Mentor Program¶
Status: Pre-formation operational draft. The Education & Certification Committee and Communications Committee will jointly own this program once seated. Until then, the Administrator runs it as outlined here.
The Mentor Program pairs veteran Certified Ganjiers with Community Education members for structured peer support during the first six months of CE membership — the period when most attrition happens and where one good conversation often makes the difference.
This document is the operational playbook. It does not define conduct standards, mandatory disclosures, or any legal-shaped requirements between mentor and mentee — those will be drafted by counsel and adopted by the board.
Charter¶
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Reduce first-six-months CE attrition; accelerate practitioner development; deepen the bench of contributing members |
| Owner | Education & Certification Committee (program design) + Communications Committee (community surface) |
| Day-to-day operator | Mentor Program Coordinator (volunteer role) + Administrator |
| Pairs per cycle | Up to 25 in Year 1; capped by available mentors |
| Cycle length | 6 months |
| Time commitment (mentor) | 1 hour/month minimum; ~6 hours total |
| Time commitment (mentee) | 1 hour/month minimum; ~6 hours total |
| Cost to participants | Free (included with CE and Certified membership) |
Eligibility¶
Mentors¶
- Certified Ganjier member in good standing
- At least 12 months as a Certified Ganjier OR demonstrable equivalent experience approved by the Education & Certification Committee
- Active in the community within the last 90 days
- Completed the volunteer onboarding flow and signed the standard volunteer agreement
Mentees¶
- Community Education member in good standing
- Within the first 12 months of CE membership (priority to first-6-months)
- Has completed the new-member orientation in the Welcome & Introductions group
Matching¶
Inputs¶
A short matching form (rendered through the standard guildcommerce-core-plugin form pipeline; lives in forms/ once instrumented) collects:
| Field | Mentor | Mentee |
|---|---|---|
| Practice area(s) | Up to 3 from the standard list | Up to 3 from the standard list |
| Region / time zone | Yes | Yes |
| Format preference | async-first / synchronous / mixed | async-first / synchronous / mixed |
| Goals (mentee) | — | 1–3 sentences, free text |
| Strengths offered (mentor) | 1–3 sentences, free text | — |
| Languages | Yes | Yes |
| Cap on concurrent mentees (mentor) | 1 or 2 | — |
Cadence¶
Matching runs every two weeks. The Mentor Program Coordinator pulls the most recent CE-member intake batch and the active mentor pool, then proposes pairs based on:
- Practice-area overlap (at least one)
- Compatible format preference
- Time-zone proximity (preferred ≤4 hour offset)
- Mentor capacity remaining
Both parties get a proposed pairing with the other's bio and 72 hours to accept or pass. Either party may pass without explanation; the Coordinator re-pairs in the next batch.
What we don't try to do at matching¶
- We don't match on personality. The 6-month window is short enough that practice-area + format fit + capacity beats any deeper signal.
- We don't promise re-matches inside a cycle. If a pairing dissolves, both parties roll back to the next batch with no penalty.
Operating cadence (per pairing)¶
| Month | Activity | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Kickoff call (30–45 min). Set goals; agree on cadence and channel. | Synchronous strongly preferred |
| 1 | First working session. Pick one concrete topic. | Mentor's choice |
| 2 | Mid-cycle check-in. Adjust goals if needed. | Either |
| 3 | Half-time review (15 min). Coordinator pings both parties for a single-question pulse: "On a scale of 1–5, are you getting value from this pairing?" Anything ≤2 from either side opens an unblock conversation. | Async pulse |
| 4 | Second working session. | Mentor's choice |
| 5 | Wrap-up planning. What does the mentee want to walk away with? | Either |
| 6 | Closing call (30 min). Mentor writes a 3-sentence reflection; mentee writes a 3-sentence reflection. Both go to the Coordinator. | Synchronous |
Channels are flexible. The Guild does not provide DMs by default in the BuddyBoss platform; pairs may use email, scheduled video, or the dedicated mentor-pair private group. The Coordinator opens a private group for each pair on request.
Recognition¶
| Audience | Recognition |
|---|---|
| Mentor | Mentor hours count as CE elective hours toward recertification (see recertification.md) at the rate set by the Education & Certification Committee. Mentor badge in the community profile. Annual mentor recognition at the AGM. |
| Mentee | Completion badge in the community profile. Eligibility to be considered as a mentor in a future cycle once the 12-month Certified Ganjier requirement is met. |
| Coordinator | Standard volunteer recognition (see recognition-and-offboarding.md). Coordinator hours are tracked the same as any volunteer role. |
The Guild does not pay mentors or mentees. The Guild does not charge for the program. Reimbursable expenses (e.g., a mentor traveling to an in-person Guild event partly to mentor in-person) follow the standard reimbursement policy.
What does NOT get assigned through this program¶
These are explicit out-of-scope items. They live elsewhere or not at all.
- Exam preparation (that's the candidate handbook + instructor pool — see candidate-handbook.md)
- Job placement
- Business referrals between mentor and mentee
- Personal therapy, counseling, or medical support
- Anything that would normally require a written agreement beyond the standard volunteer agreement — escalate to Coordinator → Education & Certification Committee
Program health metrics¶
The Coordinator reports these to the Education & Certification Committee quarterly:
- Pairs opened in the quarter
- Pairs closed in the quarter (completed full 6 months)
- Pairs dissolved early in the quarter, with single-word reason category (scheduling, fit, life-event, no-contact, other)
- Mid-cycle pulse rollup — distribution of 1–5 scores from both sides
- Mentor pool size (active and accepting new mentees)
- Mentee waitlist size (CE members in queue waiting for a match)
- Reflection themes — qualitative summary of the closing reflections, anonymized
A pulse score ≤2 from either side, or a no-contact dissolution, is an operational signal — the Coordinator follows up with the affected party within 7 days and rolls them into the next match batch with priority.
Year-1 capacity plan¶
| Phase | Mentor pool target | Active pairs target |
|---|---|---|
| Months 0–3 (post-formation) | Recruit 10 mentors from the founding Certified Ganjier cohort | 5–8 pairs |
| Months 4–6 | Open mentor recruitment to the full Certified Ganjier population | 12–15 pairs |
| Months 7–12 | Steady state | Up to 25 pairs |
Mentor recruitment is gated on mentor pool, not mentee demand. Better to keep mentees on a waitlist than burn out the early mentor cohort.