The mentor of adult learners is not so much interested in fixing the road as in helping the mentee become a
competent traveller.
L. A. Daloz
The Resources section of this site is rich in different kinds of tools and articles but if you are looking for the essentials to learn about how to start mentoring someone or grow in your mentoring practice, here are our recommended choices:
We are starting
How do I initiate a mentoring relationship?
- Take time at the beginning of the relationship to map out your intended journey. It is very worthwhile.
- Clarify expectations about the mentorship. It can help you understand each other better and get you off to a good start.
- Include the supervisors in the negotiation right from the start. They can provide you and your mentee with ongoing support.
We are advancing
How can I become a better mentor?
- Ask a more experienced colleague for feedback.
- Have a look at the list of mentor competencies and choose 2-3 you want to work on.
- Take the Practical Mentoring online training (coming soon).
We are stuck
Our mentoring relationship has got stuck. How can we move forward?
- Initiate a conversation with your mentee to discover what is blocking you (Eg.: scheduling issues, overwork, misunderstandings, differing expectations, personality differences etc.)
- Review your mentoring agreement together.
- Ask for support from the supervisor.
“I personally might have given up on my work had I not had the encouragement of the two mentors I have had. Over the years my mentors have invited me to participate in their consulting work, taken time out of their busy schedules to meet with me face to face and through Skype, helped me make decisions about which opportunities to pursue, and challenged me by having bigger dreams for me than I would have had.” — Jessica
Resources to get you started:
- Formal Mentoring Agreement Template for download
- Mentoring Planning Worksheet – a google doc for you to use to agree on the SMART goals of the mentorship
- Robust Mentoring: Strengthening mentoring in SIL – ebooklet for download
- Elements of Mentoring: 75 Practices of Master Mentors – book by Johnson and Ridley
Tools you can use to improve your mentoring practice:
- Mentors’ Traits and Skills worksheet
- Practical Mentoring – asynchronous online course for mentors (coming soon)
- Continued Professional Development activities for mentors
- Cross-cultural Mentoring: A Brief Comparison of Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures – article by S. Hong
Resources to help when you feel stuck:
- Why Mentoring Programs and Relationships Fail – article by D. Clutterbuck
- Be careful what you ask – blog post by Paul Murrell about using questions in cross-cultural mentoring situations
FYI: There is spelling typo (beginning) on the Mentoring Matters page:
“We are starting
How do I initiate a mentoring relationship?
Take time at the ***beginnig*** of the relationship to map out your intended journey. It is very worthwhile.
Thank you very much for letting us know. We have corrected it.