Mentoring sessions and matches
Create the sessions of a mentoring program, review and adjust the mentor and mentee pairs before sending them, and follow the results.
Once your mentoring program is set up, you run sessions to pair mentors and mentees. This article explains how to create sessions, review the pairs before sending them, and follow the results.
Sessions and milestones
| What it is | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Session | The event that pairs mentors and mentees. Each session creates new pairs. | For new pairs every quarter, you schedule 4 sessions a year. |
| Milestone | One of the meetings a pair has during the current session, as defined in the “Agenda” of the program. | Kickoff, Goal setting, Skills workshop, Final review. |
Each session follows all the milestones of your program. Pairs see them on their mentoring page.
Choose how sessions run
How you create sessions depends on the “Matching process” of the program, in “Settings” > “Matchmaking”:
- “Automatic”: pairs are generated and sent on the dates you schedule. Opt-in messages are available, but you cannot review the pairs before they are sent. See Schedule an automatic session.
- “Admin-led”: pairs are generated for you to review and adjust. The pairs are only sent on the date you choose. See Run an admin-led session.
Admin-led sessions are available in every mentoring program.
Schedule an automatic session
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Open your program, go to the “Sessions” tab, and click “Schedule a new session”.
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Choose the date of the opt-in message (if the program asks for participation) and the date of the match message, then the timezone.
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Choose the recurrence. For pairs that last several months, choose “One time only”, and schedule the next session at the end of the period.
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Click “Save”.
All the options are detailed in Schedule sessions.
Run an admin-led session
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Create the session.
In the “Sessions” tab, click “Create session”. The “Create an admin-led session” window opens:
- If the program uses “Ask for participation”, choose the date in “Send opt-in invitations on”. Members first receive the opt-in message. You will then review the pairs among those who accepted.
- Otherwise, the session is created right away and the pairs are generated automatically.
Click “Create session”. Only one session can run at a time.
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Open the pairs.
The session appears at the top of the “Sessions” tab, in “Current round”. Its match date is “Not scheduled”. Click the ”…” button, then “Review your matchs”.
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Review and adjust the pairs, then click “Save pairs”. See Review and adjust the pairs.
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Choose when to send the pairs.
Click “Update matching date”, choose the date and confirm. You can still review the pairs until this date.
If you change and save the pairs after setting a date, the date is removed: the session is no longer scheduled. Set the matching date again once you are done.
The detailed steps, with the warning shown when some participants are not in any pair, are in Run an admin-led session.
To cancel an admin-led session without opt-in before sending it, click ”…”, then “Cancel this session”.
Review and adjust the pairs
The “Review your matchs” page shows the pairs generated for the session. Each pair shows the mentor on the left and the mentee on the right, with their role.
Check the pairs
- Counters at the top: the number of “Pairs”, the pairs “With repeats”, the “Incomplete” pairs, the “Unmatched” members, and the unmatched mentors and mentees.
- Tags on each pair: “Repeat” when the members were already matched together (“Previously matched with” under their name), “Role conflict” when a pair is missing a mentor or a mentee, and a score that shows how well the pair meets your matching rules.
- Previews: once a pair has a mentor and a mentee, preview its milestones page or its match email with “Preview milestones” and “Preview match email”.
Change the pairs
- Move members: drag and drop a member from one pair to another, or from the list of unmatched members on the right. The list groups them by role. Use “Search mentor or mentee” to find someone.
- Change a role: in a pair, use “Choose role” to set who is the mentor and who is the mentee.
- Other actions: click the ”…” button at the top right.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| “Add a new pair” | Adds an empty pair that you fill in. |
| “Generate new matchs” | Generates new pairs for the session. |
| “Reset matchs” | Removes your changes. RandomCoffee generates the pairs again. |
| “Refresh users list” | Updates the list of participants, for example after new opt-ins, and generates the pairs again. |
| “Change timing” | Changes the date when the pairs are sent. |
| “Auto-fill incomplete groups” | Completes the incomplete pairs with unmatched members. |
| “Shuffle all members” | Mixes all the pairs again. |
| “Upload matchs” | Imports your own pairs from an .xlsx or .csv file. |
| “Download matchs” | Sends the file of the pairs to your email address. |
When you are done, click “Save pairs” (or “Save” in the “You have unsaved changes” bar). “Discard” cancels your changes.
Follow the results
The “Results” tab of a mentoring program shows how the pairs progress:
- “Overall KPIs”: “People satisfaction”, “Total milestones done”, “Milestones completion rate” and “Total pairs generated”.
- “Milestones Funnel”: how many milestones were created, booked and done, for all milestones or by milestone.
- “Skills breakdown”: the skills selected by participants.
- “Top-rated mentors”: the mentors whose meetings got the best ratings.
- “Sessions”: for each session, the reach, the opt-ins, the “Pairs generated”, the unmatched members, the “Meetings booked” and “Meetings completed”, the “Notes taken” and the ratings. Click “Export CSV” to receive the data by email.