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Printable Mentoring Action Plan Template (Word, PDF)

Are you seeking a mentoring action plan template (Word, PDF) ?

In modern times, there are several forms of learning like physical, distance, and e-learning. Whatever the medium of delivering content to the mentees. The mentor always has a set plan for the subject course. Also, it is not just a formal requirement for the procedure. However, the mentor needs to prepare a mentoring action plan template before starting any course in a physical classroom or e-learning platforms like YouTube, and Coursera.

A mentoring action plan requires a proper format and structure to prepare the values, goals, and objectives of the course. Thus, the mentoring action plan template is useful for this purpose. A mentor is teaching and delivering basic to advance skills of something to the mentee. You may also like an employee handbook template .

So, a proper sequence of lectures needs to be defined. Otherwise, things will overlap and the mentee will unable to understand anything. Therefore, a proper mentoring action plan is very helpful in achieving the course goals and objectives.

The core concept of mentoring is included in the development of skills. It’s not usually related to learning theoretical knowledge of something. So, the best example of mentoring for fresh graduates is their first boss. The line manager to whom the new graduates report.

The graduates in the field are sometimes pretty blank of the real-life experience. Thus, mentoring has to train new employees for the upcoming tasks. So, the objective of this mentoring action plan to make the newbie enable us to understand and handle the situation.

There are several purposes of mentoring a mentee. It includes the objectives of skill development, personal growth, technical knowledge, and leadership skills. Further, it is the responsibility of the mentor to deliver the real experience of the field. It will help the mentees to understand the situation better and control the nerves in case of failure. Thus, the mentees learn to work without pressure and propose the optimal solution to the developing problems.

Table of Contents

Components of Mentoring Action Plan Template

The purpose of having a mentoring plan document is to ensure that mentors have planned the whole activity and objectives of the program are clear. So, an analysis of the skill development and enhancement can be made at the end of the mentoring period based on the defined goals and objectives.

A simple and very effective mentoring plan must include the following elements.

• Mentor Information
• Mentees Information
• The vision of the Program
• Goals and Objectives of the Program
• Goal Wise Action Plan
• You should also check the job description template .

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The mentor information normally includes the name, designation, department, contact #, and email address of the mentor. While basic information set for the mentees is also the same. However, it is recommended to add the academic and skill background of mentees. So, the mentor can plan the activity with a customized approach.

The mentor always has some vision related to the program. So, it is the opportunity to present it in writing. Also, the most important thing is to define the goals and objectives of the program. You may also see a letter of authorization template .

Finally, goal wise action plan must include information on learning activity, competency, start date, end date, status, and notes for each goal or objective.

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Mentorship programs

Creating a mentoring plan: [templated agreement]

Looking to start a mentoring program but not sure where to start? This article provides a template for a mentoring plan. It documents the overall goal of the program and specific logistics.

Ryan Carruthers

Published on 

March 24, 2022

Updated on 

Mentorships are tools that organizations can use to accomplish a wide variety of goals. Mentoring can get you there, whether you’re looking to develop your employees’ skills, create a more inclusive workplace, or prepare high potential employees for leadership positions. 

It’s one of the reasons that over 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs. Moreover, 67 percent of companies that started a mentoring program saw an increase in productivity . 

But before you can start a mentoring program and see similar success, you need to begin with a mentoring plan . 

What is a mentoring plan?

A mentoring plan is an essential element for any successful mentorship program . It defines the goals of the program as well as the logistics or how the program will proceed. A mentoring plan can also establish expectations for mentors and mentees . 

Sometimes, organizations can use mentoring plans to help define where the biggest need for mentors lies. 

For example, organizations may want to build a more diverse leadership team. To do this, they decide to connect employees from minority backgrounds with mentors. These mentors will coach and provide them with career guidance. The hope is that their investment will lead to more minority employees moving up through the ranks. 

Therefore, the mentoring plan defined a course of action for the organization to become more inclusive. Diversity-focused mentoring programs are common mentoring plans.

Why is it important to outline your mentorship plan?

