Das Greenhaus Mentorship Program
Mentorship is an important component of any organization. Regardless of the industry or type of work, all people benefit from developing meaningful connections with others, talking through opportunities and challenges, and receiving intentional and personalized feedback. While mentorship is important for all organizations, when working with startups, we believe mentorship is not only important, but essential. And we aren’t the only ones. According to Women Ahead, 87% of mentors and mentees feel “empowered by their mentoring relationships and have developed greater confidence” as a result. As an entrepreneur, and especially those launching a startup, believing in yourself and having conviction in your ability to succeed are critical.
So What is Mentorship?
Simply put, mentorship is a relationship between two people that is focused on both personal and professional growth. In a successful mentorship, both individuals are responsible for exchanging knowledge, perspectives, experiences, and feedback. According to Forbes, mentorship can be best described as “a powerful tool that fuels personal and professional growth, drives innovation, and fosters success.” While typically the more experienced person in the relationship will be referred to as the mentor, and the less experienced, the mentee – both mentor and mentee are responsible for building and maintaining the relationship. Often the mentor will provide guidance, offer suggestions, and ask questions, as the mentee brings various aspirations, challenges, and considerations to the table.
Mentorship at Das Greenhaus
At Das Greenhaus, a newly formed business incubator in Boerne, Texas, mentorship is what brings many hopeful founders to our doors. We have found too often, entrepreneurs are working in isolation. They have these amazing ideas, but no one to share them with. They crave feedback. They crave guidance. And more than anything, they crave just having someone to talk things through with. Someone to ask difficult questions, and give honest and thoughtful feedback. Here at Das Greenhaus, our mentorship program is just one way we are supporting and encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs in our local community.
The goal of our mentorship program is to encourage a structured one-on-one relationship that will allow entrepreneurs to transform and grow their unique ideas into profitable and successful businesses by working alongside an experienced and knowledgeable mentor. One important piece of this is the idea that the program involves working “alongside” one another. A mentor cannot make or break your business. They are not responsible for the success or failure of a business, and they are most certainly not expected to ‘do the work’ for you. Ultimately, all decisions are up to the mentee, as it is their business. Our goal, though, is to help establish relationships that will support mentees in thinking through options, considering alternate perspectives, understanding others’ experiences, and learning from them, and eventually, empowering the mentee to feel confident in their vision and plan forward.
Commitments
A successful mentorship program should include agreements between the mentor and mentee, so both parties know what to expect; both from the other person and from themselves. Agreements in our program include things such as, coming prepared with an agenda for every meeting, coming with pre-generated questions, being open to growth and learning, sharing of knowledge and expertise, and offering guidance and feedback with empathy and encouragement. At Das Greenhaus, we also ask our participants to make certain commitments to one another. Consistency is one area we address, as we know relationships thrive on this. We ask all mentor/mentee partnerships to commit to at least a 6-month relationship. We also ask them to agree to meet, at minimum, twice per month. We have found more often than not though, most partnerships meet more frequently, as they find such value in the time spent together.
We ask both mentors and mentees to regularly complete a survey evaluating their experience in the Das Greenhaus Mentorship Program. Continuous improvement is important to us, and we want to ensure both parties are finding value in the relationship as it evolves. In the feedback we have received from our program specifically, 100% of participants shared that they found value in the mentorship program. The real value comes from looking closer at their reasoning for this. One founder shared, “I have already recommended Das Greenhaus to multiple people. We have received so much good advice and learned so much from this company. Our business wouldn’t be even half developed without the services provided. The value of the friendly attitudes, the encouragement, and knowledgeable advice that we have received at DGH has to this point far exceeded the cost.” Another told us, Your insight into the dynamics of our co-founder relationship was incredible and reflects your unique ability to pick up on it. As a result, I feel very confident that Das Greenhaus can help us in our commercialization process. You picked up immediately on our co-founder strengths and weaknesses and provided feedback to that effect.”
Get Involved
Ultimately, the mission of our organization is to provide support and encouragement to individuals in our community who are looking to start or grow a business. While there are many ways we do this, mentorship is, and will always remain, a key component to our organization being able to successfully serve those who come to us.
So, how can YOU become a part of this program? Reach out to us!
Email us at info@dasgreenhaus.org or visit our website www.dasgreenhaus.org to learn more.
You can also call us at 830-331-1220 or stop by and visit with us. We are located at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas 78006, just past Starbucks off Interstate 10. We are here Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Are you looking to start or grow a business? If so, come visit with us and learn about everything Das Greenhaus has to offer. We are eager to share more about our mentorship program as well as the many other ways we are supporting Kendall County entrepreneurs.
Are you an experienced business professional? If so, reach out and tell us about your experiences and the areas and industries you have a passion for. We are always in need of knowledgeable and committed mentors looking to give back to their community.
This article was writter by Samantha Morganroth, Program Coordinator, Das Greenhaus
