Overview

A mentor is a guide and a resource who paves the way to success and derives satisfaction from helping others succeed. Your role as mentor is to inspire, encourage, and support your mentee and to contribute to their professional development.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What am I expected to do?  Mentors are expected to provide their mentee with at least two hours of support and interaction per month. Most of this interaction will take place face-to-face with support via email and other web-related tools. Mentors should work with their mentee to determine what kind of support will be most useful and set specific goals and objectives that will guide their partnership journey.
• How long will the commitment be?  We ask our mentors to make a commitment of six months in order to ensure that the mentee is able to fully benefit from the relationship.
• What do I do if the partnership is not going well?  We encourage letting your partner know about the situation and attempting to resolve the issue within the partnership. If necessary, you may contact the Mentoring Board for support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.

                       

Mentor DO's

1. Commit to at least two meetings per month.
2. Set aside time for the mentoring process and honor all appointments.
3. Invite the mentee to meetings or activities, as appropriate. Schedule meetings with planned topics.
4. Be flexible on meeting times and places.
5. Arrange frequent contacts through telephone, email, text, face-to-face, etc., as appropriate.
6. Respond to emails from your mentee within 2 days of receipt.
7. Maintain confidentiality within the partnership.
8. Establish open and honest communication and a forum for idea exchange.
9. Foster creativity and independence. Help build self-confidence and offer encouragement.
10. Provide guidance, direction and honest and timely feedback to your mentee.
11. Provide opportunities for the mentee to talk about concerns and ask questions.
12. Above all, LISTEN.

Mentor DON'Ts

1. Don't try to give advice on everything.
2. Don't encourage your mentee to be totally dependent upon you.
3. Don't provide your personal history, problems, animosities, successes, failures, etc unless they are constructive contributions.
4. Don't be unavailable when your mentee needs support. If you do not have time, let your mentee know when they can reach you.
5. Don't criticize. Instead, provide constructive feedback.