My Mentorship Philosophy
Mentorship is a process that can make or break an experience with a job or learning environment. The right kind of mentorship can improve knowledge, skills, and opportunities, while poor mentorship can, in extreme circumstances, lead capable people to leave their industry. It is important for mentorship to be a two-way process, where both units are actively participating and benefiting. My overarching mentorship goals are to create a safe space for students, set expectations around realistic and student-centered outcomes, and to provide scaffolded learning opportunities to help students achieve their goals.
The most foundational way to foster the bidirectional nature of a mentorship relationship is to first create a safe space for both parties and establish boundaries. Importantly, this does not mean sharing information that you would only share with your family or best friends. It does mean feeling comfortable enough to share any part of your life or identity that may help the other person understand you and your experiences. Doing so can allow both mentor and mentee to show up as their authentic selves and bring their unique perspectives. I accomplish this goal in a few ways. First, I begin the relationship with a mentor-mentee compact. This is a document that sets the tone for the relationship to come. The document begins with what a mentee can expect of me before it transitions into what I expect of them and leaves space for additional expectations or goals the mentee has for the experience. I make it clear what type of help I can and cannot provide, and I provide resources or connections to help with anything I cannot provide.
Aside from setting expectations around open dialogue and boundaries, the mentorship compact also serves the purpose of aligning expectations for outcomes and goals related to work. When anyone is brought on in a trainee role, it is important that they contribute to the work in that role, but also important that they learn skills and accomplish goals that will help them grow and reach their next steps. To make sure that goals are mutually beneficial, I leave room for mentees to share goals or skills they would like to accomplish or learn through the experience. Of course, you don’t always know what you don’t know, so I aim to make suggestions for what skills might be useful for them to gain based on their future goals. Additionally, I check in regularly to adjust the specific goals as their long-term goals change. Finally, I encourage mentees to work toward a tangible outcome, like a paper, poster, or professional talk, if that aligns with their goals.
While aligning expectations is important, it is also important to ensure that mentees have what they need to achieve their goals. Research is a process filled with highs and lows, including rejection. It is difficult to handle and process rejection, especially without experiences of accomplishment and positive reinforcement to go along with it. Therefore, I aim to provide scaffolded learning opportunities that allow students to make mistakes and experience a sense of accomplishment in order to foster independence and resilience. I implement an “I-do, we-do, you-do” model of learning, which involves me first demonstrating a skill for a mentee, then working with them to do it together, and then have them do it on their own while I observe before they do it completely independently. I also allow mentees to make errors by giving them a task to complete in a specific time frame, and then meeting with them to go through it to give plenty of opportunities for feedback and updating.
Overall, I aim to allow mentees to grow as researchers, thinkers, and people. I work with them to set clear expectations and create goals and outcomes around mentees’ long-term goals.
The most foundational way to foster the bidirectional nature of a mentorship relationship is to first create a safe space for both parties and establish boundaries. Importantly, this does not mean sharing information that you would only share with your family or best friends. It does mean feeling comfortable enough to share any part of your life or identity that may help the other person understand you and your experiences. Doing so can allow both mentor and mentee to show up as their authentic selves and bring their unique perspectives. I accomplish this goal in a few ways. First, I begin the relationship with a mentor-mentee compact. This is a document that sets the tone for the relationship to come. The document begins with what a mentee can expect of me before it transitions into what I expect of them and leaves space for additional expectations or goals the mentee has for the experience. I make it clear what type of help I can and cannot provide, and I provide resources or connections to help with anything I cannot provide.
Aside from setting expectations around open dialogue and boundaries, the mentorship compact also serves the purpose of aligning expectations for outcomes and goals related to work. When anyone is brought on in a trainee role, it is important that they contribute to the work in that role, but also important that they learn skills and accomplish goals that will help them grow and reach their next steps. To make sure that goals are mutually beneficial, I leave room for mentees to share goals or skills they would like to accomplish or learn through the experience. Of course, you don’t always know what you don’t know, so I aim to make suggestions for what skills might be useful for them to gain based on their future goals. Additionally, I check in regularly to adjust the specific goals as their long-term goals change. Finally, I encourage mentees to work toward a tangible outcome, like a paper, poster, or professional talk, if that aligns with their goals.
While aligning expectations is important, it is also important to ensure that mentees have what they need to achieve their goals. Research is a process filled with highs and lows, including rejection. It is difficult to handle and process rejection, especially without experiences of accomplishment and positive reinforcement to go along with it. Therefore, I aim to provide scaffolded learning opportunities that allow students to make mistakes and experience a sense of accomplishment in order to foster independence and resilience. I implement an “I-do, we-do, you-do” model of learning, which involves me first demonstrating a skill for a mentee, then working with them to do it together, and then have them do it on their own while I observe before they do it completely independently. I also allow mentees to make errors by giving them a task to complete in a specific time frame, and then meeting with them to go through it to give plenty of opportunities for feedback and updating.
Overall, I aim to allow mentees to grow as researchers, thinkers, and people. I work with them to set clear expectations and create goals and outcomes around mentees’ long-term goals.