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Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

PREPARING FOR THE PROGRAM

As a mentee embarking on this program you’ll be able to leverage your mentor’s experience and guidance to help develop your skills, identify areas for improvement and reach your professional goals. You’ll learn how to self reflect, hold yourself accountable, overcome challenges and build out a fully personalized development plan.

OUR EXPECTATIONS

COMMITMENT. You will follow this program guide and keep to the commitments outlined in the Mentorship Agreement.

ATTITUDE. You will hold open-mindedness, enthusiasm for this program and respect for your mentor in the highest regard at all times.

ACCOUNTABILITY. You will come prepared for each session and hold yourself and your mentor accountable for following up on any tasks.

COMMUNICATION. One-to-one one sessions should be a space which encourages honest conversations and candid feedback.

REFLECTION. You should feel comfortable considering your professional experiences and identifying what could have been done differently.

FEEDBACK. You will have the opportunity to give feedback each month and at the end of the program.

TIPS FOR EACH SESSION

Be prepared. Arrive on time and ensure you have completed any preparation activities outlined in the guidance or agreed with your mentor.

Be fully engaged. Listen to your mentor, take note of important information and seek clarity whenever anything is unclear.

RESOURCES

Join the AHAH Mentorship group on the Alumni Network to share best practices.

Access the AHAH Mentorship Resources on the Alumni Network.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living—if you do it well I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.” Denzel Washington, actor.

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PREPARING FOR SESSION ONE

PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

Ahead of your introductory session, we recommend determining some concrete goals you hope to achieve from engaging in the program. Please complete these five activities:

Note down some answers to the questions in the table below. These will help you assess your personal and professional circumstances.

Use your responses to these questions to identify your five most meaningful career goals. You can use this table template or create your own.

Be prepared to share your expectations of this program with your mentor. Consider how you would ideally prefer to communicate, seek and receive feedback and collaborate on goal setting and following up on action items.

As the mentee, the onus is on you to make the initial contact with your mentor. Schedule a suitable time to connect for your introductory session. You can decide between you how you will connect (Video calling on the Alumni Network, by Zoom, Google Meets, Skype or WhatsApp for example).

Look ahead to ‘Session One: Meet Your Mentor’ and consider your answers to the example introductory questions.

If you haven’t already done so, please complete the pre-program survey before connecting with your mentor for session one.

WHERE ARE YOU NOW?	WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE?
Consider your employment Are you in an entry level role? Are you in a field you enjoy? Do you receive a living wage? Consider your happiness level How is your work / life balance?	Think about your ideal job / living situation / happiness level or where you would like to end up in the future. How do you picture yourself in one year, two years, five years? What will you be doing professionally? What would you like to influence or be remembered for in the next one to five years? How is it different from today?

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“A lot of people put pressure on themselves and think it will be way too hard for them to live out their dreams. Mentors are there to say, ‘Look, it’s not that tough. It’s not as hard as you think. Here are some guidelines and things I have gone through to get to where I am in my career.’” Joe Jonas, musician and actor.

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PREPARING FOR THE PROGRAM

The main goal of this session is for you and your mentor to get to know each other, understand each others’ backgrounds and what you’re both looking to achieve by engaging with the mentorship program. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: Preparation for session two will take some time and consideration so schedule time to review the activities we have outlined and plot when you will carry these out.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to gather some individual feedback about your experience with the first session.

SESSION ONE: MEET YOUR MENTOR

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Introductions and expectations	Both the mentor and mentee to discuss your backgrounds, motivations, strengths and interests. Both the mentor and mentee should be frank about what you expect, what you can offer and what support you need. Both of you should take turns to share what you prepared ahead of this session regarding your expectations of your mentoring partner and the program as a whole. These example introductory questions may help structure the discussion.	30 mins minimum
Reflect on learning and formulate overall goals	Mentee to share what you learned during your personal assessment and present the five key career goals you identified. Mentor to support you in identifying which goals are immediate and which are more long term and highlight those they feel most confident supporting you in achieving. Both the mentor and mentee should agree upon what overall success of taking part in this program might look like.	20 mins minimum
Session one review and prepare for session two	Mentee to summarise what’s been discussed and reflect on how you’re feeling about what’s been agreed. Both mentor and mentee should look ahead to ‘Preparing for Session Two’ and discuss the preparation activities. Both should compare diaries to schedule the date to connect.for session two.	5-10 minutes

