Assessing readiness for mentorship
Prior to starting a mentoring relationship, it is important that you assess your readiness for mentorship – either as a mentor or as a mentee. Reflecting carefully on what mentorship involves and your motivations for seeking to engage in mentorship is important for building effective relationships. It is common to be motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically when it comes to career goals. However, being able to clearly articulate why you should engage in mentorship will help foster effective relationships that are built on trust and mutual respect.
Learning activity: Thinking of engaging in a mentoring relationship?
Instruction: Explore your goals for entering into a mentoring relationship as a mentee or mentor.
Go to your Workbook to complete the mentorship readiness survey, and then click on the checkbox.
Initiating a mentoring relationship – how can you find a mentor?
Not all mentoring relationships are initiated in the same way. Some arise naturally from existing relationships, while others are formally arranged. There are several strategies that can be used by mentors and mentees to initiate a mentoring relationship. Moreover, some mentors and mentees choose to simultaneously initiate different mentoring relationships based on their needs and goals.
To find a mentor, first reflect on your goals and motivation for seeking motivation. Once your goals are clear, consider the following strategies:
- Find colleagues whose work inspires you.
- Consult membership lists in professional associations.
- Speak to your department head, graduate studies director, or dean.
- Contact potential mentors via email or phone to set up an initial meeting where you can introduce yourselves and explore whether a mentoring relationship might be a good fit.
Learning activity: Charting your first steps
Instruction: Explore the first steps you will take to find a mentor.
Go to your Workbook to complete this activity’s corresponding worksheet, and then click on the checkbox.
Developing a mentoring relationship
Once you have found your mentor, it is important to invest time to craft a mutual vision, goals, and expectations to develop an effective mentoring relationship.
Have a look at the mentorship plan available in your Workbook, and feel free to modify it to best meet your own needs. The mentorship plan will ask you to consider:
The relationship should be mutually beneficial. Spend time exploring your needs as well as those of your mentor through open and honest conversations. This will be particularly important if you do not know one another well.
Discuss expectations around the type of relationship (short-term or long-term), and frequency and modality of meetings.
Clearly articulate mutual goals and expectations, and outline strategies to achieve goals and assess the strategies’ effectiveness. This step will help you and your mentor stay on track, and plan meetings that help you reach mutual goals.
Effective mentorship occurs when mentor and mentee are committed to the relationship in an authentic manner. Both mentor and mentee need to be transparent about their needs, what they can offer, and their limitations. This will help build a relationship based on trust. It is very common for a mentee to have many different mentors, each meeting different needs and/or goals.
Look back to the goals and needs you identified earlier. Can the mentor you identified help you meet all of them, or will you need to reach out to others? Lastly, engaging in mentoring relationships can often expose vulnerability. How will you commit to maintaining confidentiality?
Consider communication frequency and modality. How best can you contact your mentor with questions? How best can your mentor share advice? Consider committing to regular check-ins where you can discuss your mentoring relationship and whether it is meeting mutual needs and expectations.
Relationship-rich mentoring experiences
In closing, as we move towards understand effective mentorship, and the ways of navigating mentorship conversations (as both a mentee and mentor), we want to return to the importance of relationships as being at the core of the mentoring experience. Relationship-rich mentoring enhances the mentee’s continued academic and personal development. Balancing empathy and empowerment is critical to a successful relationship-rich mentoring experience.
Mentoring transitions
Mentoring relationships will naturally change, evolve, or end as needs and contexts change. You may find that a different model or approach is needed, or that the mentoring relationship has come to a natural end. Some relationships are bound by time or changing contexts may make them difficult to sustain.
In times of transition and closure, you are encouraged to spend time reflecting on what worked and what did not in the relationship. Doing so will help both mentors and mentees identify areas for future mentorship development. This reflection is also a great opportunity to reflect and develop future goals.
Look to your Workbook for sample self-assessment worksheets to guide your self-reflection.
Understanding the shifting nature of mentorship – from mentee to mentor
As you progress through your academic and professional career, you will find yourself shifting between being a mentee and being a mentor. Shifting into the role of ‘mentor’ may be a relatively new experience for many graduate students – whether you experience in the context of teaching or research.
Understanding identity as both mentor and mentee – one can be positioned (at various points of your journey) as both a mentee (receiving formal or informal mentorship) and a mentor (providing formal or informal mentorship). Graduate students will often serve as mentors to undergraduate (or even high school) students as well as to more junior graduate students.
Learning activity: Mentorship relationship reflection
Instruction: Reflect on a past mentoring relationship where they acted as mentor or mentee.
Go to your Workbook to complete this activity’s corresponding worksheet, and then click on the checkbox.