Judging Criteria

1. Supports performers through best practices

• The entire program was built using best practices gathered from various organizations and different professional fields, creating a blend of ideas and best practices that serve a large variety of performers.

• These best practices are evident in the choices given to mentees when they complete exercises as they establish their mentoring agreement. The options given to them are a hybrid of best practices generated through extensive research.

• The flow of the program (establishing a mentoring agreement first, monitoring and measuring progress second, and then closing the project at an appropriate juncture) was determined using best practices by mentees and mentors.

2. Establishes, or aids in establishing, goals

• One section of the program focuses on helping performers establish learning needs and identify measurable goals based on those needs.

• The program assists users in their search for where to go for help by guiding them through the mentor selection process.

3. Minimizes terminology translation or interpretation

• This program minimizes jargon and industry-related language, enabling any industry to apply this tool to their needs.
• Support options are clearly labeled: Help, Print, Log Out and so forth.

4. Provides access to supporting and learning resources

• Open Mentoring comes with a Help feature that provides users with step-by-step directions on how to complete the exercises within the program.
• A learning track offers extensive supplemental material for people interested in learning more about mentoring in general.
• Should a user forget to complete a portion of an exercise, error windows offer clear directions on how to properly complete the exercise.
• Pop-up windows are used as quick ways to present reference material that will help the performer complete a particular exercise.

5. Focuses on task(s), processes, and the natural flow of work

• Pop-up windows containing relevant information are presented at precise moments during the workflow (see previous screen shot).
• Advice is offered when mentees are searching for mentors, providing them with a proper way to accomplish a goal at the proper moment.
• The program automatically generates e-mail communications.
• Information is chunked together in a predetermined order, guiding users through each section of the program at the appropriate time and in a natural flow (e.g., completing the negotiation of the mentoring agreement before beginning the actual relationship).

6. Stretches the PCD/EPSS paradigm

• Open Mentoring helps performers apply the critical concepts and principles of mentoring without previous knowledge, experience or training.
• The program is comprehensively designed to address the known barriers of effective mentoring in organizations today.
• The program makes the complexity of mentoring transparent to the performers.