Mentor Training Call Series – Call #1 You and Your Operation as Mentor 9/19 & 9/21

Are you considering mentoring apprentices or interns on your ranch or farm?

Want to improve apprentice recruitment, selection, training, education/work balance work and feedback? Join us on our free mentor training call series, designed to help you and your apprentice have a more successful season!

Calls are led by NAP’s founding mentor and mentor training specialist, Julie Sullivan. Call topics are based on over 15 years of experience mentoring young agrarians (and all of the trials and tribulation, joys and missteps encountered along the way). For more mentor training resources from the New Agrarian Program, visit this page.

Each call topic is offered twice via Zoom, on Tuesday 9/19 at 12pm or Thursday 9/21 at 7am. See below for individual call descriptions and registration links. Send any questions to Julie Sullivan at julie@quiviracoalition.org.

Mentor Training Call Dates 2023-2024, All times are Mountain

Call #1: Sept. 19th noon, Sept. 21st 7 am

• You and your operation as Mentor
  Mentoring differs from being an employer in key ways: how do you know if it’s right for you? What are you excited to teach? The answers to these and other questions will help you write an apprenticeship description that is both appealing and realistic about the ups and downs of regenerative agriculture on your site. We’ll discuss ways to describe work schedules, location, isolation, and other factors, to be sure your description will appeal to the applicants you most want to attract.

Call #2: November 7th noon, Nov 9th 7 am

• Evaluating Written Applications
  Reading applications for obvious strengths as well as for someone with potential is supported by a strong evaluation process that starts before you read a single application. We will share strategies for tackling the pile of applications, evaluation templates, and sample email responses to applicants who you would like to interview and those you will decline. 

Call #3: December 5th noon, Dec 7th 7 am

• Interviewing for Your Best Candidate
  How can you best Interview to reveal the skill level, motivation and aptitude of an applicant and determine if they are right for your operation? We’ll share great questions that lead to thorough responses regarding experience and motivation.  What questions can’t be asked, for legal reasons? How do you find out what you most need to know? And how do you select your finalists? We’ll discuss all this as well as conducting both phone/video and on-site interviews.

Call #4: January 16th noon, Jan 18th 7 am

• Expectations Explained: Yours and Theirs
  You’ve chosen your apprentice and are preparing for their arrival. How do you set clear expectations of job responsibilities, days off, work schedules, team meetings, and your workplace culture? Writing an apprenticeship agreement, creating a skills list, and setting clear boundaries at the beginning can support a successful apprenticeship.

Call #5: February 6th noon, Feb 8th 7 am

• Connecting Work and Education
  How do you structure the workday, week, and month so that priorities are established, and both work and education happen? Strategies shared include weekly planning meetings, how to find those ‘teachable moments’ during a workday, and ways to do up-front training to get your apprentice going and maintain focus, communication and motivation in the busy season.

Call #6: March 5th noon, March 7th 7 am

• Sustaining Apprentice Motivation
  Apprentice motivation can falters a few months in. We’ll discuss ways to co-create apprentice goals that take advantage of the built-in learning at your operation, and ways to keep that momentum going through the season, including identifying apprentice solo study, local resource people to learn from, and visiting other operations. Skill sheets are great prompts for this so we’ll discuss ways to make them truly effective and useful to you and your apprentice.

Call #7: April 23rd noon, April 25th 7 am

• Feedback to Feed Forward
  Actionable feedback catalyzes learning and motivation by correcting errors while looking ahead to further development. We’ll share a variety of tried and true methods for productive feedback conversations both scheduled and impromptu, as well as how to get feedback to help you grow as a mentor.