An association should serve the people who make up its membership. But the act of serving the members can itself improve the state of the association. That’s why many associations offer mentoring programs. By making the resources of its most senior members available to newcomers looking to add value in their own way, groups improve their image and their ability to recruit more. To make such a relationship work, however, the mentors themselves have to be really invested in the idea.
Key Takeaways:
- Mentor groups consist of three professionals: one from the early career, mid career, and advanced career or retirement stage—who does not need to be an executive director.
- In addition, successful mentor relationships require repetition, Trueblood explained, which is why participants must attend all the events.
- Member recruitment, retention, and engagement all went up. And we did this, and it cost us, and that shows we’re making the money back,” she said. “So we make money indirectly, but we pour money into the program.
““Decide it has value and do it big and make it important, make it quality, make it last so that the members receive the real benefit of mentoring.””
