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Mentor's Checklist (to do on a regular basis)
- Set aside an hour for the first meeting with your mentee. Obtain his or her CV prior to this meeting so that you already know pertinent professional information. Use this hour to get to know other aspects of your mentee. Is he
or she married? Any children? Any hobbies? Share similar information about
yourself. You may want to conduct this first meeting away from the office, or go
to your mentee's "space."
- Be sure that your mentee knows how to contact you: e-mail address, telephone numbers, fax number. You also should have this information from your mentee.
- Ask your mentee what he or she expects from you.
- Tell your mentee what you expect.
- Together, go over strengths and weaknesses. Ask what he or she sees as the most important aspect of career development.
- Familiarize yourself and then your mentee with the institution's promotion/tenure policies. The two of you can develop a "check list" that you can follow in regard to the mentee's progress.
- Either set up a regular time to meet (such as the first and third Thursday of each month), or set the next meeting at the conclusion of this meeting. Try to meet at least once a month with your mentee. Be flexible, but insistent about meeting.
- With your mentee write out one-year and three-year goals for your mentee's career. At the end of each year, re-examine those goals and determine if they've been met.
- Obtain the mentee's written position description from the division or department chair to ensure that the expectations of the mentor, mentee and chairperson are
aligned. Make sure that you and your mentee have a chair-signed position description in your files.
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"What debt do we owe those below
us on the ladder? ... the most successful
mentoring occurs when the mentor guides
the mentored in such a way as to become
competitive for the mentor's position.
Some might perceive this as a threatening
course of action. A confident and competent
mentor is able to ask, 'Do you want
my job? I'll teach you how to get it.'
It takes courage to train someone to
be better; for men to see women as successors;
for women to see men as OK; for women
not to keep other women down; and for
everyone to accept different heirs as
part of the norm."
Gayle Mowbray, Chair of the Johns Hopkins
University Women's Forum 24
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- Be sure that your mentee is on committees and in organizations that will help him or her in career development. Invite him or her to social functions as your guest and introduce him or her to other
senior members of the profession or specialty.
- Ask for assistance with research or in writing
a journal article and be generous with credit
but teach that "authorship encompasses two
fundamental principles: contribution and
responsibility."21 Not only should he or she
make significant contributions to the work
reported in the paper, but be able to take
responsibility for the contents of the paper.
- If your mentee is interested in (or struggling in)
an area that is not your strength either, actively
seek others who may assist in this regard. This is called "layering" mentors and takes the pressure
off one individual to be "super mentor."
- At the end of a year in the relationship, try evaluating each other (Appendix
A contains samples of questions to consider). Then offer
your mentee's evaluation of your relationship to your division/department
chair.
- Be aware that as the relationship evolves, and your mentee progresses along his or her career path, his or her needs may change in a direction that leads away from you. This can be an awkward time for both of you, but consider it your success. You've helped this person develop an insight that would not otherwise have been gained without a mentor. Help him or her locate others who may take over the mentoring duties. By that time, you'll probably have several new junior faculty seeking your guidance. You may even meet junior professionals outside of your insti - tution who request that you serve as a mentor to them.
- Never see your mentee as a threat to you. As with others we teach, we want to see them reach beyond us. Your mentee's success is ultimately your success.
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