Reps/SOPs/Mentoring Training

Mentoring is core to the success of the Mozilla Reps Program. You can find the Mentor SOP here. This page outlines steps identified for Mentor training.

Mozilla Reps are community builders, community managers and the core of the program - please suggest updates to this training.

Mentor Orientation Steps

1. Attend On-boarding Call: New Mentors are invited to a meeting with some members of Reps Council, as an opportunity to ask questions. A this time council will reinforce the invitation to mentors as partners in community health and success.
2. Attend Training Call / Or Review of Training Video(TBA), which is based on this Wiki.
3. Subscribe to reps-mentors@lists.mozilla.org

Resources

Community Resources (please add more!)

Working with community, even with people you know very well can come with unexpected challenges, victories and questions the need for more information. Here are some suggested resources, but PLEASE, please add yours:

• The Art of Community
• Dealing with Disrespect
• Code of Conduct
• Mozilla Community Guidelines

Rep Resources

• Currently reviewing what should go here, as we have quite a few outdated wikis.

Mentoring Overview

Task Types

The Mentor SOP outlines the Mentor role as consisting of both Administrative and Mentoring duties. Administrative Duties speak to the role's obligations reviewing applications, sending 'Welcome Packs' and reviewing Bugs, while Mentoring Duties are those skills that best relate to the success of Reps mentees on a human level.

You can read more in the Mentor SOP.

Budgets

One of THE most helpful, meaningful, awesome, impact-ful, productive, WONDERFUL things you can do for the program is to properly review budgets. Here are some high-level suggestions for making council's work easier, and budgets more likely to pass through without challange:

• Ask questions about metrics if you don't understand them, or if seem overly optimistic for an event. Suggest metrics your mentee may not have considered.
• If Reps have hosted similar events, ask them to evaluate (with you) ways to improve with new events based on their experiences (blog posts and metrics) of the past.
• Encourage Reps to seek donation of space, partnership for catering and any other inventive methods of saving money they can come up with.
• Discourage travel where unnecessary
• Ensure Events have detailed agendas
• Watch over-bloating of catering or printing, and make suggestions for cutting back.
• [Please add other questions you think are valuable in this process!]

More on Budget SOP process Here.

Communication

You'll notice this section is quite long, but it only speaks to the importance of communication for Mozilla Rep Mentors!

Communicating with other Mentors

It's important to understand that as a new mentor, you have a community of mentors to lean on, and to ask for advice. There is a LOT to mentoring, and so don't be shy about posting questions on the dist list, or requesting feedback. Or if you find yourself to have great success in one area, sharing that will help others too.

Communicating with Council

You are your mentees first line of communication, BUT please know that council is exists to support you on matters that may feel out of your comfort-zone or expertise to deal with. Please reach out any time for assistance.

Although not specifically communication-related, one of the most important things you can share is the news (and names!) of new and emerging leaders. Mozilla leaderhip is often asked seeking community opinions, and while we are good at celebrating existing, and longer-term leadership it's a goal to be more deliberate about including emerging leaders in discussions: Diversity of new visions, new ideas, new energy helps us grow in health. Please help us identify emerging leaders!

Communicating with Rep Mentees

Design and implement feedback loops

Based on the Orientation call, be deliberate about scheduling communication with your mentee. Time can go by very quickly without realizing it's been one month, or two - or three. Adding it to the calender as a reminder ensures consistency which really makes a difference for your mentee. And for you! Now is a good time to think about how communication with our own mentor is working, and whether that needs revisited as well.

Ensure your communication times have specific goals, even if it's just to ask for feedback, on how a recent event went, how they feel about something recent in the program (like change to reports). Always keep in mind opportunity to improve the project by elevating feedback to other parts of the project.

• If feedback indicates an issue that council should be aware of, please email council with details. Examples could be:
• Discussions where your mentee reports having faced abusive behavior in the community.
• Discussions where your mentee expresses concerns about misused funds or swag in their community.
• Discussions where your mentee shares successes, ideas and/or initiatives that could benefit the Reps program as a whole.
• General concerns you may have about your mentee, that may be too personal to discuss with the mentor community.

1. If feedback is important to a functional area, or leadership in general encourage your mentee to reach out to those groups or offer to do it if they are not comfortable.

The general point being - that there is opportunity for the entire project in feedback from the 'front line' of the project.

Reviewing an applicant

One of the most important jobs you'll have as a mentor is to interview a mentee.

• Please review the SOP on this topic.

Reps Portal

• Review of Mentor Dashboard on Reps Portal

Rep's Portal is constantly being improved, currently you'll find the following features available to help make your work easier.

Dashboard

• Also available to Mentors, the Dashboard will have new features available to you including the 'my mentees' tab for activities and actual 'Mentorship' section where assigned mentee bugs will lives, until closed.

From the Dashboard you'll also find links to Mentee Reports , and an an option to 'Email Mentees' which can be used for quick correspondence.

• Best practices - email filter
• Best practices scheduling mentee communication
• Google Calendar

Resolving Conflict

• Reaching out to your own Mentor for advice
• Escalating to Council

Transition

Stepping down as Mentor

TBA

Absence

From time to time, you may be unavailable, and it's important to communicate these absences to those who depend on you.

=Finding support for your mentee

• If you are unavailable, please add an auto-responder to your email letting mentees know of our absence, and who to contact in your absence. Alternately you can reach out to them individually using the Reps portal for messaging mentees or through personal email.
• If your absence is extended greater than 3 months, please reach out to council with a request for reassignment of mentees, or a plan for this time period.

Wrap Up

• Importance of the role*
• Value of this role to Reps Leadership, and Mozilla Leadership
• Be Proud
• We Love you