Mentoring/Formal/USA/Training

This new page is currently undergoing modifications. The information presented should be considered a draft, not yet ready for use. If you would like to contribute to this content, please consider posting in the US Wiki Discussion forum first to discuss your ideas.

Purpose

Reading and understanding this document and the “Waze Formal Mentoring Guidelines” is the minimum requisite to become a Waze Mentor. Other requirements may be required by Waze staff and Champs involved in USA self-management. Therefore this information is directed toward potential Mentors, but is open to be viewed by Mentees for their information and more full understanding of the mentoring process.

See [] for additional details

Background

Waze Formal Mentoring is intended to be an enjoyable one-on-one interaction between a Mentor and Mentee with the objective of improving Waze Community skills of the Mentee while and at the same time growing the insight, social network, and skills of the Mentor. A formal mentoring relationship will have an agreed upon end. There are many other informal methods of mentoring on Waze including interactions in the Forum, WME Chat, and through Private Messages. This formal mentoring is not intended to replace any of that activity. It is intended to add opportunity for deeper dialog for a Mentee and augment all the informal mentoring that occurs in the Waze Community.

Requirements: Becoming a Mentor

1. Read and understand this document.
2. Read and understand the “Waze Formal Mentoring Guidelines” (to be located on the Wiki) that contains suggested details of the process of mentoring.
3. Make sure you can work with others in a respectful interaction and commit to your Mentees improvement in the Waze Community through a one-on-one interaction.
4. Make sure you can describe the skills that you can mentor and be able to hand off your Mentee to other mentors that may have skills the Mentee needs. Mentors should be Rank-4 editors or higher. You should typically only mentor editors who are 2 or more ranks below you (Rank 5 should usually not mentor Rank 4, for example, but could mentor Ranks 1-3). However, in some cases, an editor with strong skills in a particular area may mentor almost anyone for that narrow skillset - including editors above their own rank.
5. If you seek additional ideas about mentoring, simply Google “mentor training” and review other resources.

What you agree to do with each Mentee

1. Be a positive role model for the Waze Community.
2. Your Mentee should learn what its like to be an excellent member of the Waze Community by observing your interactions and behavior in the Forums and elsewhere. #Try to be as positive as possible even though one can encounter frustrations in a community, crowd-sourced environment like Waze. Rather than focusing on the negative, focus on how to overcome and turn around difficult situations into a positive result.
3. Connect to your Mentee as a person.
4. Because this is a one-on-one direct relationship, don’t forget to spend time getting to know your Mentee. This will make your interactions more successful.
5. Have a desire to make your Mentee successful.
6. It’s about the Mentee, not you. Help make your Mentee successful by sharing your knowledge, insights, and experiences. Share your successes and mistakes and how you overcame them.
7. Ask open-ended questions to start.
8. Talk less to start. Don’t begin right away with a lecture. Take a more passive role in the beginning. By asking your Mentee open-ended questions, you can help identify what their strengths and weaknesses are, and what they truly want to accomplish.
9. Set specific, measurable goals.
10. Formal mentoring is not open-ended assistance. Help your Mentee figure out what the next steps are that he or she wants to take in improving abilities as an editor. “I want to go up to the next rank” is not a goal. “I want to learn how to best interact with drivers reporting URs” or “I want to earn the tools needed to analyze routing directions” are good goals, and ones that the Mentor can evaluate for success or failure.
11. Be challenging, credible, respectful.
12. You don’t need to have all the answers. You are not supposed to do all the work. Suggest what they should do rather than do it yourself. Suggest where the answers are located rather than answering every detail. This approach will help the Mentee think more and consider options for themselves. You can discuss and guide them through choices as needed.
13. Maintain trust and act as a sounding board.
14. Trust is important in a one-on-one mentoring interaction so thoughts, ideas, and mistakes can be shared in an open way to better learn. To the extent possible, do not discuss details of your interactions with other Wazers. As a trusted sounding board, you will allow the Mentee to open up and have less fear about sharing their ideas and potential mistakes.