EQUALITY GUIdE - KU Leuven

Chapter 5 ! Mentoring 267
Mentors unanimously agreed upon the importance of an introductory meeting between
mentor and mentee. They were satisfied or very satisfied with this. Two mentees mentioned
it to be important as well and they were satisfied with their introductory talks.
One mentee said this is unimportant, but she was satisfied with her talk. She did make
an additional remark saying that it is “a bit a waste of time and it is better to get to the
point immediately”.
Two of the three mentors thought it was very important to have no hierarchical relation
between mentor and mentee, one mentor took a neutral stance. All mentees said it to
be important or very important not to have such a relationship with their mentor. With
respect to a cross-departmental match, one mentee notified that it is sometimes difficult
to give advice from a different field of expertise because the approach is “very different”.
A mentor also mentioned this and suggested to form duos within the own faculty.
It was very important for all mentees that the mentor knew the organization and acted
as a role model. Both mentors and mentees thought that it was very important for the
mentor and mentee to ‘click’ and that there should be an open communication.
Training
All mentors thought it was important to very important that the mentors attended a
training course. Two of them attended the Jive training and were very happy they did.
Mentees also agreed that training is important to very important. One of them was very
satisfied; the two others took a neutral stance. Of the latter, one remarked that you do
not only have to know ‘what’ you want to discuss with your mentor but also ‘how’ to
do so. She asked for tips to get the mentor to help her to the maximum.
The mentors thought it was important or very important that the mentee had clear
goals about what she wanted to work on, that the mentee took the initiative in the
relationship and prepared the meetings. The mentees also said that it is important that
the relationship is guided by the aims of the mentee.
4.2.2.3.4. Follow up, networking and closing
One mentor said it is important that a process supervisor follows the project and was
satisfied by the way this worked in the project. Two other mentors took a neutral stance
both on the presence of such a supervisor and on the degree of satisfaction. Two mentees
thought it was important to have such a process supervisor and were satisfied; one
mentee took a neutral stance. The variety of the answers might be related to the fact
that there was an internal and an external coordinator. It could be that there was insufficient
clarity about the roles of both coordinators.
All mentors thought it was important to have supporting forms and documents. Two of
them were satisfied, one took a neutral stance. Two mentees argued that supporting
forms are important and one of them was satisfied, the other took a neutral stance. The
third mentee thought this was unimportant and took a neutral stance.
Two mentors said it is important that the duration of the project is clear beforehand