mentee. The mentee is responsible for scheduling and preparing agendas for each partnership meeting. We also ask that Mentors attend the Program Launch event.
Q. Who are the mentees and how are they selected for the program?
A. Mentees are typically mid-level, high-performing business women with at least 6 years of business experience. Mentees are committed to their career and professional development and have demonstrated leadership in their organizations. Most mentees are nominated into the program by their sponsoring organization.
Q. What do mentees need from their mentors? / What kinds of topics do mentees focus on with their mentees?
A. Mentees need their mentors to ask thoughtful questions, listen well, serve as sounding boards and most importantly, provide objective feedback. They do not need their mentors to manage them, assess their job performance or solve their business problems. Topics for discussion typically center on personal and professional goals such as: career planning, strategic thinking, strategies for developing work/life balance, navigating the politics of large corporations, influencing skills, and people management.
Q. How do you find Mentors for this program?
A. Mentors come to us in a variety of ways. Some are referred by participants in our programs who want to extend the invitation to mentor to their colleagues. Our participating companies encourage their senior leaders to mentor because they recognize that outside perspective and the two way learning that comes from mentoring is as valuable to their senior leaders as it is to their emerging talent. Some business leaders seek us out because they had mentors in their own careers and feel it’s now their turn to give back.
Q. Do Mentors receive any training?
A. Menttium offers Mentor Effectiveness orientation sessions prior to each program launch. These sessions provide mentors with: Menttium’s mentoring philosophy, core mentoring strategies and best practices for mentoring in a cross-company program. Menttium also hosts a Program Launch event providing an array of mentoring tools, interactive exercises and strategies to ensure that every partnership has what it needs to get off to a successful start. Menttium provides additional resources throughout the program year which provide continued support to both mentee and mentor.
Q. Can the geographically separate mentoring partnerships in your Menttium 100 Virtual program work as well as a face to face partnership?
A. Formal feedback from mentees and mentors in the Menttium 100 – Virtual Program show no variance in program value due to their separate locations and virtual meeting formats. What is more critical than face time is commitment, regular meetings and trust between the mentee and mentor.
Q. What happens when the Menttium 100 Program ends?
A. Menttium provides tools and strategies to help bring formal partnerships to a close. Some mentees and mentors continue to meet informally beyond the 12-month program and some do not. Following the close of the formal 12 month program, Menttium offers mentees and mentors the opportunity to continue participation through the Menttium Alumni Network. The Menttium Alumni Network allows participants in the Menttium 100 Programs to stay connected and grow their network with the rich community of business leaders that participate in Menttium’s programs around the world.
Q. What companies participate in Menttium’s programs.
A. Our participating companies represent a diverse group of Fortune ranked and progressive organizations.
Q. What do mentors get out of a Menttium mentoring experience?
A. Our mentors tell us they receive many benefits through their participation as mentors including: the ability to enhance their own leadership and coaching skills, broadened perspective, first hand exposure to the challenges faced by the next generation of female leaders, the opportunity to network with peers in the business community and the satisfaction of “giving back” and being part of another person’s professional growth.
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