Women Mentor and Mentee

Completing Your Three-Month Mentoring Match

Each mentor-mentee match made through OneUpOneDown lasts 3-months. This is to promote rapid learning and development and to keep each relationship fresh, focused and engaging.

Once the three-months is over, mentors and mentees can be re-matched with someone new. This is a highly effective way of gaining a wide range of perspectives and getting exposed to new skills and knowledge regularly.

If you’ve had a wonderful three-month mentoring experience with your mentor or mentee, winding up may be hard, but it is a natural part of the process. You may like to continue the relationship as friends instead, rather than a more formalised mentor-mentee relationship. This seems to be the natural outcome of a good mentor-mentee match.

Source: Mentoring in Action, David Megginson, David Clutterbuck, Bob Garvey, Paul Stokes & Suth Garrett-Harris

What happens when the 3-month mentor matching period is over?

Both mentor and mentee will receive an email from OneUpOneDown to let you know that the three months is up. We’ll ask you for some feedback to help us improve our matching process.

You can decide if you’d like to be rematched with a new mentor or mentee. In doing so, you will have the opportunity to update any details relating to the areas that you have competencies in as a mentor, or would like to develop competencies in as a mentee.

If you decide that you don’t want to be matched immediately, this is fine. Just let us know and contact us when you are ready to participate in the programme again.

It can feel a little strange when the match is complete, especially if it was a highly valuable experience. As a mentor, we recommend letting your mentee know how you would like to remain connected after the match is complete. You may like to check in on a casual, less frequent basis. Following each other on social media platforms is a good way to remain connected and follow each other’s journeys.

Asking for and giving feedback

We encourage both mentor and mentee to ask for feedback that will be helpful in your next mentor-mentee relationship. Don’t be afraid to ask for and to share constructive feedback, after all the purpose of this exercise is learning and development.

Mentees, we encourage you to let your mentors know the specific value that you got out of the relationship. As a mentor, it means a lot to hear how you have helped someone. You may like to keep them in the loop on your progress after the relationship is over, so they know the lasting impacts of the support they provided.

If you have had a wonderful experience as a mentee, we encourage you to pay it forward as a mentor when you feel comfortable stepping into this position. We have lots of resources to help you become an effective mentor and we are here to support you through the journey.

If you have any questions or concerns about what happens at the end of the match, and how to manage it, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].


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