Participating in a Mentoring Circle

Mentoring circles are a group format where one facilitator guides a small group of participants through the same structured sessions your organization uses for 1:1 mentoring. This article covers everything from placement through completion so you know what to expect at every stage.

What Are Mentoring Circles?

A mentoring circle is a small group (typically 3 to 8 participants) led by a single facilitator. The facilitator is an experienced mentor who guides discussion and keeps the group on track. Participants are mentees working toward similar development goals.

Unlike 1:1 matches, circles give you exposure to multiple perspectives in every session. You hear how others are tackling similar challenges, and the group dynamic creates natural accountability.

Circles follow the same session guides and cadence as other programs in your organization. There is no partnership agreement required for circles, so you can focus on the group work from day one.

Waiting for Placement

You do not join a circle yourself. After you enroll in a group mentoring program, your admin forms circles based on profile compatibility. While you wait, your dashboard shows a placement-pending card with the message "We're forming your circle." This means your profile is in the pool and a circle is being assembled.

Once your admin activates the circle, you receive an introduction email with details about your facilitator and fellow participants. The Circle Hub then appears on your dashboard.

Your Circle Hub

The Circle Hub is your group's shared workspace. It opens when your circle is activated and stays accessible (in read-only mode) after the circle completes or is cancelled.

Roster

The roster grid shows every circle member with their name, avatar, and role badge (facilitator in blue, participants in emerald). If a member has opted into directory visibility, you can view their full profile or reach out through the community directory's Connect feature.

Sessions

Session cards are listed in order. Completed sessions show a check mark; the current session is highlighted. Click any session to open its guide, view facilitator notes, and submit your feedback.

Announcements

The most recent broadcast from your facilitator appears here. This is a quick way to catch any group updates without searching your email.

Goals and Action Items

Your facilitator sets development goals for the group, and any active member can create action items and assign them to other members. More on this below.

Sessions and Feedback

Your facilitator runs each session and marks it complete when the group has met. After that, you are asked to rate the session: thumbs up or thumbs down, with an optional note. Your rating is private and helps admins understand how the circle is going. Individual ratings are never shown to other participants or attributed by name.

Session Notes

Your facilitator writes session notes after each meeting. You see these as a read-only summary labeled "Session notes from [facilitator name]." Notes update in real time, so if your facilitator adds something after the session, you will see it on your next visit.

Goals and Action Items

Goals

Your facilitator creates and manages circle goals. These are shared development objectives the group works toward together. You can view goals, track progress, and leave comments, but only the facilitator creates new goals or changes their status.

Action Items

Any active circle member can create action items and assign them to another member in the circle. If someone assigns an item to you, you can mark it complete. Only the person who created an item can delete it. This keeps accountability distributed across the group rather than resting solely on the facilitator.

Broadcasts

Your facilitator can send broadcast messages to the entire circle by email. These might be reminders about upcoming sessions, shared resources, or follow-ups from a discussion. Depending on how the facilitator sends it, the email may include everyone on the thread (so you can reply-all to the group) or arrive as a one-way announcement. A note at the top of the email tells you which format it is.

When Your Circle Ends

Circles end in one of two ways: completion (all sessions finished) or cancellation (by an admin, due to inactivity, or if the facilitator leaves the program).

Completion Survey

When your circle completes, you receive an exit survey by email. The questions are tailored to your role. As a participant, you rate the facilitator's effectiveness, group dynamics, and whether the format worked for you. One key question asks whether you would like to join another circle. Responding "yes" puts you back in the pool for future placement.

If you do not complete the survey, you are temporarily removed from the matching pool. The survey is your way back in, so it is worth taking the two minutes to respond.

Cancelled Circle Survey

If your circle is cancelled due to inactivity or because the facilitator left, you receive a short three-question feedback form. This helps your admin understand what happened and improve future circles. There is no matching-pool effect from this survey, so it is purely informational.

Certificates

After completion, you receive an email with a link to your personalized completion certificate. The certificate is org-branded and print-friendly. Click the link in the email to view it (the link logs you in automatically).

Achievements

Completing a circle earns you the Circle Complete achievement. Facilitators earn milestone badges after facilitating 1, 3, and 5 circles. These appear on your profile alongside any 1:1 mentoring achievements.

Getting Matched Again

After your circle ends, you can get placed in a new one by completing the exit survey and indicating you would like to continue. Your admin will include you in the next round of circle formation. If your dashboard shows the placement-pending card again, it means you are back in the pool and waiting for your next group.