A mentoring plan sets out the expectations for participants. It can also be vital to get leadership to buy into a workplace mentoring program . By defining the objectives and aims of mentorship at the organization, company leadership will clearly see the need for such a program. They’ll also understand how the formal mentoring program will improve the organization. 

Mentoring plans can also help mentoring program organizers stay on top of their tasks. Depending on the size of your organization and the scope of the program, there can be a lot of mentorships to monitor. With a mentoring plan, organizers will be able to stay up-to-date with each mentorship. 

Moreover, a mentoring plan can help mentors and mentees stay focused and understand the purpose of their relationship. While many relationships develop organically, the terms of the connection get defined over time. For a successful mentorship, these terms and boundaries should be clear at the beginning of the relationship. 

Mentoring plan template

Creating a mentoring plan involves a few steps. Here are the sections that you should include in your mentoring plan. 

Mission statement or goal of the program

It’s vital to start with the overarching goal of the mentoring program . Why was it designed? Is the organization looking to reduce turnover, enhance employees’ skill level, or create a more diverse workplace? 

This mission statement will help guide the mentoring program. 

Timeline for program

Mentorships are limited in time. Most mentors and mentees are connected for a short time and need to be focused on accomplishing their goals during the few months they have. 

Mentoring program organizers will need to specify the duration of the mentorship, whether it is three months, six months, a year or longer. 

This information can help mentors and mentees pace themselves and work towards an end goal. 

Who will be mentors and mentees

Deciding who will participate goes back to the first section of your mentoring plan: Objectives and goals . 

• If the goal is to integrate new hires quickly , you’ll want to select mentors who can facilitate that. And your mentees would be new hires. 
• If your mentoring program is designed to reduce the turnover rate , you can consider what departments see the highest level of turnover. Select employees from that department to be involved in the mentoring program.  

How you will pair mentors and mentees

The pairing process will also need to be specified. Will you match mentors and mentees based on similarities, differences, goals? Is the program format peer mentoring, group mentoring or reverse mentoring? You should define these in your mentoring plan. 

Resource for pairs and mentor training 

Consider how you can help your mentoring pairs cultivate connections and build a successful relationship. 

You can offer them meeting agendas with discussion topics . These agendas can be customized to meet the specific goals of the mentee and guide conversations. There may also be other resources you’d like to offer or some training for participants before they get started. 

All of these should be defined and included in the mentoring plan. 

How you will report on the program

Measuring your mentoring program is critical. You’ll want to track and report on how successful the program has been. 

Consider the different elements you’ll want to report on and create a plan for monitoring them. With mentoring software like Together , you’ll be able to create customized reports on your mentoring program. 

It can make the task of tracking and reporting easier for a mentoring program organizer. 

What is the Mentorship Agreement?

A mentorship agreement is a document where the mentor and mentee define their specific goals and responsibilities for the duration of their relationship. It outlines clear expectations of each participant. 

A good mentorship agreement will include various sections, such as

• Development planning

While a mentorship agreement is optional, it can help participants define what they want to accomplish and lead to a more successful outcome. 

Mentoring agreement template 

To help simplify the process of defining a mentoring agreement, consider creating a template for your mentoring participants. 

Here are some of the sections that you’ll want to include:

Mentees outline their goals

Include a section that allows mentees to outline their goals for their careers. What do they want to achieve in the next few years? Encourage them to be specific about their goals, which can help break them down into actionable steps. 

Mentees outline current skills they want to work on

Next, mentees can consider the skills they’ll need to develop to achieve their goals. Do they want to enhance their leadership capabilities ? Are they hoping to brush up on their presentation skills? Again, the more specific and direct they can be in this section, the better focus the mentorship will have. 

Development plan

The development plan section is one that a mentee and mentor will fill out together. They will consider the mentee’s goals and the skills they want to work on and define some actions that can be taken in the following weeks and months. There are several things to consider in this section, such as: 

Action Plan

What are some concrete actions a mentee can take to achieve their goals for the mentoring period?

Aspirations

Where do you want to be at the highest point in your career? What is the most senior position you’d like to hold?

Scheduling & Time

What time commitment will you make?​

What’s your preferred style of contact?

Participants should consider whether they’d like to meet in person, email, talk on the phone, chat over IM, or otherwise.

