Creating & Managing Matches
How to pair mentors with mentees and manage ongoing relationships. A MentorStack help center guide for program admins.
Match quality shapes how a pair works together. The Matches page lets you create, monitor, and manage mentor-mentee pairings with the visibility you need to intervene early when something isn't working.
Creating a Match
- Click Create Match on the matches page.
- Choose a format: 1:1, Group, Circle, or Reverse. Group, Circle and Reverse appear only when they are turned on in Settings. 1:1 and Reverse appear only when your organization uses Admin-Guided matching. See Configuring Matching.
- Select the participants for that format: for a 1:1, pick a mentor and a mentee.
- Click the create button, which is named after the format (for example Create 1:1), to finalize the pairing.
When you create a one-to-one match, both people get an in-app notice and an email. The mentor is asked to accept or decline. The mentee is told that the mentor will review the match and that they will hear when the mentor responds. This notice is prepared for release and not yet verified in production. Matches created by launching a next cohort do not send it yet.
Tip
The strongest matches share a clear development goal, not just a job title. Look at what the mentee wants to grow in and find a mentor who has lived that journey. Shared skills and department can help, but alignment on objectives is what drives real engagement. Review members' profiles before matching. The few minutes you invest here pay off in months of productive mentoring.
Monitoring Matches
The matches list has three tabs: Active, Pending, and Inactive. Inactive holds Completed, Paused, Declined, Escalated, and Cancelled matches. Each row shows:
- Participants: The people in the match
- Format: A badge for 1:1, Group, Circle, or Reverse
- Status: Pending, Active, Paused, Completed, Declined, Cancelled, or Escalated
- A date line: When the match was accepted (with its match percentage, if it has one), how long it has been pending, or when it ended
Use the format and cohort filters to narrow the list. Export CSV downloads the matches that fit your current filters, up to 10,000 rows. If your organization uses Admin-Guided matching, a Suggested Matches button opens the review queue described in Configuring Matching.
Managing a Match
Click on any match to view details. From there you can:
- Pause: Temporarily suspend the relationship
- Resume: Bring a paused match back to active
- Cancel: End the match permanently, without marking it complete
- Complete: Mark the mentoring relationship as finished
- Renew Match: On a completed 1:1 match, creates a new match between the same mentor and mentee for a new cycle. The new match waits for the mentor to accept, and the completed match is left unchanged.
Warning
Completing a match is a one-way action. Create a new match if the pair needs to restart.
Getting the Most Out of Matching
- Check your matches weekly. A pair that goes quiet in the first three weeks needs a check-in. A quick nudge from you can get things back on track.
- Don't force longevity. A focused 8-week match that achieves a specific goal is more valuable than a 6-month pairing that drifts. Complete matches when the objective is met and re-match with fresh goals.
- Watch for lopsided ratios. If a mentor has three or more active mentees, engagement quality drops. Aim for one-to-one or one-to-two pairings.
- Debrief completed matches. Ask both parties what worked. Their answers will make your next round of matching sharper.