Know in week six when a mentoring pair stops meeting.

Ask pairs one question after each session: did you meet? Make it take seconds, like a one-click form or a quick reply to an email. Pairs skip long forms, and then you’re working from bad data. Keep a notes field, but make it optional. Check the log often, so you spot the pairs that have gone quiet. Evensteer’s logging takes seconds, so pairs actually record their sessions.

Reach out early with a short, friendly note to each person, and ask what’s getting in the way. Often it’s a busy stretch, and a new date fixes it. If the fit is wrong, offer a new match without blame. By the end-of-cycle survey, it’s too late to help. Evensteer flags quiet pairs in week six, not month six, and drafts a check-in that goes out once your admin approves it.

The clearest sign is sessions that stop being logged, especially early in the cycle. Also watch for meetings that keep getting moved, notes that get shorter, and a mentee who stops mentioning their goal. One missed session means little. A pattern over a few weeks is worth a gentle check-in. A pair that stops meeting rarely says so, which is why the log matters.

It matters because a pair that has stopped meeting can’t get what mentoring offers. In a Sun Microsystems study, 72% of mentees and 69% of mentors stayed with the company, against 49% of people outside the program. A pair that went quiet early won’t give you that result. Counting it anyway makes your report look better than it is. When you report, count only the pairs that kept meeting.