Mentoring, coaching & buddying

Editor's Notes

1. Mentoring is widely recognized today as an extremely beneficial career development tool.  Studies have shown that having a mentor is a top factor affecting a mentee’s success, career satisfaction, and whether they stay with an organization.  Mentoring for students increases [a] the likelihood of success and [b] the level of achievement.  We’ll talk about …  What is mentoring? What is it not? what does the mentoring process strive to achieve?  Reasonable and unreasonable expectations for both mentee and mentor  How does this process work?  How do we know whether we are successful? >>> or since this is a gradated, rather than binary, assessment, how do we assign success measures?
2.  The ultimate metric is that the student progresses into a high level of career success.  But that is somewhat removed into the future. At a nearer term, we look for the students to graduate from their selected SMET program.  Even that is in the future for students earlier in their college careers; so, a more pragmatic measure is that the student continues in his or her SMET program.  For the mentor, the reward is the personal and professional satisfaction of contributing something valuable to the profession and to society.
3.  a common definition of mentoring: process whereby hard-earned wisdom is passed on  a non-structured process >>> with guidelines, rather than rules
4. Plz read the notes for the explanation of the above
5.  These are are highly responsible professions -- often impacting the lives of thousands of people.  Thus, SMET education is demanding, and students are held to the highest standards.  SMET is not for the faint-of-heart.  Just about everyone who goes through this process encounters doubts and uncertainty form time-to-time >>> why am I doing this to myself?  With a good mentor, there will be …  more informed decisions  more confidence in decisions that are made  fewer catastrophic mistakes  better shot at a full opportunity for the students to learn of the vast spectrum of exciting and fulfilling career opportunities -- and to position themselves for achievement
6. Most importantly, mentors need to have the desire to share what they have learned during their careers with their partner (the mentee). Mentors must be willing to spend time with the mentee to develop a good working relationship that is trusting and honest. Nothing worthwhile is ever free. How much time does it take? >>> How much time does it take to be a friend? Good mentors will offer a “reality check” when necessary. It takes time and experience to develop an unerring sense of what is realistic -- in terms of, say, how many credits are enough; how much time is needed for “x”. In a career position, the mentor would help the mentee to develop an Individual Career Development Plan. In an undergraduate academic setting, such a plan is likely to be less formal. The gist here is for the student to understand and appreciate the short term actions that lead to a long term goal. >>> Why do I take calculus? Or thermodynamics? Or statistics?
7. Mentors get a chance to pass on their successes, which can give great personal satisfaction. Mentors get an opportunity to practice their interpersonal and management skills on an ongoing basis >>> which can help the mentor to refinehis or her career skills. Mentors often become recognized as positive role models and are sometimes sought out by others. Many mentors find that being in a mentoring partnership helps them expand their own horizons and keep them in touch with what’s going on at other levels of the organization. Mentors often insist that they gain more from the mentoring partnership than their mentee does. >>> There is something to be said for “psychic income”.
8. Mentees must be willing to learn. They must be able to accept constructive feedback. Mentees must be willing to “stretch” to try new things and take risks. Many say they achieved success because someone encouraged them to aim higher. I can personally attest to this aspect. I would never have gone to graduate school had it not been for a mentor (in this case, my upper division advisor) who insisted that I had the capability to succeed in post-graduate engineering study. That action altered my entire career path -- for which I am eternally thankful. They must be able to learn to identify short term and long range goals -- and to accept that those goals may change.
9. Every one of us is ultimately responsible for our own career. For students, … it is your career; it is your life; it is your education; you must be in command! However, it can help tremendously to have someone to talk with who can provide a listening ear and share what they’ve learned about how to succeed -- organization, perspective, proportion, self-discipline, learning. Every now and again, it is more than just helpful. Mentors can provide valuable direction and clarification at times when the mentee “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Mentors can help the mentee figure out what they need to do to fill in the gaps between where they are now and where they want to be in the future. Mentors can sometimes serve as “direction pointers” -- e.g., where does one find out what is it like to be a (fill in the blanks about a career choice). The most valuable and important assets mentors contribute are a listening ear and a more developed perspective.