Women Law Students' Association
MENTORING TIPS:
Adapted from:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-w/g-wt/gwtl/mentguid/index.htm
The Seven Steps:
Step One: Learn what mentoring is all about.
The mentoring partnership is an agreement between two people sharing experiences and expertise to help with personal and professional growth.
To Learn about mentoring, you need to know:
- What it takes to be a mentor
- What the mentor gets out of it
- What the mentee's responsibilities are
- What the mentee gets out of it
- The different types of mentoring
To be a Mentor you must have the following:
- Desire
- Time
- Reality Check
- Individual personal development plan - something that will help you determine what your long and short-term goals in life are.
What the mentor gets out of it:
- Passes on successes
- Practice interpersonal skills
- Become recognized
- Expand their horizons
- Gain more than the mentee does
The Mentee's Responsibilities:
- Willing to learn
- Able to accept feedback
- Willing to stretch - to try new things and take risks
- Able to identify goals
What does the mentee get out of it:
- Listening ear
- Valuable direction
- Gaps filled in
- Doors opened
- Different perspectives
The Different Types of Mentoring:
- Natural
- Situational
- Supervisory
- Formal Facilitiated
Natural Mentoring
It occurs all the time and always has. It happens when one person reaches out to another and a career helping or personal development relationship begins. Research shows this type of mentoring most often occurs between people who have a lot in common. This is because we are usually more comfortable with those who are most like ourselves.
Situational Mentoring
This is usually short-lived and happens for a specific purpose. An example would be when one worker helps another with a new office computer system, or when someone goes on an "informational interview" with someone who is in a career they are considering.
Supervisory Mentoring
In the work-place this type of mentoring is very important. All supervisors should mentor their subordinates. However, this type of mentoring does have drawbacks: the supervisor may not be an expert on the subject matter, the supervisor may be heavily tasked and not able to spend an ample amount of time with the subordinate, and comfort levels are compromised because subordinates do not want the person who is evaluating their work to see his or her weaknesses.
Formal Facilitated Mentoring
Structured programs in which an organization matches mentors with mentees. This type of program usually targets one segment of the population to help them advance further. These types of programs may assign mentors to mentees and monitor the progress of the connection.
Step Two: Review Mentoring Suggestions
- Commit to a one-year partnership
- Have a No-Fault Termination: if either partner is not happy with their mentor/mentee, they may be reassingned partners
- Have a six-month check-up
Step Three:
Make a match
Step Four: Have Your First Meeting
- The meeting may be in person, via email, or by phone
- Discuss the mentee's expectations
- Choose a neutral setting if face-to-face
- Discuss when you will meet and how often
- Discuss when it's okay to call
- Agree to confidentiality
- Get to know each other
Step Five: Continue the Partnership
The mentor will use listening, counseling, coaching, and goal setting to help the mentee through law school. This should be done by identifying goals, filling in the gaps, exploring available options, building self-esteem, and evaluating each meeting.
Step Six: Have a mid-semester evaluation
This focus of this meeting is to determine if you are meeting the needs of your mentee and what else you can do to help them successively progress through law school. If things are not progressing as hoped, either party may end the partnership through a no-fault termination - sometimes these things just don't work out.
Step Seven: Continue with Personal Growth - for Mentors and Mentees
Mentoring can expand the world of both partners by building tools to communicate with others and develop positive working relationships.
Mentoring can help people become more comfortable with differences