IAM Mentorship Program

Purposes of the Mediator Mentorship Program (MMP):

• Recruiting and supporting the next generation of commercial mediation scholars and practitioners.
• Recruiting and supporting a more diverse community of commercial mediation scholars and practitioners.
• Spotting mediators with great potential who would be a credit to IAM, should they be successful in further developing their mediation careers.
• Providing for a means of growing membership in an appropriate way over time, while honoring the high standards of the IAM.
• Honoring IAM’s commitment to the continued excellence and ethics of the mediation profession.

Criteria for Applying for the MMP:

• Eligibility for entry into the Mediators’ Mentorship Program will generally be limited to those in a mediation practice for less than 5 years.
• In order to be eligible to join the MMP, an individual should demonstrate a commitment to moving toward a full-time career in mediation.
• To join the MMP, the Mentee must first be nominated into the program by an existing Distinguished Fellow of the IAM who knows the Mentee well.
• The nominating member must also agree to serve as the nominee’s mentor during the duration of the nominee’s participation in the MMP.

Specifics of Commitment:

• Mentorship will be a responsibility to be honored and accepted by both the Mentor and Mentee (the Mentorship Team). A plan should be jointly submitted by the Mentorship Team as to how the Team will work together in furtherance of the Mentee’s knowledge, experience and practice. While the specifics of the Mentor/Mentee relationship will vary from Team to Team, it would be expected that the Team would speak by phone not less than quarterly, with more interaction encouraged. The goal is to make the Mentor/Mentee relationship meaningful and purposeful, without having it become overly burdensome for either party.
• Once a Mentorship Team is accepted into the MMP, the relationship shall continue for a term of two years, unless otherwise determined by the Chair of the MMP in consultation with the Membership Chair. An MMP Mentee shall be held to the same standards as any member of the IAM. A person’s participation in the MMP is NOT a guarantee of eventual IAM membership, and the application for MMP participation contains a disclaimer that the program will not guarantee membership in the IAM.  Each Mentorship Team shall complete an annual questionnaire to assess the progress of each Mentorship Team.

Application/Approval Process:

• An IAM Committee oversees the MMP and considers nominations. The Committee is comprised of 3 members and one ex-officio member. The ex-officio member must be the Chair or Co-Chair of the Membership Committee. The other members shall be Distinguished Fellows of the IAM nominated by the President and approved by vote of the Board. These Committee Members shall serve 3-year terms.
• Not every nomination of a qualified individual to the MMP will be accepted. The goal is to only accept those persons into the MMP the Committee believes will be an asset to the IAM, who exemplify the ideals and ethics of the IAM and who appear to be on a road that may lead to eventual acceptance as a Distinguished Fellow. The Committee may also remove a person from the program if they are not working to develop their practice or otherwise no longer meeting the requirements or ideals of the program.

Accessibility to and interaction with IAM:

• Mentees will be encouraged to reach out to other IAM Distinguished Fellows for advice and guidance.
• MMP members must attend at least one IAM conference each year.
• Mentor and Mentee should make every effort to attend the same conference.

Registration and Conference Fees:

• MMP members will not be required to pay IAM annual membership dues
• Conference fees for MMP members will be at the reduced rate of $650 USD