Confidentiality agreement

This section is vital to building trust between participants. They should commit to keeping sensitive conversations had during mentorship sessions private and confidential. Participants should also commit to respecting the time of their mentor/mentee and show up on time and prepared for each session. 

Build your mentorship program with Together’s platform

Building a successful workplace mentoring program is easy and fun with Together’s platform . A good mentoring program requires some planning, managing, and reporting. Together’s mentoring software can simplify the process from planning to matching to reporting. 

Easy to use mentoring software

Together’s platform is intuitive and easy to use. So, your mentoring program manager won’t need to struggle to learn new software. It’s also mobile-friendly, so no matter where your team is based, you’ll be able to access Together’s platform. 

Mentor matching at scale

Getting a good mentor match can be stressful. But with Together’s intelligent pairing algorithm , you’ll be able to connect mentors and mentees based on specified criteria that you can customize based on the objectives of your organization’s mentoring program. 

Robust reporting features

Together also offers in-platform reporting. This means you’ll be able to gain important insight into the program and how mentorships are developing. You’ll also be able to quickly identify when mentors or mentees may be struggling. It can help you stay on top of your pairings and help smooth out any issues or challenges they may be facing.  

Customizable templates and agendas

Offer your mentorships access to meeting agenda templates that can be customized to meet the objectives of your workplace mentoring program. These resources will guide your mentors and mentees through every step of their journey. 

Together’s team has also put together other valuable information to help participants and mentoring program organizers. From blogs to FAQs to handbooks for participants, with Together, you will be equipped to get the most from your mentoring program. 

Plenty of integrations

Additionally, Together has been developed to integrate with other popular communication tools, such as various calendars apps, Slack. Teams, etc. This makes it even easier to get your team on board. 

Find out how simple it is to use Together. Book a free demo today. 

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Mentoring Agreements and Coaching Plans

Establishing ground rules for a successful partnership.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Mac is struggling. He's three months into his mentoring program with Jenna, a senior VP in marketing, but he still isn't clear about what progress he has made. What's more, his goals are shifting with every session. He also feels that Jenna sees the process as a waste of her time.

The two things that Mac needs above all else are a mentoring agreement and a coaching plan.

Finding a mentor who can make a difference to your career isn't as simple as approaching a colleague and asking for help. To be effective, a mentoring relationship needs to be properly structured, so that both the mentor and you, the mentee (the person receiving mentoring), understand the requirements of the process.

In this article, we explore how you can set the ground rules for effective mentoring, and how to put a goal-centered coaching plan into effect.

What Is a Mentoring Agreement?

A mentoring agreement is a formal document that clearly sets out the structure of the relationship between you and your mentor, and the roles and responsibilities of both parties.

Mentoring can fail if there are any misunderstandings between mentor and mentee about their needs or expectations. So, having a written agreement of this kind before mentoring begins is important. Also, you'll likely need the terms of the relationship clearly laid out for your manager to see, if a third party is involved.

You and your mentor should treat this type of agreement as a contract, and you should both sign the document. Many organizations ask line managers to sign it, too, because this shows that they have understood the commitments and resources involved.

The Mentor and Mentee's First Meeting

When you're hoping to establish a relationship with a mentor, the first person to speak with about it is your line manager, to seek his or her approval. In most organizations, you'll likely then contact your HR department and your proposed mentor, but check your company's policies and processes to be sure.

If everybody concerned is happy to proceed, you and your mentor should hold at least one meeting before formal mentoring begins. This meeting has three main goals:

• Getting to know one another. Building rapport and finding common ground will help your relationship to flourish. This should be informal: it's easier to bond over a coffee than when you're sitting either side of a desk in a senior manager's office, for example.
• Establishing what the relationship will achieve. Make your goals clear, for this particular arrangement and for your career in general. This gives your mentor "the big picture." This is also a good time for you to discuss your learning styles and communication preferences, so that you can get the most from future meetings.
• Defining the mentoring agreement. You can discuss the details thoroughly and draw up the mentoring agreement together, including your "ground rules" for the process.

