Mentor Guide
What is Smart Seeds? Smart Seeds is a design-led innovation program empowering emerging leaders and entreprenuers to co-create solutions to complex challenges. The program has three key focus areas: 1. Industry-wide, interdisciplinary and intergenerational collaboration 2. Capacity building of emerging leaders 3. Delivery of industry-led innovations The purpose of this guide is to introduce you to the program structure and methodology - the ways in which we apply design thinking methods to each of these key areas. Check out our website at www.smartseeds.org for further information as well as videos and other resources from past years.
SMART SEEDS MENTORS:
• Appreciate the creative process • Embody the mindset and culture for innovation • Support growth through challenging and stretching others • Have the qualities of every good mentor –– Approachable and available –– Good listener –– Honest –– Diplomatic –– Objective –– Inquisitive –– Authentic –– Understanding of context
The mentor’s role
Commitment
As a Smart Seeds mentor, you will be assigned to one team. You will support the team as they explore and refine the challenge, generate and prototype solutions, and develop and deliver their pitch at the Showcase Event.
The formal commitments include:
Smart Seeds mentors have a strong appreciation for the creative process, which is essential for innovation. Having the right mindsets and fostering the right culture is essential for innovation. As a mentor, you will role model these mindsets and behaviours. As such, we encourage you to recognise and embrace: • Creative confidence • Empathy • Ambiguity • Curiosity • Play • Assumptions • A ‘make it’ mindset • Failure • Iteration • Resilience • Optimism This list has been adapted from the IDEO Design Kit. Check out the Smart Seeds Participant Guide for more details about each.
• Mentor briefing session (pre-launch) • Mentor introduction session at Launch Workshop • 1-2 other events as advised by the Smart Seeds City Team • Showcase Event In addition to the formal commitments, we suggest you catch up with your team at least three times between the Launch and Showcase Events. This may be a mixture of face-to-face and online meetings.
Supporting Resources • Participant Guide and supporting resources can be found here https://smartseeds.org/programinnovation/participant-resources/ • Key dates for your city can be found here https://smartseeds.org/program-innovation/ locations-2/
Any questions? Contact your local City Leader or email info@ smartseeds.org
Furthermore, as a mentor you will challenge and stretch your team beyond what they think they are capable of. You will ask the difficult questions. Growth happens at the edge of our comfort zones. Finally, a Smart Seeds Mentor is a high performer with qualities of every good mentor like those listed below:
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