Managing Mentoring Circles

Mentoring circles are facilitator-led small groups that run inside GROUP-format programs. One facilitator (an enrolled mentor) leads a configurable number of participants (enrolled mentees) through your program's session guides on the same check-in cadence as 1:1 matches. Circles are admin-formed, facilitator-led, and participant-rated. This article covers the full lifecycle from program creation through completion.

Prerequisites

Group mentoring must be enabled for your organization. If you do not see the GROUP format option in the program creation wizard, contact your platform administrator to enable the feature. You also need the Manage Matches permission for the program (circles reuse the same permission as 1:1 matches).

Creating a GROUP Program

When creating a new program, select Group (Mentoring Circles) as the program format. The format choice determines how the program operates:

• One-on-One programs create traditional mentor-mentee matches.
• Group programs form mentoring circles instead.

A program cannot be both. Once the first circle or match is created in a program, the format is locked and cannot be changed.

Participant Bounds

During program creation, you configure the minimum and maximum number of participants per circle. The defaults are 3 minimum and 8 maximum, but you can set any value from 3 to 20. Both bounds must be set together. You can adjust bounds later from the program detail page using the circle size editor, but the change only affects circles created after the update.

What Differs from 1:1 Programs

• The match configuration page is replaced by the Circles tab.
• The AI matching engine, auto-match scheduler, and manual match routes do not operate on GROUP programs.
• The partnership agreement gate does not apply. If your organization requires agreements before sessions, the program wizard shows an inline notice explaining that this setting is skipped for circles. Circle norms form organically through facilitator-authored session notes.
• Session guides and program sessions work identically. The session count determines circle length (the circle auto-completes once all sessions are done).

Forming Circles

Navigate to the Circles tab on your GROUP program's detail page. Click Create Circle to form a new circle manually, or Suggest Circles to use AI-assisted formation.

Manual Formation

The manual roster builder lets you select one facilitator (from enrolled mentors) and participants (from enrolled mentees). You can add any active, onboarded member who meets these criteria:

• Status is ACTIVE and onboarding is complete
• Enrolled in this program on the matching role side (mentor for facilitator, mentee for participant)
• Not already in another active circle in this program on that side

Circles are created in DRAFT status. DRAFT circles are invisible to members and can be freely edited (you can swap roster members, change the facilitator, or delete the circle entirely without anyone being notified).

AI-Assisted Suggest

Click Suggest Circles to have the platform propose circle groupings based on profile similarity. The AI uses the same embedding-based matching engine to cluster participants with complementary profiles, then assigns facilitators by centroid similarity to each cluster.

Each proposed circle includes a formation rationale explaining why those members were grouped together. The rationale is generated by AI and helps you evaluate whether the suggestion makes sense for your program goals. Members missing from the embedding index receive random placement rather than being excluded.

Accepting a suggestion creates the circles as DRAFTs with the proposed rosters. You can edit them before activation.

Activating Circles

Activation moves a circle from DRAFT to ACTIVE. This is when members are notified and sessions begin. To activate, open a DRAFT circle and click Activate.

Activation enforces:

• Exactly one facilitator on the roster
• Participant count within your program's configured bounds (minimum to maximum)
• All roster members are ACTIVE, onboarded, and enrolled on the correct side
• No roster member is already in another active circle in this program on the same side

If any check fails, you receive a specific error explaining what to fix. Two DRAFT circles may share a member, but only one can be activated for that member (the second activation will fail cleanly).

Once active, the circle engine begins: the introduction email goes out to the full roster, and the session cadence starts.

Monitoring Circle Health

At-Risk Indicators

The circle engine sends session reminders and tracks facilitator completion. When a facilitator does not mark a session complete within half the program cadence (minimum 7 days), the system sends the facilitator a nudge. After two consecutive missed sessions, the circle is marked at risk and you receive an admin alert.

At-risk circles display a warning indicator on the Circles tab. You can reach out to the facilitator directly or cancel the circle if needed.

Inactivity Cancellation

If a circle remains stuck on the same session for roughly 6 months (26 consecutive stall cycles), it is automatically cancelled with reason INACTIVITY and you receive a final admin alert. This terminal cancel releases members from the one-active-circle-per-program eligibility rule so they can be placed into new circles.

Facilitator Loss

If a facilitator is deactivated, banned, or has their membership expire, the circle is automatically cancelled. Facilitator replacement is not supported in this version. Cancelled members remain in the enrollment pool and can be placed into new circles.

Managing Individual Circles

From the circle detail page, you can:

• View the roster with member names, roles, and status
• Remove a participant from an active circle (if the last participant is removed, the circle is cancelled)
• Force complete the circle (marks as COMPLETED, sends completion notifications and certificates)
• Cancel the circle (specify a reason; members are notified if the circle was ACTIVE)
• View session history showing which sessions are completed and participant feedback ratings
• View broadcast history showing all facilitator messages sent to the circle
• View survey responses (attributed, by question, with aggregates and return-intent signals)

The facilitator cannot be removed from an active circle. To replace a facilitator, cancel the circle and form a new one.

Sessions and Facilitator Tools

Sessions follow your program's session guides. The facilitator marks each session complete (with an optional rating and note). After the facilitator completes a session, participants receive a feedback request asking them to rate the session (thumbs up or down, with an optional note).

The facilitator can also:

• Write session notes visible to all circle members (participants see a read-only view)
• Broadcast messages to the circle (up to 5 per day, with a toggle for reply-all or one-way delivery)
• Create goals and action items for the group (goals are facilitator-owned; action items can be created by any active member and assigned to any roster member)

Surveys and Feedback

Completion Survey

When a circle completes, all active members receive an exit survey via email. The survey is role-differentiated: participants rate facilitator effectiveness and group dynamics, while facilitators rate group engagement and support needed. Both sides answer questions about format fit, NPS, and return intent.

The return intent answer controls whether the member re-enters the matching pool for future circles. A "yes" flips their enrollment back to seeking. Survey responses are visible only to admins, never to the facilitator or other members.

Cancelled Circle Survey

Circles cancelled due to inactivity or facilitator loss receive a shorter, fixed 3-question survey asking what happened and whether the member would join again. Other cancellation reasons (admin-cancelled, program wind-down) do not trigger surveys. The cancelled-circle survey has no reminder ladder and no re-pool effects.

Achievements and Certificates

When a circle completes:

• All active participants earn a Circle Complete achievement
• The facilitator earns milestone achievements at 1, 3, and 5 completed circles (displayed as violet badges)
• A completion certificate is emailed to all active roster members with a link to a print-friendly certificate page branded with your organization's logo

Achievements require the organization's achievement toggle to be enabled.

Analytics

The admin analytics page includes a Group Mentoring section (visible when group mentoring is enabled and at least one non-archived GROUP program exists). Key metrics include:

• Circle completion rate: completed circles as a percentage of all resolved circles (completed + cancelled)
• Participant session rating: the ratio of positive (thumbs up) ratings from participant feedback
• Survey response rate: completion survey responses over completed-circle active rosters
• NPS: computed from the survey's recommendation question
• Members in active circles: distinct count of members currently participating
• Repeat facilitators: members who have facilitated 2 or more completed circles
• Circles by status: breakdown across DRAFT, ACTIVE, COMPLETED, CANCELLED
• Circle goals: tracked separately from 1:1 match goals

Group program metrics are deliberately excluded from 1:1 match health aggregates to avoid skewing those numbers.