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

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PREPARING FOR SESSION TWO DEVELOPMENT PLAN

PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

Session two centres around building yourself an Individual Development Plan (IDP) which works for you. An IDP is the axe Abraham Lincoln speaks of in the above quote. Learning how to use it will improve how efficiently you can fell the trees obstructing your career path.

The IDP is a tool utilized in many industries by all levels of employee to enhance their professional and personal development. Its primary purpose is to improve current job performance and identify short and long-term career goals and the steps required to achieve these.

The first two activities below will help you familiarise yourself with the IDP process and the various formats these can take. The last two activities encourage you to combine the goals you set before the program and during session one to consider what type of IDP would work best for you. By the end of session two you should have a good understanding of how much you need to sharpen your axe.

Review the areas we think are most important when devising an effective IDP in this guidance.

Carry out your own research on devising an effective IDP.

Consider the pros and cons of different IDP formats and what characteristics would be most pivotal for you when you come to create your own.

Keeping your current employment situation and future aspirations in mind, prepare an overview of the above considerations to share with your mentor. This should include how you will format your IDP, the most important components for you, how you will keep on top of any action step deadlines and how you will track your progress.

There is no need to draft an IDP at this stage, however you might feel adding your considerations to a table as in the sample templates we provided may be useful. During session two your mentor will review what you’ve pulled together and provide feedback which you can utilize to fully flesh out your IDP.

Share your IDP overview with your mentor at least one week before session two.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President.

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SESSION TWO: CREATING AN IDP

The main goal of this session is to help your mentor gain a sense of what you aim to achieve through devising an IDP. This is your opportunity to discuss any challenges you are experiencing with this process or aspects you don’t fully understand. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: Use the learning gained from this session to fully flesh out your IDP and share with your mentor by the agreed deadline.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to gather some individual feedback about your experience with the second session.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Preparation activity reflection	Mentee to share how you found researching IDPs and walk your mentor through your plan for devising their IDP.	15 mins maximum
IDP alignment	Mentor to clarify anything not immediately clear to ensure alignment on what is going to be communicated in your completed IDP.	10 mins maximum
Mentor feedback	Mentor to provide feedback on your IDP. Mentor to highlight areas requiring more consideration and share additional suggestions based on your goals.	15 mins maximum
Reflection and next steps	Mentee to candidly share how you’re feeling about the IDP. Is there anything you’re unsure of? Do you need further resources or support from your mentor? Do you feel empowered to leave this session with the capability to devise an effective, relevant and meaningful IDP? Mentor to provide advice they can offer at the time and make a note to follow up with resources if needed. Mentee to confirm deadline for sharing your completed IDP with your mentor. Mentor to confirm deadline for providing feedback after reviewing.	10 mins maximum
Session two review and prepare for session three	Mentee to summarise what’s been discussed and agreed. Both mentor and mentee should look ahead to ‘Preparing for Session Three’ and discuss the preparation activities. Both should compare diaries to schedule the date to connect.for session three	5-10 minutes

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PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

Just like personal development, professional growth should be something you’re consistently striving to advance. Supporting people to enhance their career prospects is now a lucrative industry in itself and even the briefest of online searches for “professional development” produces millions of suggestions. It can be difficult to pinpoint what resources and tools might be best for you amongst the deluge of information available.

Ahead of session three, we have recommended your mentor curate you a “self study” package of resources including books, articles, podcasts, webinars and tools they think could help you achieve the goals you have outlined in your IDP.

Here’s three activities you can do to prepare you for reflecting on this resource list during session three:

We have recommended your mentor share the self study package of no more than 10 items with you at least one week before session three.. Take accountability for circling back to your mentor if you have not heard from them as the agreed deadline approaches.

