Peer Mentoring

What is peer mentoring?

Mentoring is a form of informal professional development where you develop professional skills or competencies with feedback from another person. That person is a sort of trusted counselor or guide -- someone whose skills you respect. Peer mentoring is a unique approach to mentoring where two people choose to work together on common or complementary goals. You and your peer mentor may have different professional skillsets or work experience-- or you may share certain skills or work experience. The key is that you have something to learn from each other.

What can I expect to get out of peer mentoring?

There are many things that you can expect to get out of a peer mentoring relationship, including:

How is this different from traditional mentoring approaches?

The peer mentoring approach shifts the focus from a traditional "senior-junior" mentoring relationship to a relationship between peers.

What would make me a good peer mentor?

You don't have to have "seniority" or years of experience to be a good peer mentor. No matter what your current job or work experience is, you have developed a set of professional skills that you can share with your co-workers or colleagues.

What will I do as a peer mentor?

Our peer mentoring program starts with an orientation session and both group as well as peer mentor team meetings over a nine-month period. You and your peer mentor will choose between three to six professional competencies, based on the Cripe and Mansfield model. We will focus on one of three main categories of professional competency areas at group meetings. You and your peer mentor will select one or two specific skills from each of the competency areas and apply them through structured "practice" and application on the job. Between group meeting, you and your peer mentor will meet to discuss your progress, compare notes, and share ideas.

When do we meet?

The annual meeting schedule is outlined below. Generally, group meetings alternate months with individual peer team meetings when just you and your peer mentor arrange a meeting at a mutually convenient time and place.

Group meetings last 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on the topic. Every effort will be made to schedule these meetings at a mutually agreed-upon time (set at the Orientation meeting).

What makes a successful peer mentoring relationship?

There is no "magic" to a successful peer mentoring relationship. You and your peer mentor should be able to:

• Identify some professional characteristic in each other that you admire and want to learn
• Communicate openly with each other about the professional skills you choose as the focus of your mentoring relationship
• Commit to participating in scheduled meetings and working on the professional competencies that you have chosen to develop during the program period

What are the professional competencies that peer mentors will choose from?

Our professional competency categories are based on a model developed by Edward Cripe and Richard Mansfield, professional consultants on organizational development, performance improvement and professional competencies.

You and your peer mentor will pick one or two skills from each of the three categories below and work on these skills during them mentoring pilot program. A detailed list of the thirty-one professional competencies is given below.

How do I register for the peer mentoring program for DU employees?

Register your peer mentoring team by sending an email with your name and contact information to: aimee.neu@du.edu (or call 303.871.3307)

Please contact Aimee Neu, Manager of Learning and Development at the email or phone number listed above if you have any further questions.

We hope you'll join us !