Using a Mentor Program to Extend Risk Management Education

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Using a Mentor Program to Extend Risk Management
Education

• Jason Johnson, Blake Bennett, Stan Bevers, Wade
  Polk, Brenda Duckworth, Bill Thompson

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Mentors / Volunteershelp complete the puzzle

• Mentor as Ally
• Mentor as Catalyst
• Mentor as Strategist
• Mentor as an Empathetic Listener

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Mentors / Volunteerscan accomplish many tasks

• Facilitate the educational process
• Provide demonstrations that serve as visible
  outcomes
• Increase the visibility of agency relevance
• Recruit new clientele to programs
• Provide one-on-one assistance to extend program
  outreach

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Use of Mentors Example

• Program Background
• Mentor Recruiting and Training
• Mentor / Participant Contract
• Monitoring of the Process

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Program Background

• 15 month, 4 session program
• Designed for completion of a Business Plan
• Tactical and Strategic Business Planning
• Following Graduation, Paired with a Mentor
  Committee for one year

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Evaluation Results of Pre- and Post-Session
Knowledge
Session I Basics Session II Finance Session III Marketing Session IV Integration Overall
Change1 74.4 54.0 103.6 134.4 86.8
Change2 41.5 34.7 65.0 153.3 65.1
Average Score ( of 100)
Change1 TTAP Class 1 November 2002 January
2004 Change2 TTAP Class 2 November 2005
January 2007
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Mentor Recruiting and Training

• Instructors discuss most needed skills for
  participants and compatible characteristics
• Prospective mentors are invited to participate
  and provided a description of the program and/ or
  participants
• Mentors are trained as a group and introduced to
  the participants

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Mentor / Participant Contract

• One page form stating the term of the mentoring
  program
• Fill in the blank lines for each party to define
  what they hope to achieve through the mentor
  program
• Signature lines for all parties

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Monitoring of the Process

• Introductions between participants and mentors
  are supervised
• Periodic prompting for reporting of contact
• Facilitate the relationship and troubleshoot
• Tabulate contact hours and impacts

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TTAP Mentor and Participant Contact 1 yr post
introduction

• 14 of participants had no further contact.
• Of the participants who did maintain contact
• Approximately 90 hours of on-site visit contact
• Over 111 hours of other contact was cited (by
  phone, e-mail, face-to-face conversations)
• Avg. of 11 hours of follow-up contact with
  mentor committee members per participant
• Figures do not include contact with TCE Lead
  Economists.

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Incorporating a Mentor Program - Lessons Learned

• Mentor training must emphasize that mentors were
  not recruited to solve someone elses problems.
• Mentor committees preferred to individual
  assignment.
• Composition of a mentor committee must be
  individualized.
• Participants should help define the desired
  outcomes from the mentor process.
• Introductions and initial contact are critical.
  The process needs a chaperone.
• Can be used to extend/improve a wide array of
  educational programs.

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Using a Mentor Program to Extend Risk Management
Education
Questions or Comments Jason Johnson JLJOHNSON_at_tam
u.edu

• Jason Johnson, Blake Bennett, Stan Bevers, Wade
  Polk, Brenda Duckworth, Bill Thompson