Review the package your mentor has curated. Prepare some reflections on the resources included.
Were these useful and why? If any weren’t, why not?
Perhaps this process helped you identify an area of your career development you could benefit from more targeted resources that wasn’t covered? If so, consider how you might go about sourcing these and be prepared to share this with your mentor.

If you have questions or need to seek further clarification, note these down. If any resources pique your interest which don’t require a lot of time or a purchase to access you should feel empowered to explore these and reflect on any learnings.

While awaiting the self study package, we recommend you work on completing your IDP. If you agreed on a deadline to share this with your mentor for feedback, please ensure you are on time for this deadline or communicate any delay in advance.

PREPARING FOR SESSION THREE

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“Our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation, skills and productivity…”

Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister.

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PREPARING FOR THE PROGRAM

The main goal of this session is for you to reflect candidly on the resource package your mentor curated and gain a better understanding of how to source resources for yourself This is an exercise in reflection and evaluation. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: Using the knowledge gained from this session, schedule time every week or every other week to source current resources relevant to your goals. Be sure to access the range of resources available on the Alumni Network.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to gather some individual feedback about your experience with the third session.

SESSION THREE: CAREER ADVANCEMENT TOOLS

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Preparation activity reflection	Mentee to share how you found reviewing the package your mentor curated for you. Did you engage with any of the suggested items and if so, what did you learn? Were any less useful and if so, why? Mentee to seek any clarification or ask any questions you have regarding the study package.	15 mins maximum
Mentor insight	Mentor to clarify on any of the points you’ve made so far in the session and provide some insight into why they selected the resources they chose to share.	5 mins maximum
Additional resources and strategies	Mentee to highlight any areas of your career development you could benefit from more targeted resources that wasn’t covered in the package. Mentor to support you in identifying these additional areas and encourage you to consider where you could source these. Mentor to provide their own insight and ideas and share any resources relevant to the additional areas identified during the session.	30 mins maximum
Session three review and prepare for session four	Mentee to summarise what’s been discussed and reflect on what has been most valuable. Both mentor and mentee should look ahead to ‘Preparing for Session Four’ and discuss the preparation activities. Both should compare diaries to schedule the date to connect.for session three.	5-10 minutes

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PREPARING FOR SESSION FOUR

PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

Every member of the workforce has at one time felt they mishandled a situation or avoided certain discussions or tasks because they lack experience or confidence in handling them. Session four aims to help you identify your own professional challenges and build your confidence in tackling these effectively.

Session four will also encourage you to develop role play scenarios which reflect these challenges. Most people don’t feel fully comfortable engaging in role play activities so it’s natural if you feel apprehensive about this. We advise you to remind yourself of all the times you’ve rehearsed what you wanted to say ahead of an interview or important meeting or presentation and how practicing eased your anxiety. Role playing with your mentor will provide a safe space to explore how other people are likely to respond to different approaches you could use to tackle a challenge. This will give you a feel for which approaches might be successful and which might be counterproductive as well as what other people are likely to be thinking and feeling in the situation.

Complete the activities below to help prepare you for session four:

Create a brief summary of some challenges you’re either currently experiencing or an issue you experienced in the past which you feel you could have handled better.
Bearing these challenges in mind, build out some example scenarios which you and your mentor will use to engage in role play exercises during session four.

Example scenario:

Challenge experienced: Despite working as hard as everybody else in your department you’ve recently been feeling you’ve not been given the same opportunities others with different managers have had. There always seems to be excuses from your manager for not being able to offer these to you.
Roleplay activities: Act as yourself in this situation and communicate your feelings with your manager (played by your mentee). Detail the support you would appreciate from them and the opportunities you would like to take advantage of. Act as your manager and consider the way your manager may respond. Present potential roadblocks or excuses so that your mentor (playing you) can model ways you can respond to these.

