National Mentoring Program
A powerful personal development and empowerment tool
National Mentoring Program
All students, graduates, emerging architects and senior members of the Australian Institute of Architects are encouraged to get involved and take advantage of the benefits associated with mentoring.
Our mentoring platform, enables you to easily match with other members of the Institute community.
Utilising online specialist matching software, mentors and mentees will find a carefully curated match across the country or closer to home should that be your preference.
HOW TO GET STARTED
1. SIGN UP
Register to be a mentor, mentee or both! The page will ask you to complete questions about you, your career and what you would want to achieve in this program.
2. Find a match
Once you create your profile, you can check out the recommended matches, or browse all program participants to find a match.
3. Set goals
Goal setting is an integral part of the mentoring journey. Whether you’re a mentor, mentee or both you can set goals directly from the dashboard.
Progress your career
THE BENEFITS OF MENTORING
Mentoring is a powerful personal development and empowerment tool. It is a partnership between two people (mentor and mentee) and is an effective way of helping people to progress in their careers.
For mentees: as you progress in your studies and career, connect with new mentors who can offer support, advice and opportunities. By using the program, you will be empowered to build your very own advisory board, whose experience you can draw on throughout the course of your career.
For mentors: this is a great chance to give back while improving your leadership and management skills by providing advice and feedback to someone who can really use your help.
Testimonials
I find the energy and curiosity brought to these encounters makes our interactions feel meaningful and gives me the sense of contributing to our shared industry.
It has been great to have people reach out with a particular interest in sustainability to be able to share knowledge with others about a topic that is of deep importance to me."
I’ve been delighted to discover that I’ve also learned a great deal from my mentees, and am looking forward to continuing as a mentor for as long as I have wisdom to contribute!
I highly recommend getting on board with the program. It’s not a huge commitment, and a great excuse to get out of the studio for lunch and to talk some shop."
“I’ve enjoyed connecting with others on the Mentorloop platform, both in ongoing mentorship relationships as well as casual one-off catch-ups.
I find the energy and curiosity brought to these encounters makes our interactions feel meaningful and gives me the sense of contributing to our shared industry.
It has been great to have people reach out with a particular interest in sustainability to be able to share knowledge with others about a topic that is of deep importance to me personally and professionally.”
Madeline Sewall, Director of Houses, Breathe
WHAT USERS HAVE TO SAY
TESTIMONIALS
“I’ve had the good fortune of mentoring four mentees over the past couple of years through the Institute’s national mentoring program. It’s been a great way to connect with new people from the profession and help develop their expertise in my area of interest, which is the business of architecture.
I’ve been delighted to discover that I’ve also learned a great deal from my mentees, and am looking forward to continuing as a mentor for as long as I have wisdom to contribute!
I highly recommend getting on board with the program. It’s not a huge commitment, and a great excuse to get out of the studio for lunch and to talk some shop.”
Warwick Mihaly, Principal Architect, Mihaly Slocombe Architects
Frequently asked questions
The Institute’s National Mentoring Program is run through third party online platform, Mentorloop, with the Institute as Program Coordinator. Mentorloop is an online matching platform enabling mentors and mentees to form a ‘loop’ engaging directly online and arranging their preferred frequency and mode of interaction to achieve their mentoring goals.
Registration is exclusive to members of the Australian Institute of Architects.
To join the Institute you can click here to view the membership options.
Participants should always maintain professional and respectful communication with others throughout the program and, as Institute members, they also agree to maintain compliance with all policies of the Board and National Council.
These policies include but are not limited to the
On registration participants are also required to read and agree to the terms and conditions as stated on the Mentorloop platform.
The program is intended to support professional development and should not be used for the purposes of either seeking or offering employment.
A mentor is someone who can provide guidance, advice, feedback and support to mentees. Mentors will provide mentees with all the tools to be able to develop their professional skills within the profession.
There is no cost to join the Mentoring Program. The platform is avalaible as one of the many benefits of joining as a member.
Once you have signed up, you can start looking for your mentoring match through a search engine which filters your match based on your prefilled preference on your profile or you can filter manually by location, areas of expertise and more.
The information that you have provided on your profile will be visible to other participants.
These include: a brief biography, your state and location suburb, areas of development, study or expertise and your expectations.
We understand the demands of your schedule. Our program offers flexible mentoring arrangements to suit your availability. You have the option to set your status to avalaible or unavailable.
Once you have matched with your mentee or mentor, we recommend discussing the frequency of communication (e.g. fortnightly, monthly, quarterly) with your match.
Mentors and mentees register into the program by responding to a series of questions designed to establish their areas of expertise or areas for which mentoring is sought. These details, along with career stage and location are used as matching criteria for participants to obtain an ideal mentoring match.
Sometimes, it can be challenging as some may have a very busy schedule or they are inactive on the program. However, if your match has not responded, you can contact your program coordinator to contact them on your behalf or provide you with another match.
The National Mentoring Program is a benefit exclusive to our members. To access this invaluable platform, individuals must be active members of the Institute.
A few ways to spark your mentoring relationship:
Peruse your mentor’s digital professional profile.
Check out their LinkedIn profile, and if they have it, their other social media accounts or blog.Send through a quick bio or intro via Mentorloop chat.
Give them a bit of background on your career, where you want to go, and how you’re hoping they can help you get there.Consider your goals for this mentorship.
Although you can ask your mentor for help in setting goals, it’s helpful to give this a think before you meet.Help them help you.
Consider your needs and be open with your mentor about them; help your mentor support you better.Who, what, when, where, how…
Think about how often you want to touch base – through video call? At the local cafe?
There are currently 1020 participants in the Mentoring Program.
You can contact your program coordinator via the chat function in mentorloop. However, if you have any questions about the mentoring program, please feel free to email us at membership@architecture.com.au
The mentoring program operates through a third-party platform known as Mentorloop. An app is currently available for download exclusively for Apple users, while efforts are underway to finalise the app for Android users.
The frequency, location and form of mentoring is decided between mentor and mentee when they form their mentoring ‘loop.’ The match is made online and while communication between matched participants occurs online through the platform, Mentorloop functions as a vehicle for managing and documenting the relationship while encouraging development of the connection and achieving mentoring goals.
Not yet a member?
Our National Mentoring Program is available to all of our members.
We offer a range of membership options to suit all levels of experience, participation, and practice size.
