Working Together

There may have been a time that mentoring services could succeed as isolated, insular programs. That time, if it ever existed, has now passed. Today mentoring programs must find ways to work together with other groups, organizations and sectors in order to survive and maximize their effectiveness and efficiency.

There are many ways in which your mentoring program can work with others to accomplish its purposes while also advancing the goals of its collaborators. Have a look at some of the ways of working together:

• Network
• Cooperation
• Coalition
• Sponsorship
• Partnership
• Merger

Regardless of which models of collaboration your program chooses, it is crucial to strengthen your program and the collective mentoring effort by coming together in the spirit of the greatest good. Your program should always be thinking, "Who can we be working with to make this even better?". By doing so, you reap the benefits of joint action, which are usually far greater than what can be achieved in isolation. Check out some of the potential accomplishments of working together with other groups, organizations and sectors.

It will require a combined effort to provide all young people in need of a mentor with high quality mentoring relationships. Your program will multiply its impact by joining in collective action that moves the powerful potential of mentoring closer to reality.

As a real test of your ability to work together, move on to work together one last time with Ms. Mentor.

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