Share your summary of challenges and at least one scenario you would like to roleplay with your mentor at least two weeks before session four.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” Michael Jordan, former professional basketball player and entrepreneur.

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SESSION FOUR: TACKLING CHALLENGES AT WORK

The main goal of this session is to help boost your confidence in role play activities and identify the most effective ways you could respond to challenging situations which are likely to occur in your line of work. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: Using the knowledge gained from this session, consider who you could approach to practise similar scenarios with. This overview from Mindtools.com has some great tips on how to be better prepared to face a variety of challenging or difficult situations.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to gather some individual feedback about your experience with the fourth session.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Preparation activity reflection	Mentee to share how you found selecting challenges to tackle and devising role play scenario(s). Share how you are feeling ahead of taking part in the role play scenario(s), being honest about any apprehension.	10 mins maximum
Role play scenario(s)	Mentor and Mentee to align on how the role play scenarios should be tackled. Who will play which role first? How much time should be allocated to acting out vs evaluating the scenario? Mentor and Mentee to engage in at least one role play scenario taking it in turn to play both roles in each scenario. Mentor and Mentee to reflect on each scenario you carried out. What went well? Where did you struggle? Was there an alternative way this could have been handled?	30 mins maximum
Benefits of engaging in role play scenarios and development activities	Mentor to share any personal reflections they have on the benefits of engaging in role playing as well as any resources they took note of when preparing for this session. Mentor to discuss the development activities they thought were most relevant for you.	10 mins maximum
Session four review and prepare for session five	Mentee to summarise what’s been discussed and reflect on what has been most valuable. Both mentor and mentee should look ahead to ‘Preparing for Session Five’ and discuss the preparation activities. Both should compare diaries to schedule the date to connect.for session five.	5-10 minutes

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PREPARING FOR SESSION FIVE

PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

Just like personal development, professional growth should be something you’re consistently striving to advance. How you market your skills set and who you network with should be at the core of every strategy you carry out when you are trying to advance your career.

Selling yourself doesn’t stop at listing your work experience and achievements on your CV or resume and networking is not only about collecting names in your contact lists.

The three activities below will help you consider how to communicate your goals, passions and expertise and how to build professional relationships with lasting mutual benefits.

Review your current CV or resume and note down the areas you could improve upon. With these improvements in mind, update it to the best of your ability thinking about how aligned it is to your goals. If there are still areas you know you would like to improve but aren’t sure how best to do this, make a note and be prepared to reflect on this with your mentor.

Use page 6 of our Career Development Toolkit to access CV / resume writing tips.

If you have a LinkedIn account, update your profile. If you don’t have a profile, we highly recommend creating one. We also recommend doing some research into how to make the most of your LinkedIn profile.

Provide your mentor with a copy of your updated CV / resume and link to your updated LinkedIn profile at least one week before session five.

Review pages 3, 4 and 6 of our Career Development Toolkit for guidance on leveraging your volunteer experience, marketing your skills and expanding your professional network. Make a note of some strategies you could use to promote your expertise and start making some meaningful connections in your field of interest. Be prepared to share these with your mentor during session 5.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

“There's nothing more critical to your success than your ability to stand out as a uniquely qualified, valuable, appealing individual” Dale Carnegie, author and lecturer on self improvement.

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SESSION FIVE: EXPANDING YOUR NETWORK

