From Participation to Impact: Designing Mentorship Programs for Engagement

While motivation matters, engagement can’t depend solely on individual willpower. Even the most well-intentioned mentors and mentees are navigating busy schedules, competing priorities, and uncertainty about what to discuss or how to measure progress. Without intentional support, engagement fades—not because people don’t care, but because the traditional structure doesn’t sustain it.

Engagement Can’t Be Left to Chance

Many mentorship programs assume that once a match is made, engagement will naturally follow. However, by some estimates, as many as a third to half of mentoring pairs end prior to the initial time commitment (Spencer, 2017). Mentorship relationships need scaffolding—enough structure to guide participants, without so much rigidity that the relationship loses its human, relational core.