Sheffield Mentors Guide 2010/11. - MUSE - University of Sheffield

Building your relationship
The key to a successful mentoring
relationship is the early development of trust
and understanding between mentor and
mentee. By listening to your mentee,
empathising and sharing your personal
experiences you can help develop mutual
trust and respect.
Here are some ways that you can help to
encourage and develop you mentoring
relationships.
• Be yourself! We have met you and we
know that you are a great person and will
be a great mentor, so believe in yourself
and have confidence.
• It is just as important to let your mentee
be themselves, they should feel
comfortable talking to you and secure in
the knowledge that you won’t judge them.
• Keep in contact. Failing to turn up to a
meeting or not replying to an email early in
the relationship can cause your mentee to
lose faith in you and your commitment to
them as a mentor.
• Ask your mentee questions, don’t assume
you know how they’re feeling; they may not
be having the same start to university that
you did and will appreciate your interest.
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Saying goodbye
When your mentee no longer feels that they
need regular support, it is time to bring your
formal relationship to an end. This does not
mean that the two of you will never speak
again; past mentees have said how nice it is
to bump into their mentor around campus
and to receive occasional emails or texts
asking them how they are getting on.
When ending your mentoring relationships
remember to:
• tell them they can get in touch with you in
the future if they need to;
• get feedback on their experience;
• let your mentee know how the experience
was for you, did you enjoy it, did you learn
new skills?
• encourage them to consider being a
mentor themselves next year.
Mentoring
etiquette
Top Tips
• Make contact before your mentee arrives
– having a friendly face to turn to when
they get to Sheffield will be hugely valuable
for them.
• You may want to offer to take your mentee
on a tour of the campus here are some
suggestions of where you can take them:
– their department, this will enable them to
see it from another students perspective
and help them get their bearings;
– the Students’ Union Building, including
the Gallery, Student Advice Centre and
Student Services Information Desk (SSiD)
– the Information Commons or Library,
these may be new learning environments
for your mentees and may take some
getting used to.
• Talk to your mentee about module choice,
offering objective advice and support.*
• Meet up over a cup of tea/coffee and maybe
even treat yourselves to a slice of cake!
• Make sure your mentee knows that Intro
Week is not your average student week –
things will settle down.
• Offer to demonstrate logging onto the
computer network, showing them how
MUSE works.
!
* The registration process is probably completely
different from when you did it. Look at your
mentees copy of ‘Registration: The Essential
Guide 2010/11’ when offering any advice.
Every mentoring relationship will be
different; it is important that you recognise
your limitations as a mentor and manage
your mentees expectations of the
relationship. Here are some guidelines –
The mentor does:
• guide;
• explore, suggest options;
• empower, facilitate and encourage
independence;
• share own experiences and information;
• support and encourage;
• give realistic advice;
• listen to, explore mentee's issues;
• present an open and accepting attitude;
• use their own experiences in a positive way.
The mentor does not:
• counsel (the mentor is not there to deal
with deep-seated emotional issues);
• tell the mentee what to do;
• get emotionally involved (and lose
objectivity);
• do things for the mentee;
• have to be an expert in everything;
• create false expectations;
• make assumptions;
• adopt a judgmental attitude;
• involve the mentee in their own personal
issues.
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