Develop and circulate a needs assessment survey among staff to determine the need for a mentoring circles program and what to focus on. Query with questions that focus on relationship building, disparities among staff, internal disputes, employee morale, the need for any resources and what those needed resources are as well as the staff's capacity, ability and willingness to implement a mentoring circles program.
Review the survey data to identify a mentoring program that is the best fit for the needs of the organization. Consider the one-on-one or peer mentoring model or a group mentoring model.
Develop a budget for the program. List all of the components with a cost value next to each one. For example, include guest speaker fees, development of curriculum, purchasing of curriculum and any per diem pay for overtime or out-of-work pay.
Develop a timeline for implementation of the mentoring circle program over 18 months with time for information dissemination, implementation and reflection. Determine a beginning date with information dissemination, and a detailed implementation timeline to include peer mentoring pairs, observational time, collaboration time, reporting, reflection and survey feedback from participants.
Bring together the first informational meeting of all of the stakeholders involved in the program. Provide a detailed overview of the program and the timeline. Share the results of the survey data to aid all in developing understanding and full buy-in form all stakeholders.
Collaborative with all of the staff to develop program goals and objectives. Assign groups or teams of teachers to develop them, and then bring all together to share and comment collaboratively. As they are shared, record them on chart paper to combine for follow-up dissemination.
Select mentors for the program. Choose from a pool of volunteers gleaned from the informational meeting or review a roster of employees and senior staff for recommendations that would make good candidate mentors. Review biographies and resumes to select the best that are highly motivated and on board with the goals, mission and objectives of the mentoring circles program. Mentees, in turn, must be able participants willing to make and implement change. Select mentors carefully from among qualified and dedicated staff.