Warning: With effect from 1st September 2023, the Mozilla Reps program was closed and activities ended.

With the RepsNext initiative, we decided to restructure our approach on how we do Mentorship in the Reps program. Some Coaches have already been onboarded at the end of 2016 to test and improve the training material. The goal is to have existing Mentors work as Coaches, as well as allowing non-Mentors to take the Coaching training to become a Coach.

Difference between Coach and Mentor

With the introduction of the Resources Track, Mentors won’t need to review Budget requests anymore. This takes away a big task of the mentors. This enables a more streamlined focus on helping other Reps with personal development.

Responsibilities of a Coach

Being a coach includes the following responsibilities:

• Help other Reps to grow personally
• Be available for your coachees in a timely matter
• Organize regular coaching sessions with your coachees
• Be available for other Reps for coaching sessions which fit your specialized skills
  • Example: if a Coach has a great experience in Goal Setting activities, other Reps might approach this Coach to learn more

How do I become a Coach?

Every Rep can become a Coach. We have a self-serve training to get trained and started as a Coach. You can find more information about the process on the Training wiki page.

Training for existing Mentors

We highly encourage all existing Mentors to take the Coaching training to improve their skills and knowledge. At some point in the future, we might make this mandatory for all existing Mentors.

Coach assignment

Coaches will be assigned coachees on a 1:1 relationship basis. A coach can have several coachees, but there needs to be a balance in terms of quality. We prefer coaches with less coachees but a stronger track record in quality of the coaching sessions.

Additionally, Reps can reach out to any coach to schedule a coaching session if they identify somebody with a great skill they would like to get better at. This is called the “Coach pool”. In the future we will provide resources to better identify coaches according to their skill set and specialities.

Changing a coach

Normally the commitment for the 1:1 relationship is done for one year. After that year, the commitment can either be extended or the coach can be changed. This allows to continue fruitful coaching sessions or to be assigned to a new Coach with a different skill set to broaden the horizon and skills of a Rep. If a Coach becomes inactive, coaches can be changed disregarding the 1 year commitment through the Reps Council.

Coach assessment

There is a yearly feedback round for both coaches and coachees. This allows to identify strengths and weaknesses we can improve upon. This highly improves the quality of the coaching relationships.