January may be the official mentoring month, but every month is mentoring month at NAWBO!

ANNOUNCING NAWBO’s MENTORING PROGRAM

The NAWBO Greater Philadelphia mentoring program is a free member program designed to match new or emerging NAWBO member businesses with experienced members to facilitate a dialogue for growth.

Mentees get quarterly one-on-one sessions with their mentor to define business goals and be held accountable on those objectives while developing strong and meaningful connections with other members. Submit mentee interest form.

Mentors get an opportunity to “lift as you rise” and give back by helping other businesses succeed.  Submit mentor interest form.

Program Objectives

The objective of the NAWBO Mentoring Program is to connect NAWBO members with other NAWBO members who can serve as mentors in areas like business development, business finance, employee management etc.  In the vein of “lift as your rise”, NAWBO has valuable resources in the breadth of its members’ experiences and these should be shared with our members in emerging businesses.  Sometimes new business owners just need an experienced sounding board and support.  Our goal is to pair the mentee with a mentor who has been in business for at least 5 years and who is open and willing to have a dialogue about the mentee’s business goals, brainstorming steps to reaching those goals, and to hold the mentee accountable for executing those steps.  This dialogue should take place in a non-threatening, open and respectful manner.  Every effort will be made to pair mentors and mentees who are not in competing businesses as a fresh eye on the issue is valuable.  

Expectations

Mentoring sessions should ideally take place at least 4 times a year, once every quarter, in a relaxed setting which is conducive to open and frank discussion.

Mentor

The mentor should be solution oriented, creating a dialogue to help the mentee brainstorm solutions, discussing personal experiences and developing a safe space for thought and discussion.  The mentor should draw upon her own business experience to give examples of solutions and be open to future discussion if the mentee feels that solution isn’t workable.   Mentors should be open to emails and phone calls from mentees in between meetings as problems may arise which should be addressed promptly.

Submit mentor interest form

Mentee

The mentee should clearly identify her problem areas as they relate to her business, hurdles or issues that she is encountering and develop goals for future growth.  The mentee must enter the program with an open and receptive mind and through the dialogue with her mentor, strive to troubleshoot issues, develop solutions and be held accountable for same.  Mentees should be respectful of their mentor’s time and make sure that they are well prepared at each meeting, do not make last minute schedule changes (emergencies excepted) and be open, honest and forth coming about their business.

Submit mentee interest form.

Mentoring Resources

• "Learn More About Being a Mentor" by L. Rose Hollister
• National Mentoring Month