To help ensure the success of an in-house mentoring program it’s important that sufficient resources be dedicated to administering it. It’s a good idea to identify an individual who has overall responsibility for program management and administration. For example, this person (we’ll refer to them as the Program Administrator) may be someone from human resources, or perhaps a training and development person.

Mentoring committees

Depending on the size, formality, and culture of your organization, you may create a committee to oversee the mentoring program. Having a committee comprised of senior leaders from different parts of the organization can help foster broad-based support for the program and participation in the program. The committee can be charged with making key decisions related to the program structure and design. Even if a committee is ultimately in charge of the program, it’s a good idea to appoint a Program Administrator to look after day-to-day matters and to report to the committee.

Program Administrator Responsibilities

Here’s a checklist of typical responsibilities of a Program Administrator:

• Oversee the program;
• Ensure program goals are clearly communicated;
• Promote the program within the organization;
• Recruit participants;
• Communicate with participants;
• Address any problems encountered by participants;
• Monitor program participation;
• Coordinate any program-related training;
• Maintain management support for the program through periodic updates;
• Evaluate the program and report the results; and
• Recommend program modifications, if any are needed.

If the program involves matching mentors and mentees, the Program Administrator would also typically be responsible for overseeing the matching process.