The Six Elements of a Culture of Mentorship

Research suggests that there are six elements that lead to a culture of mentorship. When put into practice, a culture of mentorship is strategic, data-informed, celebrated, resourced, participant-centered, and visible. Check out our webinar on this topic here or read on below for more information on each element. 

Strategic

A strategic mentorship initiative is connected to the broader student success strategy. 

Clearly Articulated Goals

It’s helpful to have the specific goals of the mentorship program articulated. Are you looking to drive help-seeking behavior? Sense of belonging? Increase academic achievement? Make sure to clearly articulate your goals and program outcomes, which will allow for a natural connecting point with the goals of your student success strategy.

Connection to Broader Student Success Strategy

Mentorship is a well-established high-impact practice that increases students’ social capital, particularly for those from historically underserved backgrounds. Mentor Collective has partnered with several graduate level programs to include mentorship as part of their broader student success strategy. Hear their stories here.

Creating a map of where mentorship intersects with your overall student success plan is another way to be intentional about connecting both strategies. Ask around at your institution to see if people running other student success programs on campus are aware of the mentorship program in what ways it could be symbiotic with their work. Centralize this information in one map and communicate with all stakeholders to get on the same page and be purposeful in building mentorship across your institution. Hear how University of California, Davis has connected mentorship to student success by ensuring their student population is aware of the value-add mentorship can be for their student experience.

Well-Versed Leaders

Another aspect of strategic mentorship is that those leading the mentorship initiative must be well-versed in the institution’s student success outcomes, such as retention or persistence, as well as the opportunity gaps that exist. Educate yourself on the student success metrics for your institution by reviewing dashboards, attending educational sessions, or inviting your institutional effectiveness colleagues to a conversation. From there, ensure your mentorship programs are targeted to and meet the needs of the student populations of focus for your institution.

Resourced

A resourced mentorship initiative is one where mentorship activities are properly supported.

Trained & Supported Mentors

Support comes in many forms. Mentor Collective’s platform inherently provides support, such as mentor training and participant resources. Institutions may also wish to provide additional, institution-specific resources.

You might also pay your mentors for their participation. A unique way to pay mentors to boost a culture of mentorship is to pay students to simply spend time in areas highly trafficked by potential participants. This ensures there are always students representing your mentorship initiative in that area, encouraging engagement and awareness of the mentorship opportunities provided at your institution.

Consistent Assistance

There should be regular check-ins with all participants, and participants actively seeking help must be promptly assisted. A well-resourced mentorship initiative also means that the program has access to the necessary talent, technology, and resources.

Sustainable Funding & Staffing

The program must be sustainable with consistent funding models and staffing that allows for the continuity of the program beyond an individual champion, no matter how passionate that champion may be.

Participant-Centered

A participant-centered approach means mentorship is centered around the experiences and needs of the participants.Explore ways to recruit for your program in a participant-centered, strategic, and visible way in our webinar, Boost Mentorship Recruitment Through Orientation.

Identity-Consciousness

Mentorship should support identity-conscious and supportive practices, such as identity-based matching. Hear how Holyoke Community College creates an identity-conscious program as part of building an institution-wide culture of mentorship.

Accessibility

Mentorship should be accessible to participants regardless of means; never charge a fee for participation. Programs should offer multiple methods of engaging such as text, in person, or group events to accommodate people with unique needs. It also means meeting students where they are - for example, table in the parking lot to reach commuter students. 

Goal-Oriented Mentorship

Ensure participants are goal-based in their mentorship intentions. Ask mentees what they want to get out of mentorship: Social connection? Help navigating campus? Supportive accountability? Know and articulate the benefits of mentorship to all participating groups.

Mutually Beneficial

If mentees meet their goals and mentors are celebrated for their involvement, all participants are able to benefit from the mentorship. This is critical to fostering a culture of mentorship at your institution. Every participant must feel they “got” something out of the mentorship. Advertisements for your program should speak to the benefits of mentorship in a way that appeals to participants. One idea is to consider leveraging peers (other participants) to speak to potential participants at events in ways that relate well to their unique needs.

Visible

A culture of mentorship needs to be a visible and integrated aspect of the student experience. Students need to know about your mentorship initiative! Review our short MC Minute below with quick tips, or learn directly from other institutions in our "Make Your Mentorship Visible" webinar.

Branding

Integrate your mentorship branding into campus branding, nomenclature, and cultural elements. Make sure your phrasing, program landing page, logo, colors, and other marketing materials reflect your institution and appeal to your students. Consider if your marketing is accessible for all students. Check out these promotional videos from Delta Dental of Colorado, Georgia Tech, and UC Davis BioLaunch.

Integration Into the Student Experience

To fully integrate your mentorship initiative into the student experience, consider adding marketing into orientation, matriculation, or other key transition points, rather than making your program a separate initiative.

Visibility also means students have the opportunity to learn about mentorship from all levels of faculty and staff across their institution. An example of this is at City University of New York’s Lehman College: in regular program management meetings, five institutional staff regularly collaborate on their mentorship initiative - including data analysts, directors of advising, and instructional support. These conversations drive action such as recruitment plans or opportunities to engage with participants in new ways.

Student Voice

Visibility is increased if mentorship is championed in the student voice. Peer-to-peer recruitment opportunities may include student-led marketing efforts, like live streaming and social media campaigns. Hear how Augusta University connects with students in the student voice.

Data-Informed

Your initiative must also be data-informed, meaning mentorship data is easily available, used, and shared at your institution. 

Impactful Storytelling

Data helps program coordinators understand what is happening, allowing them to monitor aggregate trends and make program iterations as needed. It also includes collecting individual stories, such as narratives or testimonials from mentors and mentees about the impact their participation has had on their student experience.

Turning Insights Into Action

Collecting mentorship data encourages an impact-first mindset when building out your overall mentorship strategy. This ensures action is taken based on key insights and encourages sharing of these insights with key stakeholders who have the ability to grow your program across your institution. These stakeholders might include colleagues interested in understanding the student experience, deans from other departments, or even participants you are looking to recruit.

An example of this is at University of North Carolina Greensboro, where they set a goal to reach an 85% first-to-second-year retention rate through various initiatives, including mentorship. Through progress tracking within the mentorship program, they were able to iterate on the way to their goal which ultimately led to their success.

Celebrated

Celebrating mentorship is one of the most important parts of the six essentials. A successful initiative celebrates mentorship and champions it at all levels and across silos at the institution.

Cross-Functional Approach

San Francisco State University involves associate deans from every college in their centralized program. They have a strong central program coordinator with very high levels of involvement from many administrators. This cross-functional leadership allows for increased opportunities for students to engage in mentorship, allowing SF State to see high levels of success with recruitment and engagement.

Temple University created an end-of-year report to share their program’s progress with stakeholders across their institution. This encouraged a shared sense of ownership and provided an opportunity to celebrate the program’s achievements and milestones as a community.

There are many ways you can make this happen at your institution. Provide cross-functional leaders with talking points, flyers, or other promotional materials. Visit their office meetings and explain the connection of the mentorship program to their goals. Refer participants to other offices for services; and support mentors with training and resources.

Engaged Leadership & Champions

Leadership must be aware of the mentorship opportunities at the institution. Ensure leaders at your institution engage in regular promotional activities, such as posting on social media, nominating students for awards and recognition, or adding agenda items to staff meetings.

Check out this Q&A with mentorship champion, Dr. Maria Cuzzo, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at University of Wisconsin, Superior - and review additional examples of leaders championing their mentorship program below.

Check out the full recording of The Six Elements of a Culture of Mentorship here.