How we build a culture behind mentorship at Criclabs

Mentorship at Criclabs

We love building amazing products, but we can’t do that without having the right team behind us.

This is why we take mentorship so seriously at Criclabs. It’s a skill we actively provide training for, and a core operational process that keeps our high-performance team running.

We see the relationship between mentor and mentee as the key fabric of our team that empowers us to do what we do best.

Our mentorship program has been central to how we maintain and strengthen our culture, and a pillar of how we transfer and share knowledge.

Over the past years, we’ve worked hard to build strong culture behind mentorship, here are two of the most important ways we do it.

Onboarding experience

At Criclabs, mentors are expected to onboard their mentees directly. This year, we’ve added two main objectives of every onboarding experience, regardless of position.

These objectives come before EVERYTHING. It precedes our tools onboarding and any mention of tasks.

Establish the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship

Mentors are expected to establish the nature of their working relationship upfront and explicitly, following these steps:

1. Acknowledge the start of the relationship

Example: “I'm really excited to start this mentorship journey with you. Welcome aboard!”

1. Express an intent to foster a transparent and trusting dynamic over time

Example: “Over time, I hope we can develop a trusting relationship where we can be honest and open with each other about our progress and any obstacles we encounter. I’ll start, here’s the biggest mistake I’ve made in the past year…”

Set expectations on what great work looks like

“Let’s outline what ‘great work’ means in our team and how you can meet & exceed these standards. Here are a few example case studies…”

That’s the starting sentence on this part of the onboarding process from our mentors.

Case studies will then take the from of short stories, take from real-life examples of a team member’s work at Criclabs, going into the following details:

• How they communicated effectively with others
• How they took ownership of their responsibilities
• Their attention to detail and time management skills
• How the outcome of their work was presented and organized
• The impact of their work on clients and internal teams

Reasons why we do this:

• Context for all future feedback: A reference point that makes future feedback more focused and actionable.
• Frames personal goal setting: Help mentees set relevant goals that align with their professional growth and team objectives
• Encourages ownership and accountability: Setting expectations establishes a standard of accountability, helping mentees take ownership of their work.

Running effective 1:1s & project coaching sessions

We pay close attention on how 1:1s between mentors and mentees are being run. The goal here is simple:

To create a space for open dialogue that helps the mentee overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Here’s our 1:1 protocol given to all team mentees during and after their onboarding process:

What is expected from mentees:

• Come prepared: Spend 10 - 15 minutes each week preparing what you’d like to bring up during your 1:1 session. This can range from challenging tasks, career questions, personal challenges and more.
• You’re the lead: You are expected to lead each 1:1 meeting, driving the conversation and extracting feedback or advice from your manager
• Go beyond status reports: Try to go beyond just task updates and ask higher-level questions to your manager. These can include things like your career goals, personal concerns with work, emotional challenges, your performance on certain tasks and so on.

What is expected from mentors:

• Establishing a relationship: Your manager will be upfront with you on how they’d like the nature of your relationship to be from the first meeting.
• Trust: Your manager will work hard to build trust with you throughout your 1-on-1s.
• Vision: Your manager will be transparent with you on what great work looks like
• Mentorship: Beyond your day-to-day work, your manager will also consult you on your behavioral and career goals

How you can get the most out of 1:1s:

• Be open and honest: Be upfront with your manager about your thoughts and concerns. Whether it’s something you’re not happy about, critical feedback to your manager or a difficulty you’re having with a client.
• Embrace difficult questions: If you’re feeling slightly awkward and uncomfortable during your 1-on-1s, you’re doing something right - it means you’re breaking new ground with your manager!
• Use it as an opportunity to grow: 1-on-1 meetings provide a great opportunity to learn from your manager's experience and expertise. Ask for feedback on how you can improve and take advantage of any development opportunities offered.

How we new train mentors to run 1:1s with their direct reports

Practice active listening

We emphasize the importance of active listening in every 1:1, as this keeps both mentors and mentees fully engaged, and empathizing with one another.

Here are two techniques we teach all our mentors during the process:

• Reflective listening: This technique involves repeating or paraphrasing what the mentee has said to confirm understanding and show that the mentor is truly listening. For example:

“It sounds like you’re finding the transition to the new software quite difficult.”

• Labeling: Mentor names the emotions or concerns they observe in the mentee’s words or body language

“You seem frustrated about the shortened project timeline.”

These two techniques help mentors get to the core of any issues or challenges their direct report might be facing, setting the stage for a productive discussion going forward.

Questions and prompts to use

To facilitate meaningful conversations, we provide mentors with a set of questions and prompts designed to elicit deeper insights from their direct reports.

Here are some mentor question examples:

• What’s been your highlight this week?
• What challenges are you currently facing
• How are you feeling about your current workload?

We partially automate this process by partnering with Happily.ai, a tool that’s really helped us transformed our culture and the way mentors interact with their direct reports.

Mentees are also provided with a set of prompts that they may turn to. Here are some mentee question examples:

• How can I better prioritize my tasks to make a bigger impact?
• What does effective communication look like at Criclabs, especially when working across teams?
• What’s one area where I could push myself out of my comfort zone?

Along with this, we also encourage all mentors to start their 1:1s by sharing something remotely personal to your direct report. This reduces any tension in the room and opens up both sides to the conversation. For instance:

“I took my dog to swim for the first time last Sunday, it was so funny how she kept paddling in circles, trying to figure out what was going on!”

Looking forward

Like most of our processes, our mentorship roadmap is, and always be, a work in process. The way we do things may change in the future, but here are a few core ideas that will likely remain unchanged at Criclabs:

• Mentorship more than a formal structure—it’s a genuine partnership that strengthens our culture.
• Effective mentorship means establishing a transparent, trusting relationship that encourages open communication right from the very start.
• Mentorship is a key tool for transferring knowledge and values, building a cohesive, high-performance team.