Goal Setting & Activities
Effective mentoring is built on shared goals, ongoing communication and purposeful activities. Learn how mentors and mentees can create a collaborative plan and explore mentoring activities that strengthen research, teaching, service, career development and work-life balance.
Goal Setting
Overall, the mentor and mentee should together establish goals for the mentoring process. Effective mentoring most commonly involves the creation of a collaborative plan that:
- Helps the mentee develop a career vision;
- Identifies how the mentee will achieve the vision;
- Creates strategic goals that are achievable and measurable;
- Includes annual review of progress on goals;
Mentoring Activities
Mentors and mentees are encouraged to meet and discuss activities that promote mentees’ needs and interests through face-to-face interactions, phone calls, or emails. Mentoring activities may include the following.
- Take mentee out for lunch
- Introduce mentee to other faculty members
- Introduce mentee to staff who can provide useful resources
- Attend mentoring workshops together offered by the University
- Discuss research strategies
- Review CV and provide feedback
- Discuss research funding opportunities and strategies
- Review grant applications
- Review students’ teaching evaluations
- Discuss effective instructional skills
- Discuss teaching portfolio
- Share useful teaching resources
- Observe mentee teaching in classroom
- Discuss potential service opportunities at the department or university level (e.g., service on committee)
- Discuss scholarly service opportunities (e.g., journal reviewer, conference organizers)
- Discuss ways to balance service and research/teaching
- Provide advice regarding avenues for community engagement
- Discuss long-term career goals
- Discuss tenure and promotion process including preparing dossier when relevant
- Discuss departmental climate and provide advice on faculty relationships
- Discuss work-to-life and life-to-work conflicts
- Share time management strategies
- Share stress management techniques
- Explore technology transfer implications of research
- Discuss relevant patent development and licensing
- Explore consulting opportunities
- Help identify strategies to network with various community groups
- Assist in developing best practices for working effectively with community groups, NGO’s and businesses at the local through global levels. discovered and making changes to mentor/mentee relationships and practices as needed.