As each school year kicks off, the focus of Program Mangers' (PMs) weekly check-ins with their manager should be successfully launching the program. During program launch, this means ensuring that:
- Mentees are...
- Oriented to iMentor
- Enrolled in the program
- Completing pre-program surveys
- Matched with a mentor
- Mentors are...
- Completing their introductory phone calls
- Completing pre-program surveys
- Pairs are...
- Starting their year strong by developing and/or building strong engagement habits with one another
There are two Program Launch Weekly Check-In Templates, one for new cohorts and the other for returning cohorts. Both templates are designed to foster a baseline conversation between PMs and their manager to ensure the goals for mentees, mentors and pairs are met.
Sections of the Check-In Template
The Program Launch Weekly Check-In Template is split into sections that PMs fill out prior to submitting it to their manager as the agenda for the meeting . Each section is outlined below, including tips for PMs to complete the document (use the links to skip through the sections).
Beginning of Year Mentor Call Completion
Week in Review
This section includes two categories:
- Impact, Highlights & Key Accomplishments
- Share with your manager what has gone well since your last check-in with particular attention to any areas where you felt your work having a real impact on mentees. Celebrating successes is an important exercise to stay motivated and driven, especially amidst busy/stressful times. No win is too small to celebrate!
- Challenges
- Outline the challenges you faced in your work since your last check-in. Come to the meeting prepared to add any additional context and troubleshoot solutions with your manager.
Follow-Up from Last Check-In
An inevitable result of the weekly check-in will be follow-up items, either for the PM or manager. Use this space to list the topics that you and your manager agreed to follow-up on, including a broad update if appropriate.
Mentee Enrollment
The purpose of this section is to support PMs in looping their managers into their progress toward getting mentees through the program enrollment process. The data entered here will serve as a conversation guide for troubleshooting challenges and developing strategies to push toward getting all mentees ready to be matched.
All data necessary to complete this table can be accessed via the Mentee Enrollment feature of the iMentor platform. Using the hamburger menu, expand "Administration" and select "Mentee Enrollment." Then select the cohorts you manage and collect the data from the dashboard on the top of the interface.
NOTE: This section marks the primary difference between the template for new and returning cohorts. Because the majority of mentees will already be enrolled in the program in the case of returning cohorts, this section is used to discuss any new matches and/or students that need to be re-matched.
Survey Completion
Mentee and Mentor surveys are a huge component to measuring the efficacy of the iMentor program as well as a source of data to direct PM support efforts. As such, the weekly check-in document includes this section which focuses on survey completion rates. The data entered here will serve as a conversation guide for troubleshooting challenges and developing strategies to hit the targets of 90% and 80% for mentees and mentors, respectively.
All data necessary to complete this table can be accessed via the Survey Management feature of the iMentor platform. Using the hamburger menu, expand "Administration" and select "Surveys." Then select the cohorts you manage and collect the data from the dashboard on the top of the interface.
Beginning of Year Mentor Call Completion
The beginning of year call is a critical touch point to ensure mentors are set up for success in their relationship with their mentee. Due to the importance of this program element, this section is included in the weekly check-in document to support PMs' communication of their current progress toward completing the calls. The data entered here will serve as a conversation guide for troubleshooting challenges and developing strategies to complete beginning of year calls with all mentors.
All data necessary to complete this table can be accessed via the Beginning of Year Call Tracker - an Excel tool distributed to PMs annually during the program launch season.
Program Year Launch Event
The first event for new cohorts is very important as it provides an opportunity for pairs to establish regular in-person meeting habits. The weekly check-in template includes a section for PMs to communicate RSVP rates to their manager. The data entered here will serve as a conversation guide for troubleshooting challenges and developing strategies to get as many pairs as possible to attend the first event.
All data necessary to complete this table can be accessed via the Event Details feature of the iMentor platform. Using the hamburger menu, select "Calendar" and locate the event on the resulting page. Hover over the name of the event and select "Details." The dashboard on the top of the resulting page will supply RSVP information.
Pair Support Updates
Pair support is critical to helping pairs develop relationships that can be leveraged toward programmatic outputs and outcomes throughout the life cycle of the match. In this section, PMs indicate whether any safety concerns arose since the previous check-in (NOTE: Indiciating safety concerns here DOES NOT replace iMentor's protocol for safety escalation). Additionally, PMs use this space to share their current focus list (pairs that the PM intends to intentionally target in the short term.
To complete this section, PMs enter the pairs they are intentionally focusing on in the short term, along with the reason they landed on the focus list and what action the PM plans to take. If pairs remain on the focus lists for consecutive weeks, this space is used to provide an update. This list of pairs will serve as a conversation guide for troubleshooting challenges and developing strategies based on the idiosyncratic needs of each pair.
Curriculum
This section is designed for PMs to share their experience administering the iMentor curriculum in the classroom and at events (or the upcoming event it has not yet occurred). There are prompting questions built into the template as a starting point, but managers and PMs may edit/build upon these to best suit their needs.
Other Topics to Discuss
This last section is meant as a cath-all for anything that was not addressed via other sections. Examples of how to use this space include, but are not limited to:
- Feedback for manager
- School partnership updates
- Professional development discussions
- Work/Life balance
- General questions/comments/concerns