The main goal of this session is to recognise that marketing your skills is a constantly evolving process and that there is a wide array of networking opportunities to tap into. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: Using the knowledge gained from this session, make a plan to reach out to members of the Alumni Network and LinkedIn users who might be able to help you reach your goals or make additional connections.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to gather some individual feedback about your experience with the fifth session.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Preparation activity reflection	Mentee to share how you found reviewing your CV / resume and LinkedIn profile. Did you make a lot of edits? Was this challenging? How do you feel about networking after reviewing the materials? What were your key takeaways?	10 mins maximum
CV / resume and LinkedIn review	Mentee to talk mentor through the edits you made to your CV / resume and LinkedIn profile. Mentee to discuss where you think improvements can still be made and consider a timeline for implementing these. Mentor to provide feedback on your CV / resume and LinkedIn profile. Which areas are strong and why? Which areas still need to be worked on? If the mentor isn’t familiar with LinkedIn they will share some general thoughts on how you can best market your skills, expertise and achievements.	20 mins maximum
Networking strategies	Mentee to share your strategies to better market your skills and start making some connections in your field and consider a timeline for implementing these. Mentor to feedback on these strategies. Are they aligned with the mentee’s goals? Are they realistic and achievable? Mentor to share the strategies they considered could help you.	20 mins maximum
Session five review and prepare for session six	Mentee to summarise what’s been discussed and reflect on what has been most valuable. Both mentor and mentee should look ahead to ‘Preparing for session six’ and discuss the preparation activities. Both should compare diaries to schedule the date to connect.for session six.	5-10 minutes

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PREPARING FOR SESSION SIX

PREPARATION ACTIVITIES

You’ve put time and effort into applying for this mentorship program, building a relationship with your mentor, setting goals and working on your personal and professional development. As you head into your final mentoring session, it is so important to take the time to look back and reflect on the incredible progress you have made since your first one.

Here are three activities we recommend you work through to lend some structure to your final session, ensuring you have had enough time to reflect back on the past six months.

Review your IDP and think about the goals you set upon starting the program and what you wanted to gain from taking part. Take down some notes in response to the following questions:
How far have you come towards accomplishing your goals?
Did you meet your development goals that you established at the beginning of the relationship?
Do you need to adjust any goal(s) or deadline(s)?
How do you feel about the progress you have made?
What did you learn about yourself in this process?
What has been the biggest success for you during this process?

Prepare some feedback for your mentor. This should be both positive in highlighting all the ways you have benefited from their support but also constructive in suggesting ways they might consider building upon their mentoring approach.

Consider how you would like to end the session. Would you like to keep in contact with your mentor? Are there still ways you think your mentor could continue to provide guidance if they are willing? Be prepared to discuss how you both feel about your mentoring relationship.

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.or g

“A good mentoring relationship is as long as it should be and no longer”

Jodi Glickman, author.

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SESSION SIX: ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Use this final session to reflect on the past six months together. Celebrate the successes and pinpoint further opportunities for growth. We recommend following this agenda:

ACTION POINT: It’s important not to lose focus on your goals and let your hard work crumble. Stick to your IDP and keep working towards the deadlines you set.

REMINDER: We will be in contact to discuss your feedback about your experience with the mentorship program. .

Questions? Contact us any time! alumni@allhandsandhearts.org

AGENDA ITEM	ACTIVITIES	TIME COMMITMENT
Mentee’s reflections on progress	Mentee to share your thoughts on your progress and the overall learning and benefits from the program.	15 mins maximum
Mentor’s reflections on progress	Mentor to provide feedback on what you shared regarding your progress and provide their own thoughts on this.	15 mins maximum
Mentee’s reflections on mentoring relationship	Mentee to reflect on your mentoring relationship and share the skills you learned about or resources / tools you uncovered thanks to your mentor. Mentee to provide any constructive feedback you may have which will ultimately help your mentor improve their future mentoring relationships. Mentor to discuss this feedback. What is a surprise? What is meaningful / helpful? They should also take this opportunity to ask any additional questions they have regarding how you viewed / benefited from the relationship.	10 mins maximum
Mentor’s reflections on mentoring relationship	Mentor to reflect on mentoring relationship and share what they learned from you. Mentee to discuss this feedback. What is a surprise? What is meaningful / helpful? You should also take this opportunity to ask any additional questions you have regarding how the mentor views you / your progress.	10 minutes
What could the future look like?	Mentor to share where they see you in the future and list the reasons they believe you will be successful. Mentee to consider what’s next and how you can continue to work towards the goals you have set and what learning from the program you will be taking forward. Both mentor and mentee to agree on how you relationship will progress. Will you stay in contact? Is your mentor happy to be contacted for further guidance ?	10 minutes