Online Training in Mentoring

Dr Michael Jemphrey & Eszter Ernst-Kurdi, Introduction to Mentoring Course Leaders, SIL

Do mentoring relationships actually work? 

Typically, three out of ten relationships do succeed. But if you train the mentors, then this number rises to six out of ten, and if you train both mentors and mentees, the success rate increases dramatically to nine out of ten (source)! This startling research encouraged us to press forward with a pilot, synchronous online training in mentoring, despite our questions. Would we be able to  make sufficient personal connections in an online environment? Would the internet connections hold for colleagues working in Francophone Africa?

The result was a rich learning experience for staff and participants alike. Some key factors were:

• A good structure to the training with preparatory work and homework every week in addition to a group zoom meeting to discuss our learnings and questions.
• A variety of learning tasks in groups of 2, 3 and 5
• Thorough preparation and teamwork between the instructors and the small-group facilitators
• Participants from different cultural and professional backgrounds
• People willing to commit to three hours per week (90 minutes online in live zoom session and 90 minutes offline)

Some testimonials from the participants:

“I really enjoyed the course. It had a good mix of group and individual work, as well as presentations and practical exercises. It was challenging, interesting and I’m sure it will also be very useful. I would recommend the course to anyone who is considering having or becoming a mentor.”

“The course content was very rich; all the resources were available to us and the course was delivered with clarity. Now I know what mentoring is all about and how important it is.”

“This training helped me to discover mentoring as we want to implement it in my organisation. As language program manager, it’s my responsibility to follow the development plan of several people whom I supervise. In their file there is often mention of a mentor and I had no idea what kind of relationship I was supposed to have with the mentor of each of my staff. After this training I now have a clearer vision of how I should work with the respective mentors of my collaborators. I also understood the necessity for me to have a mentor and to look for a mentor for the rest of my staff who do not have one yet.”

If you are interested in taking the course, check out the syllabus and have a look at this page to find out when the next cohorts will take place in English or in French in the coming year. The next cohort in French will start on the 13th January 2021 (very few places left) and the next English cohort will start on the 3rd February 2021.

If you have questions, send us a message using the form below.

Photo by Gerd Altman from Pixabay