Mentoring Plan Staffing Plan Mentoring

Mentoring Plan

STAFFING PLAN

mentoring

Mentoring Plan

This document explains Citizens Property Insurance Corporation's mentoring plan for workers involved in the new customer care center project. The purpose of this plan is to explain the duration, selection process, program structure, training, and communication requirements of mentees and mentors.

Mentoring: An overview

Mentoring can serve many functions, including orienting, training, and supporting new workers. For an insurance company that is highly dependent upon commission-based sales, master salesmen identified as highly skilled would make ideal mentors. Having such sales professionals mentor a new salesperson for an initial orientation period, and then continue to meet with the trainee at frequent intervals to discuss sales techniques will increase the company's likely profitability as well as prove helpful for trainees. For non-sales staff dealing with the public, mentoring after the training period will also be an ongoing process, as more experienced staff members are paired with less experienced staff members, who will then evaluate their performance in customer relations.

For employees who do not deal with the public, after the initial orientation and trial period for employees, mentoring will be used to nurture highly capable leaders to prepare them for managerial positions, as determined through regular performance reviews.

Selection

One of the difficulties of any sales-based enterprise is the need to create a sense of cohesion amongst salespersons, and to enable sales staff to share their insight with new trainees. During the orientation period, all new sales trainees will be assigned salespersons designated as master salespeople, with a proven track record of success. After the training period is over, new sales staff will be able to meet with their mentors regularly, to discuss concerns and questions they have about customer interactions. A similar program will be instated with customer support staff. Selected customer interactions will be taped and reviewed, and more effective methods of improving customer assistance will be discussed between mentors and mentees. For administrative staff, individuals selected as being promotion-worthy for leadership positions based upon performance reviews will also be selected and identified for mentorship by high-performing members of upper level management.

Program structure

All mentorship programs will have three phases: orientation; training (the most intense part of the mentoring process); and follow-up meetings. During orientation, mentors and mentees will be matched with one another on a one-to-one basis in both sales and customer service areas; in administrative areas, when high-performing individuals are targeted for promotion, as part of their introduction to their new job, they will be matched with a mentor with a similar job description. During the training process, mentees will be observed and monitored by their mentors and given advice pertinent to their occupation; after the training period mentors will continue to monitor mentee's performance (through sales figures, recordings of customer interactions, performance reviews) and meet with mentees to provide more general advice and support.

Training

Mentors will also receive training in mentorship skills: it is hoped that the additional duties of mentorship will not be unwelcome, given the additional education and professional support mentors will receive, as part of a general organizational effort. All members of the organization will receive training in mentorship skills, and sales staff, customer service support, and senior management will then be 'broken down' into individual groups and given specific training.