Terms of Reference – Mentors

Mentoring will help support program participants in obtaining a comprehensive perspective that is
balanced between local and broader understanding of issues.
This program will match participants with mentors from outside their organization, thus providing
participants the opportunity to explore business processes or philosophies outside their organization
and obtain a fuller understanding of how municipal human services organizations address different
challenges and issues.
Program participants at the Advanced level in this Program will be required to appoint a mentor at the
start of the program. At the Intermediate and Associate levels, participants will have the option of
appointing a mentor along with a coach.

Criteria to be a mentor
The following criteria will guide OMSSA’s selection of mentors.
1. At least 7 years in a middle or senior management position in the municipal or provincial human
services environment. The mentor must:
 Currently be working in a middle or senior position, or
 Have retired from such a position within 2 years from year of mentoring, or
 Have retired within 5 years from year of mentoring, and continued to work with
municipal government in a consultative capacity.
2. Demonstrable experience in creating and/or approving policies and business practices that
indicate service system management approaches, OR nomination by a peer or senior manager.
3. Demonstrable understanding of using coaching approaches for managing relationships to
develop and sustain a progressive and supportive culture in the organization or department.
 This will be demonstrable through participant’s own description in mentoring
application, OR nomination by peer or senior manager.
4. Must be willing and able to commit to meeting regularly with the participant.
 The schedule and format of meetings will be determined between the mentor and
participant. OMSSA recommends mentors and participants meet for a minimum of an
hour over the course of a month.
5. Must be willing to participate in self and program evaluation processes to support program
quality assurance.
 Mentorships will be renewed on an annual basis – for existing mentors, this will mean a
formal acceptance of renewing their role (not reapplication).

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Roles and Responsibilities

The Mentor
The duties of the mentor, will include, but not be limited to:
- Meeting regularly with the participant to check learning progress – OMSSA suggests that
mentors and participants meet a minimum of one hour over the course of a month. The
schedule and format of meetings will be determined between the mentor and participant.
- Guide the participant’s learning and demonstration of program competencies, assisting the
participants’ understanding of the impact on the community of policy and legislative trends and
changes, and the different ways in which municipal human services organizations support their
local communities, by:
o Sharing experiences from own learning and experiences.
o Helping participant identify avenues to increase learning, for example, business articles,
other peers and networks.
o Using coaching approaches to support and increase the client’s understanding of their
own perspectives about issues and concepts.
- Attest to participant’s completion of each phase of the program. OMSSA will create the
evidentiary templates to obtain this testament.
Mentors as Reviewers
Program participants will be required to complete assignments during this program. Mentors will
have the opportunity to additionally submit their name as reviewers, including potential
participation in end of program peer review panels for intermediate and advanced level
participants.
While the mentoring opportunity is purely a voluntary one, remuneration will be discussed for
reviewing opportunities.

The participant
The participant works with their mentor to progress through the program. To ensure this is a productive
relationship, the participant must fulfil the following responsibilities:
- Meet regularly with the mentor to discuss progress and learnings.
- Take an active role in their learning.
- Document the discussions at the mentoring meetings through use of a learning journal.

OMSSA
OMSSA will support the mentoring relationship by:
1. Reviewing and approving mentor applications to ensure appropriate fit with the program.
2. Appoint mentors for participants.
3. Creating resources for the mentor to enable their learning and development as mentors for this
program, such as:

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 1. Terms of reference to guide the roles and responsibilities.
2. A semi-annual online or in person networking event for coaches and mentors to
exchange ideas and learn from each other. Based on needs identified by mentors, the
forum will also include learning opportunities.
3. Identify resources to help mentors understand current best practices in coaching and
mentoring.
4. Supports to help mentors conduct self-assessments to enable their capability as
mentors, as well as supports to provide feedback to enhance and improve the
mentoring relationship.
- Discounted rates to attend OMSSA workshops that would directly support their role as Mentors.
- Hold three way conversations with mentors and participants to support the participant’s
progress through the program.
- Develop templates, learning paths and assignments to support the participant’s self-directed
learning.

Expected Time Commitment

- We recommend that the participant and mentor connect for a minimum of one hour for every
four weeks over the course of the program. Mentor and participant will determine the way in
which they will connect – e.g. in person, over the phone.
- Exact schedule of meetings will be determined between mentor and participant. The schedule
will be shared with OMSSA at the start of the program.