Home » For Members Only

Category Archives: For Members Only

Strategic Planning

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

Mentor Skills & Principles – Assessment Tool

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

GCMLA – Charter

This page shares the Charter of the Greater Cincinnati Mentor Leadership Alliance.

This document serves to guide the work of the Core Team and the entire Alliance.

Alliance Vision:

  • All mentoring organizations are thriving and at peak capacity.
  • Our communities are stronger because our programs impact mentees deeply.

Alliance Mission:

  • We elevate and expand capacity for social service focused mentoring in Greater Cincinnati.

Note:  Capacity includes elements of capability, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability.

  • We support and encourage purposeful growth in all areas of life, ultimately focused toward “people in need”.
  • We inspire sustainable, transformational growth in mentees, volunteer mentors, non-profit staff and all volunteers.
  • We reapply and share to keep focus on our clients rather than content. Resources (tools, processes, people) are easily and freely available to enable continual improvement on-demand.
  • We role model, benchmark and pilot tools and processes seeking best practices.

Scope of the Alliance:

  • Social service-focused mentoring…serving people in need (not career mentoring for professionals).
  • All ages…adult, teen, youth.
  • Mentor Program Leaders (including Executive Directors, Volunteer Managers and “key” mentors).
  • We equip and educate through self-service use of a shareable toolbox, workshops and 1:1 coaching.

We will measure our progress via the following:

  • Strategic Plan progress (completion of key actions).
  • Feedback via an annual Survey.

Key Documents:

 Core Team Principles:

  • We seek consensus on key decisions.
  • Core team members play an active role. We work in our passions and strengths.  We each lead in our own unique way:  content development, customer development, facilitators and coaches, ambassadors, etc.
  • We respect and leverage our diversity…visible, mentor program focus, Cincinnati/NKY, customers and contributors, social service professionals and lead volunteers, neuro, experiential, faith and spirituality.
  • We have one set of content. Continual improvement ideas are incorporated into documents.  We have a process to review and approve.  It is easy to access and use.  Everyone adds to and takes from the toolbox.
  • Informal networking leads to sharing across organizations.

 The Core Team and Roles:

A core team of 8-10 people provide guidance, leadership and direction. We seek all types of diversity. Membership is comprised of mentor program leaders, volunteer leaders, executive directors and lead volunteers. We expect people to play an active role — 2-4 hours per month and hold the role 1-2 years.

Name Organization Team Role
Tony Aloise Life Solutions Network Team Leader
Bob Miller Lead Volunteer Organization Design Process Owner
Nancy Costello Saturday Hoops Strategic Planning Process Owner
Amy Pelicano DCCH Home for Children Marketing & Communications Advisor
Lynn Shewmaker Lead Volunteer Insight 30 Process Owner
Paul Spencer Lead Volunteer Masterplanning Process Owner
Kimberly Huckleby Ladies of Leadership tbd
Lorraine O’Moore Learning Grove tbd
Joe Dixon City Gospel Mission tbd
Greg Metz Awesome All Around Mentor Recruiting Advocacy Leader
Amy Thompson Cincinnati Youth Collaborative Tbd

Relationship with LSN:

  • LSN is the sponsoring organization. It adds capacity (lead volunteers), infrastructure (e.g. web site, newsletter) and leadership (Tony and Lead Volunteers).
  • LSN is a key content provider: life skills wiki, blog and tools.

 

Click here to see and download our 2023 Charter

 

Mentor Development Planning

This document discusses a process to develop mentors, from orientation to initial training to ongoing development. It links the LSN Toolbox to the process. Note that green text highlights resources that are not currently on-line but freely available upon request.

Background: Volunteer mentors have various starting points. It could be as basic as never mentoring or some experience as a mentor in a corporate setting or being a very experienced but informal mentor of a teen child. Moving from this variable starting point to being an impactful mentor requires guidance and structure.

The Life Solutions Network can support you in mentor development. It starts with a choice to make quality (skills and effectiveness) an important goal as well as quantity (more mentor relationships).

Recommended Process:

  • Provide orientation to the organizations mission and mentor role.
    • Expectations. A clear role description guides the needs.
  • Provide initial training.
    • Mentoring skills. Review and align on the essential skills and then offer the Mentor for Purpose Overview
    • Contextual skills. These include mental health, trauma, abuse, recovery and poverty.
  • Establish an expectation for ongoing development.
    • Offer ongoing workshops. See the Mentor for Purpose Workshop series.
    • Encourage self-learning. Explore the Life Skills Wiki, subscribe to internet newsletters or just read a book or short article.
    • Offer individualized coaching. Consider assigning an experienced mentor as a “sponsor” to a new mentor.
    • Consider assigning a lead volunteer. Coordination of training and development requires “capacity”.
  • Establish tracking and communication systems.
    • Self-assess skills once or twice per year. Use the Principles and Skills Assessment Tool.
    • Attendance at required 2-4 development sessions per year. Bringing your volunteers together as a group can include social, informational and development agenda topics.
    • Implement Best Practices. See the Mentoring.org web site.
    • Testing. Consider a Mentor Resource Page to insure awareness of available resources. Follow-up with an initial and then annual on-line quiz of content and policies.

Further Discussion:

  • Guiding mentor development requires resources and the focus of a Volunteer Coordinator or Mentor Program Leader. It requires the structure of a good Process Design and tools, e.g. a Volunteer Dashboard or Mentor Development Tracking tool.
  • Leadership must insist on mentor development; make it a priority.

GCMLA – Operating Model and Roles

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

Monthly and Quarterly Review Process (Doc)

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

More on Operational Excellence – Process Management

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

More on Organization Design

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

Operational Excellence (Doc)

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us

Characteristics of High-Performing Non-Profits (Doc)

You need to be logged in to view this content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us


Click for GCMLA Facebook Group

 


Member Login

 


Register for Newsletter


linkedin-height-95pfacebook-height-95p

wordpress-height-95p twitter-height-95p