Today the MFAA has launched new mentoring standards, aimed at improving the mentoring experience and outcomes for new entrants to industry.
The standards will apply to all new mentoring relationships between MFAA endorsed mentors and new brokers from 1 July 2023.
The standards were developed after significant consultation with industry stakeholders and benchmarking against comparable associations and professions in the financial industry. They replace the current mentoring guidelines for MFAA accredited mentors.
“Mentoring is about ensuring new talent entering our industry gets that critical quality hands on coaching they need to be effective and ‘customer ready’. Lifting the bar on mentoring is an opportunity for our industry to nurture new brokers in a way that supports not only their success, but also the long-term sustainability of our industry.
“Our new mentoring standards have been developed to provide a mentoring framework which aligns with current industry best practice and expectations,” said MFAA CEO Anja Pannek.
“They also reflect the skills and experience mentors should have, and provide a solid foundation for brokers wanting to become mentors to build their programs from.
“The standards also provide mentees (the broker being mentored) with a clear outline of the level of support and guidance they should expect from the mentoring process.”
Mentoring is widespread across a range of professions and has been an integral practice in the mortgage and finance broking industry since the early 2000s.
Ms Pannek commented that in the mortgage and finance broking industry, the mentoring process is a cornerstone of the pathway for brokers new to the profession.
MFAA Head of Education, Dan Walsh, said the mentoring standards have been developed to give new brokers a better foundation in the early period of their broking career, in a structured manner that prepares them for the various client situations they can expect to encounter.
“The standards set out, amongst other things, the body of work that mentees are required to complete under the guidance of their mentor. On average, this will take a new to industry broker working full-time up to two years to successfully complete.”
Existing ‘MFAA accredited mentors’, and new mentors, can now apply to be ‘endorsed’ by the MFAA under the new standards, mentoring programs can also be endorsed. Endorsed mentors and mentoring programs will be listed on the MFAA website.
“The process of endorsement for mentors and mentoring programs has been designed to increase the trust of stakeholders including our new to industry brokers seeking mentoring,” said Mr Walsh.
While all new mentoring agreements entered into from 1 July 2023 will be required to meet the new standards, endorsed mentors can begin providing mentoring to new brokers according to the new standards immediately if both parties agree.
Brokers currently in mentoring are able to complete their mentoring under the current guidelines.
Mentors who have received ‘approved mentor’ status to mentor an individual broker (usually within their own business) from an MFAA representative or aggregation group will retain this status, but are not eligible to use the status in any marketing activity.
“We will continue to undertake ongoing reviews and updates to our mentoring standards to reflect changes and developments in the industry, professional practice, and the regulatory environment.” said Mr Walsh.
More information on mentoring and the standards are available on the MFAA website.
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