What to Include in a Mentoring Agreement

A mentoring agreement needs to be clear about the roles of both mentor and mentee. It should establish that the benefits (such as a happier and more focused "you") outweigh the costs (such as spending time in meetings) for both you and your mentor, and for your respective teams.

An effective agreement covers the following areas:

1. Expectations and Goals

Discuss your expectations and the outcomes that you would both like to see, and identify any possible problems in attaining them. Agree on a common purpose for the mentoring, and set measurable goals – this is essential for success. These goals should align with your personal development plan, if you have one.

Remember, your mentor will likely have his or her own goals for the process, too, and will share these with you. After all, mentoring can build a mentor's leadership and communication skills, for example, and increase his own engagement and job satisfaction.

2. Timing and Location of Meetings

Make an agreement with your mentor about where, how often, and for how long you will meet. You may benefit from more frequent sessions at the beginning of the process. The meetings should take place in a private, informal space with minimal distractions or chances of interruption.

Having easy and open channels of communication between meetings can be vital in any mentoring or coaching process. So, discuss how and when to make contact, and how quickly you can expect a response.

For example, you might agree to use instant messaging for urgent queries or changes to arrangements, and to reply to a message within the hour. In addition, you may decide to email once a week to report on progress or to make suggestions for further reading, with no response required until the next meeting.

3. Length of the Relationship

It's useful to agree a fixed period for your mentoring relationship, as this will help both of you to maintain a focus on your goals. But, of course, either you or your mentor can extend the timeframe if you need to.

4. Honesty and Confidentiality

An effective mentoring relationship is built on open and honest communication, and it requires both you and your mentor to commit to frank but respectful exchanges of feedback . Equally, you should both agree not to disclose anything that you discuss together unless you agree that it's appropriate to do so.

Sessions can easily stray into personal issues that are irrelevant or inappropriate to share, and that wastes time. So, it's useful to agree in advance what you're both prepared to discuss beyond the specifics of the mentoring agreement.

5. Line Manager's Role

The mentoring agreement should include an undertaking to keep your line manager informed about the progress of the arrangement, and your likely commitments. You both need to ensure that you take note of any feedback and adjust meeting topics and times accordingly.

MindTools Club members and Mind Tools Corporate users can download a Mentoring Agreement Template in interactive PDF format.

What Is a Coaching Plan?

Once you and your mentor have signed your mentoring agreement, your next step is to develop a coaching plan. This is a formalized set of activities for fulfilling the terms of the agreement.

Many coaching plan templates are available, and most organizations with formal mentoring programs will have their own. Mind Tools Club members and Mind Tools Corporate users can download our Coaching Plan Template in interactive PDF format.

All coaching plans have two key sections in common: mentee responsibilities and mentor responsibilities.

Mentee Responsibilities

The first section is yours to develop. It should fall into three main parts:

• Development areas. These are the specific parts of your job that you want to improve or develop. For example, a customer service manager might identify Dealing With Unhappy Customers as an area that she needs to work on.
• Employee activities. You can suggest specific activities on which your mentor can give feedback. Again, for a customer service manager, that could involve arranging for the mentor to listen to recorded customer calls and to prepare feedback on them.
• Measures of success. You propose clear indicators of success for the coaching arrangement. An example could be, "Increasing the satisfactory resolution of customer complaints by 20 percent over a month." Your mentor can review and comment on these measurements, but you should be responsible for suggesting them.

Mentor Responsibilities

This section outlines what your mentor needs to do in response to the activities that you've identified. The mentor's responsibilities involve:

• Reviewing the mentoring tasks and activities that you have completed in a given period. For example, listening to recorded calls or reviewing a project management stage.
• Preparing balanced feedback related to your activities in advance of each meeting, and recording it in the coaching plan.
• Suggesting further development ideas. The mentor proposes ideas that can help you to extend your skills. She should highlight any barriers that she sees, and any previously unidentified areas of need . For example, weaknesses in dealing with customer complaints might indicate a more general problem with a lack of assertiveness.

How to Use a Coaching Plan

Your coaching plan needs to be a live document, that both you and your mentor can refer to, add to, and use to record the agreements that you make. This should include further development activities and new goals or objectives that arise during the process.

