Evaluating the Relationship
Suppose you've found your mentor and have been involved in the relationship for several months. How do you know if you're being adequately mentored?
Evaluation:4, 30
- Is your mentor academically successful? (publications, grants, committees, active research, patient referrals)
- Are you interested in your mentor's research areas and techniques?
- Is your mentor easy to approach and talk with?
- Does your mentor advise and encourage you with respect to your independent goals?
- Do the two of you meet regularly?
- Do you receive regular feedback and constructive criticism?
- Does your mentor facilitate your participation in professional activities outside of the institution (regional, state, national organizations)?
- Are you invited to informal gatherings of people from work?
- Is your mentor your advocate within the department or division?
- Does your mentor encourage you to submit grant applications, help you develop research ideas and push you to write manuscripts?
- Does your mentor connect you to other senior professionals who could "fill in the gaps" in areas where he or she might be less skilled?
- Has your mentor observed you in a teaching situation and provided feedback on these critical skills?
While these questions may not be all-inclusive, they should give you a starting point to allow you to evaluate the mentoring relationship. As we suggested in the section addressed to mentors, a yearly reconnoitering is very important to ensure that you and your mentor are congruent in your goals for the relationship. Completing an evaluation and sitting down together to go over it will guide the direction your relationship takes in the future.
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