Rafi Ahmed Mohammed: Mentoring Strategy Design Proposal for ECA

Rafi Ahmed Mohammed's assignment presents a detailed design proposal for a mentoring strategy tailored for ECA Consulting, a civil and structural engineering consultancy. The proposal, aimed at supporting new graduates (mentees), encompasses comprehensive planning, including market analysis and stakeholder engagement. It outlines pre-program development steps, such as stakeholder analysis and communication strategies, and emphasizes the program's purpose: empowering mentees, assisting in new roles, and fostering career growth. The report further delves into the mentoring model, program structure, and a management plan diagram. It then details mentor/mentee recruitment, selection, and the associated advantages and disadvantages of internal and external candidates. The proposal also includes a budget and action plans for forming an advisory committee. This assignment, available on Desklib, provides a valuable resource for understanding the intricacies of designing and implementing a successful mentoring program within a professional engineering context.

Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
Part 2: PRACTICAL ACTIVITY
Design Proposal for ECA Consulting Design Team
Introduction
This design proposal is designed for the ECA Consulting, which is a civil and
structural engineering consultancy. It contributes to develop the infrastructure of the towns,
cities and rural areas in South Africa. It comprises of various teams for engineering among
which the design team is the considered team for this proposal. There is high necessity of
employees who are smart and meet the needs of the engineering companies. Thus, the
following plan is designed based on their requirements, to sell the plan to ECA management
and the board. The new graduates are denotes as the mentees in the proposal.
1) Planning
1. Pre-Planning
For ECA consulting design team mentoring program, conduct pre planning assessment as
follows:
STEP-1: Conduct market analysis.
STEP-2: Analyze the program design and development of the program. From the analysis it
is determined that ECA wants to implement a mentoring program due to the following
drawbacks or limitations:
1) Lack of skills.
2) Improve productivity.
3) Prepare employees for career advancement.
4) To support and inspire the employees.
5) To help all the participants to develop their skills and attitude to be successful both
in their personal and professional lives.
6) To increase the retention.
7) To increase the rate of promotions and employee satisfaction.
2. Pre-program Development
Stakeholder analysis must be done for determining the possible relationship between the
program and the stakeholders. The following consultation methods can help to engage
with the stakeholders- Email, phone, one-on-one interviews, public meetings, pamphlets,
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
magazine etc.
The stakeholders for ECA are:
1) Directors of ECA
2) HR TEAM
3) Managers
4) Mentors
5) Mentees
6) Government officials
7) Neighboring communities
8) Vulnerable Groups
9) Employees and managers, and
10) NGO’s and conservation organizations
The communication chart is presented below:
Stakeholders Objective of Comm. Medium of Comm. Frequency
of Comm.
Audience
Directors of ECA Project objectives, tasks
allocation and
responsibility
Face - Face Twice in
week
ECA HR TEAM
HR TEAM Task allocation, medium
of communication
Face – Face, Email,
Phone calls
Throughout
the program
ECA directors,
managers,
mentors
Managers Introduction to the
project and program
Face - Face Once in a
week
HR Team,
Mentors, Mentees
Mentors Implement the program Face - Face Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
mentees
Mentees Progress in the program Face - Face Once in a
week
Mentors,
Managers
Government To conduct meetings  Texts, Phone,
Emails, or
Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
officials messages.
 Face-to-face
interviews.
 Conducting
formal
meetings.
mentees
Neighboring
communities
organizations
To share the required
process details
 Utilize the radio
announcements
and Print
media.
 Conducting
public
meetings.
 Focus on the
group
meetings.
 Conducting
Surveys.
 Information
Centre
Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
mentees
Vulnerable
Groups
To share the required
process details
 Utilize the radio
announcements
and Print
media.
 Conducting
public
meetings.
 Focus on the
group
meetings.
 Conducting
surveys.
Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
mentees
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
 Information
Centre
Employees and
managers
To share the information
of organizational
process.
 Phone / fax /
email / text
messaging
 Utilize the radio
announcements
and Print
media.
 Conducting
workshops.
 Focus on the
group
meetings.
 Conducting
surveys.
Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
mentees
NGO’s and
conservation
To contribute to the
country and conserve
the environment.
 Use Phone,
emails, fax or
text messages.
 Focus on the
group
meetings.
 Information
Centre
Once in a
week
HR Team,
Managers,
mentees
Engagement Methods Fitting Application for Methods
Information Centre and
Boards
Each community of project area must establish
Information Boards.
Communication using
phone, Texts, emails and
instant messages.
 Distributing the information of the program to
the organizations, government officials and
agencies.
 Invite the stakeholders to the arranged
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
meetings.
Radio announcements
and Print media
 Disseminating the information of the program
to a large number of audiences, and the
stakeholders who are uneducated.
 Make sure the stakeholders know about the
consultation meeting time, date and venue.
Formal meeting  Give the information of the mentoring
program to the stakeholder groups.
 Let the group of stakeholders to give their
opinions and share their views.
 Develop impersonal relations with the
stakeholders of high level.
 Distribute the necessary technical
documentations.
 Use PowerPoint presentations.
 Record the discussions, raised questions,
comments and responses.
One-on-one interview  Ask their views and opinions.
 Enable stakeholders to speak freely and
confidentially about controversial and sensitive
issues.
 Develop personal relations with the
stakeholders
 The interviews must be recorded and saved.
Public meeting  Present project information to a large
audience of stakeholders, and in particular
communities
 Let the group of stakeholders to provide their
views points and give their opinions.
 Develop relationship with the neighboring
communities.
 Share the non-technical information.
 Use PowerPoint presentations, models,
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
posters, videos and pamphlets or project
information documents in the meetings.
 Ensure to record the discussions, raised
questions, comments and responses.
Focus group meeting  Let the smaller group (i.e., ranging from 8 and
15 members) to share their views points,
including the opinions of the targeted baseline
information.
 Develop relationship with the neighboring
communities.
 Utile focused group interview guidelines for
facilitating the discussions.
 The responses must be recorded.
Workshop  Share the mentoring program’s information
with the group of stakeholders.
 Let the group of stakeholders to share their
opinions and ask to suggest their view points.
 Utilize the participatory exercises for
facilitating the discussions of groups, analyzing
the information, brainstorm the issues, and
developing the necessary strategies and
recommendations.
 Responses must be recorded.
Survey  Collect views and opinions of each
stakeholder.
 Collect the baseline data.
 Data must be recorded.
 Baseline database must be developed to
monitor the impacts.
The below table depicts the stakeholder analysis in context to the appropriate consultation
levels for each identified stakeholder groups.
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
3. Structure the Mentoring Program
3.1 Purpose
The Purposes of Mentoring includes:
 For empowering the mentee.
 To assist an individual in the newly hired post.
 To assist an individual who requires new aspect to their current working role.
 To make the mentee find solution for their difficult situations.
 To provide information and not advice.
 To allow access to situations, knowledge, or networks.
3.2 Type of Mentee
The following are the type of mentees:
1) Introvert mentee
2) Intuitive mentee
3) Extrovert mentee
3.3 Need and goals of the program
The mentoring program is required to help the internal and external candidates to build their
skills, attitudes and perspective to increase their career’s growth and to help the organization
to benefit from it.
3.4 Mentoring model and structure
The following refers to the mentoring model and structure:
 Define Mentoring Program’s objectives.
 Find Your Executive Champion
 Determine an Appropriate Budget
 Identify the Employees To Participate In The Mentoring Programs.
 Determine Mentoring Program Structure
 Plan Your Mentor Matching Strategy and Tactics
 Find Your Mentors
 Publicize
 Create Mentoring Communication
 Develop and Track Mentoring Program Metrics
 Success!
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
3.5 Management plan diagram
Figure: Management plan diagram
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
3.6 Design the mentoring program
Figure: Mentoring program design
1. Develop an action plan to form an advisory committee
The action plan for forming an advisory committee is provided stepwise:
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
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Action plan Responsible Persons Responsibilities
Define the purpose Management To define the purpose and
objectives clearly.
Recruiting the doubters Recruiters To select the right
individual, who gives
brutally honest feedbacks
which could even
contradict others thinking.
Leverage the network Entrepreneur/owner To find the potential
advisors, from the
personal or professional
network.
Creating agreement owner To create a written
agreement which defines
their roles and
responsibilities, including
other expectations.
Valuing time Advisors The advisors get involved
with their expertise and
desire to help others, so
their time is valuable.
Keep it intimate. Owner Only the skilled advisors
must be approached to
seek advice on specific
challenges faced in the
program.
Maximize the value. Owner The venue, time, agenda
and location of the
meeting must also be
preplanned which
increases the value of the
meeting.
Ensure to maintain the
ongoing communication.
owner To maintain good
relationaship.

Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
Part 2
2. Develop/select forms and determine a budget
The following steps must be followed for determining the budget for ECA consulting’s
mentoring program:
Expenditure Amount
Cost of promotion $50, 000
Recruitment of a mentor $1,70, 000
Charges of mentor (outsourced) $1,00, 000
Human Resources costs $3,00, 000
Materials and other cost $1,50, 000
Total cost for mentoring program $7,70,000
2) Mentor/Mentee Recruitment and Selection
1. Mentor Recruitment
Potential Sources for Mentor Recruitment
The potential sources for recruitment of mentor are:
1) Internal candidates:
The internal candidates refer to the employees who work in the organization.
2) External candidates:
The external candidates refer to the outside candidates.
The following are the advantages and disadvantages of internal candidates:
 Advantages:
1) It costs less for the organization to recruit the internal candidates.
2) It takes less time to recruit.
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Rafi Ahmed Mohammed
201800912
Plan and implement a mentoring strategy
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3) Helps to closely monitor the internal candidates before their
selection.
4) Encouraging the internal candidates to apply for a promotion.
5) It creates better understanding of the new role.
6) Increases the return on employee investments.
7) Decreases the rate of staff turnover.
8) Motivates and engages the highly promising employees.
9) Develops the skill and leadership qualities of the employees.
10) Ensures sharing of internal knowledge and experience among the
employees.
 Disadvantages:
a) The chances to get fresh ideas for the organizational benefit are
less.
b) The required skill might not be available inside the organisation.
c) The total number of applicants from which to select is either
extremely more or less.
d) Internal employee’s promotion can create resentment among the
rest of the employees, as they could feel they are more
deserving.
e) For complying with the internal recruitment policy (i.e.,
Employment Equity Act), less qualified employees could be
promoted when compared to external candidates.
f) The internal employees’ negative attitudes cannot be changed
with promotion.
g) Possibilities of passing the contagious negative behaviour and
habits of one employee to the other divisions.
The following are the advantages and disadvantages of External candidates:
 Advantages:
1) It allows the organization to have a large number of candidates to
find suitable candidate.
2) It gives fresh ideas for the organization to be stay competitive in a
long run.
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