The best coaching plans are flexible, and allow for changes of direction and emphasis that result from the disoveries you make along the way.

Successful mentoring programs are well structured, with clear ground rules and effective provision for development activities and feedback.

The mentoring agreement is a signed document that sets out the objectives for the process, and describes the means by which you and your mentor will achieve them.

It features clear guidelines for the process as a whole, and includes timelines, means of communicating, and behavior.

Coaching plans cover the details of the process as it develops, setting specific tasks between meetings and allowing for feedback and revised goal-setting where necessary.

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Mentoring Plan Template

Download the Template

What is a mentoring plan?

Mentoring plans allow departments to articulate how new faculty members will receive the mentoring and support that they need to be successful. While mentoring may happen “organically” for some faculty members, research shows that there are significant differences among faculty members in how much support and mentoring they receive, and even in how much honest feedback they receive.

Mentoring plans also help departments recognize where there are gaps that need addressing, as well as how to help faculty gain access to resources and supports that exist on campus for faculty members. Given that faculty from underrepresented groups (by gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexuality, first generation status, nationality, or other factors) are less likely to receive mentoring, such plans also help develop more inclusive environments .

Ideally, each department will have a “generic” mentoring plan, which they use in requesting new hires, but that plan will be carefully tailored to each new faculty member, getting their input into the elements of their mentoring plan. Including the mentoring plan as part of the final negotiations in terms of salary and resources, can help recruit faculty members – since the mentoring plan makes clear the department’s investment in their career success.

What is a mentoring team?

UMass ADVANCE encourages mentoring teams , groups of faculty members who can mentor colleagues on different elements of their career, as opposed to the guru model, individual mentor-mentee relationships. Many UMass faculty members are award of the “ mutual mentoring ” approach developed by Mary Deane Sorcinelli,  Jung Yun, and Brian Baldi , an extremely successful model of network mentoring. 

Research shows that mentoring teams are much more successful than individual mentor-mentee relationships, because most faculty have a variety of mentoring needs. Teams also distributes the efforts across more faculty members, and support peer mentoring strategies that allow all faculty members to benefit from their engagement in faculty mentoring. Importantly, faculty members should play a role in identifying members of their mentoring team, and mentoring teams may also change over time, and as faculty members have different needs or questions as their careers evolve.

In larger departments, mentoring teams might include three or four faculty who can provide support for different elements of the faculty member’s experience. For example, one faculty might teach similar courses, another might have recently gone through tenure, and another might be in the same subfield. Research shows that shared identities among mentors and mentees can foster inclusion, but is not necessary for successful mentoring. In small departments, it may be that the entire department is a mentoring team. Such an approach is fine – and actually a way of creating a more inclusive and supportive space for all.

Template Mentoring Plan

Paragraph One: Summarized the Key Goals for the Mentoring Plan

[The goal for this paragraph is to lay out the elements that lead to a successful career in the department, and might note such things as publications, performances, published proceedings, grant funding, teaching, mentoring, service, leadership, as would be appropriate for someone in the discipline and at their career stage]

Paragraph Two: Summarize the Key Strengths the Candidate Brings to the Position

 [The goal for this paragraph is to lay out the key strengths that the candidate already has demonstrated; this helps ensure that the goals below are aligned with the specifics of a particular candidate, and appropriate mentoring is identified in the areas where they need growth. For example, if they have no prior teaching experience, it will be important to ensure mentoring in that area. The candidate themselves should be involved in crafting this paragraph, and all of the remaining paragraphs.]

Paragraph Three: Identify the mentor or mentoring team

[The goal for this paragraph is to identify specific mentors that the candidate has identified, and who are willing to serve as mentors. Ideally these teams will be composed of faculty members who can provide mentoring in key areas of growth, and will be diverse by rank and on other metrics. Mentoring teams will play a role in advocating for the candidate, and nominating them for awards. Identify specific faculty members who can play this role. If the person would benefit from interdisciplinary engagement, identify approaches to developing mentoring connections in other units].

