Reimagined SIC: Part II - MENTORSHIP MODEL
Learning from feedback, our team took time this summer to reimagine the Social Innovation Challenge. This is the second part of a blog series presenting updates in the SIC, continuing from Part I - Participant Experience.
Mentorship is an integral part of the Social Innovation Challenge. Each year, we provide participants the opportunity to connect with mentors. These mentors range from industry professionals and entrepreneurs to graduated optiMize fellows. Mentors have incredible feedback for our teams, not only providing advice for their projects but also further resources and contacts. Oftentimes, teams will connect with mentors offline to connect further on their project.
In previous years, we’ve held frequent mentor check-ins on a sign-up basis. These were done virtually in a round-robin format where 2-3 SIC groups would present one at a time, receiving feedback from fellow participants, mentors, and optiMize staff who were present as facilitators and notetakers. While we received positive feedback from these mentor check-ins, we felt that we could improve the mentorship interactions even more. Therefore, we conducted our own stakeholder analysis to address how we can better support participants with mentorship. After gaining insights and feedback from participants, staff, and mentors in our community, we learned that there was a desire for more intentional mentorship engagement.
Our new mentorship model
Our current mentorship model has evolved to emphasize in-person engagement. This year, over 15 mentors are participating on-site, complemented by another 15+ virtual mentors dedicated to our virtual challenge for community college students. We also strongly value continuous improvement, hoping to integrate mentor feedback to improve our mentorship model. One addition we have introduced is structured feedback sessions where mentors can share insights and help improve both the mentorship program and the SIC. Beyond mentorship itself, we fostered a sense of community through social events like an exclusive dinner for mentors at The Deep End Cafe, owned by optiMize’s Mentorship & External Engagement Manager, Candace.
Active recruitment efforts have also expanded, with outreach to various university departments, such as the First-Gen & Transfer Student Center, to better support SIC participants. Looking ahead, we aim to establish long-term partnerships across the university, creating a sustainable pipeline of mentors to guide future innovators.
Actions we took to support this change
To support these mentorship enhancements, our mentorship team introduced several key initiatives. Prior to starting, mentors sign a commitment form, pledging to uphold the values of optiMize and our “why not me?” motto. A revamped onboarding program was also launched to better prepare mentors, particularly as we transitioned from a primarily virtual model to more in-person engagement. Throughout the challenge, we introduced a 25+ page Mentor Guidebook to improve our training process. This is a living document for mentors, detailing expectations, resources, and best practices. This guidebook complements our existing SIC Participant Guidebook, demonstrating our organization’s commitment to providing our participants and mentors with the necessary resources in one place for the Social Innovation Challenge.
Introducing the CARE Model
During the challenge, in-person mentors attend the latter half of the workshop, providing feedback and sparking insightful conversations during PODs (Peer-Oriented Discussions), which is a new addition to the SIC, as explained in our last blog post. They also provide feedback during prototyping sessions and showcases. Over time, we’ve seen participants having repeated engagement with in-person mentors. Teams and mentors will often check in with each other at workshops, sharing project updates and questions.
We’ve also created a “CARE” model for facilitators and mentors, which outlines steps for meaningful exchange and feedback during conversations. The CARE model is the following:
Create personal connections — check in with individuals as humans first
Appreciate what you can learn — be an active listener and ask clarifying questions
Review constructive feedback — provide feedback that is non-directive and considerate of the student’s overall wellbeing
Encourage and share excitement — be a thought partner and encourage radical brainstorming
Many of the amazing improvements to the SIC mentorship model were led by leaders from our Mentorship Team, such as Rishika and Michael shown in this picture!
Reflection
As the workshops come to a close, we, as optiMize leadership, have reflected on how in-person mentorship has shaped the SIC participant experience. We’ve noticed participants and mentors building a connection over the six workshops, rather than a one-time touchpoint from our traditional round-robin mentorship model. Participants and mentors have created personal connections, as described in the CARE model, recognizing each other as humans first. Never in the 13 years have we seen these multiple touchpoints in person. Seeing projects jump from ideation to prototypes has been incredibly exciting for us, and it’s even more meaningful for mentors.
Our Mentorship Lead, Michael, shares that mentors enjoy the face-to-face interactions and the meaningful conversations they have in small groups of participants. He’s also noticed how participants choose to stay after workshops to continue talking with mentors, building a strong connection.
Be a mentor! (in-person or virtual)
Many of our mentors come back year after year. We look forward to continuing the work to cultivate a strong mentor network that supports the needs of our participants and mentors. While this blog post focuses on our in-person mentors, we are still engaging our virtual mentors, recognizing that many of them connected to the community but no longer local. We do this through multiple pathways, such as our virtual Social Innovation Challenge for community college students and our active Mentorship Database on optiPortal that all participants can access and reach out to mentors of interest.
We invite all postgraduate professionals and entrepreneurs to reach out if interested in joining our mentorship community!
Stay tuned for the next part of this “Reimagined SIC” series, where we’ll talk about how Transfer Bridge Fellows have been involved in the Social Innovation Challenge to build projects to improve transfer student experience!