Paragraph Four: Identify key resources provided to candidate

[The goal for this paragraph is to recognize the resources that are provided as part of the mentoring plan. This might include a small budget for lunches with a mentoring team, and a specific plan for meetings with the mentoring team for advice and support (at least once a semester), the chair/head (regularly, particularly in initial years), or members of the Personnel Committee to provide guidance for tenure and promotion (at least yearly). This might also include professional development for conference attendance, or funds to bring in an external senior mentor for a talk and networking, research funds, etc.]

Paragraph Five: Identify key supports regarding publication, presentation, creative performance of work

[The goal for this paragraph is to identify the supports for research and creative activities of the faculty member, taking into consideration their previous record. This might include things like brown-bags, mentoring and comments from members of the mentoring team, as well as noting connections to mentoring supports in the college or the university, such as the Office of Faculty Development or the Office of Equity & Inclusion.

Paragraph Six: Identify key supports regarding research proposal development or development of new work

[The goal for this paragraph is to identify the supports for research proposal development, where appropriate, or development of new work or a creative works or research agenda, taking into consideration their previous record. This might include things like mentoring and comments from members of the mentoring team, connections to Office of Research Development and Office of Pre-Award Services, Office of Faculty Development, or where appropriate, specific institutes like Institute for Applied Life Sciences, Institute for Social Science Research, Center for Research on Families, or Interdisciplinary Studies Institute.]

Paragraph Seven: Identify candidate’s teaching interests, releases, and number of preparations expected, as well as mentoring expectations; identify strong mentors in the area of teaching and mentoring.

[The goal for this paragraph is to identify the supports for teaching and mentoring development, taking into consideration their previous record. Identifying the expected number of preparations, and the specific courses that a candidate would be interested in teaching, helps solidify an effective mentoring approach to teaching development. This might include things like mentoring on syllabi and classroom visits and comments from mentors, connections to Center for Teaching and Learning, etc. This might also include making connections to National Research Mentoring Network trainings offered on campus through the Graduate School].

Paragraph Seven: Identify candidate’s service expectations, as well as opportunities for leadership development.

[The goal here is to identify service expectations, and how service assignments will work to integrate the candidate into the department and ensure that they learn how the department works. The role of mentors in helping the candidate develop a service profile should be mentioned. Leadership development opportunities may also be mentioned here, and this might include making connections to the Office of Faculty Development.

Paragraph Eight: Identify work-life balance supports, including those that are not relevant at the moment.

[The goal here is to identify resources and supports for work life balance. These issues change over the career span, and can include health issues, care issues for parents, partners, children, or siblings, sleep and leisure, finding community, and other issue. Opportunities to learn more from the Office of Faculty Development, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, etc. might be mentioned here].

Paragraph Nine: Emphasize the variety of mentoring supports on campus, and the importance of engaging in these resources.

[The goal here is to identify supports for faculty across the university, such as programming within a specific college, through the department, through the Office of Faculty Development, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the National Research Mentoring Network through the Graduate School, the ADVANCE program, or through other institutes and centers on campus.]

What resources exist for faculty mentoring?

UMass ADVANCE provides support, including mutual mentoring grants, workshops on faculty mentoring for both mentors and mentees, and for leadership through the LEAD+ program. Contact: Joya Misra

The Office of Faculty Development has many resources and support for career advancement, including mutual mentoring team and micro grants, leadership development for all faculty, as well as Heads & Chairs, scholarly writing retreats, coaches, and editors. They provide important mentoring tools for UMass faculty on their website. Contact: [email protected]

The Office of Equity and Inclusion works with Amel Ahmed, Associate Provost for Equity & Inclusion, to provide programming targeting support for faculty members from underrepresented groups in the academy, including social events, scholarly writing retreats, etc.  Contact: Amel Ahmed

The Center for Teaching and Learning provides support through consultations, workshops, fellowships and community of practice groups for teaching development and diversity & inclusion within the instructional context. Contact: [email protected]

In addition, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences provides an excellent array of mentoring materials curated by Jennifer Lundquist, Senior Associate Dean, including tips for mentors, mentees, and suggested topics for conversations. Contact: Jennifer Lundquist .

Suggested Citation: Joya Misra. 2019. Mentoring Plan Template. UMass Amherst ADVANCE Program.