MENTORING JOURNEY.DEFINE THE CHALLENGE.

The Level One Roadmap with resources to help solve your challenge

PROBLEM SOLVING GUIDE

CONFLICT RESOLUTION GUIDE

POTENTIAL MEASURES

An eight stage process that supports the mentor and the mentee in solving a challenge

Each stage of the roadmap is supported by comprehensive discussion guides

Specific guides help at any point in the mentoring relationship

DEFINE THE CHALLENGE

ACT, DEBRIEF & THINK AGAIN

SHARE THE CHALLENGE

CONFLICTS DURING MENTORING

CONTRACTING

EVALUATE PROGRESS

THINKTOGETHER

CLOSE THE PROJECT

MENTORING ROADMAP

The first step in any mentoring process is to define the challenge.

A well-designed challenge will focus on some goal that is important for you – build skills, solve a problem, resolve a conflict, influence someone to act, or achieve some critical result.

Without a well-defined challenge, you risk wasting your time, and your mentor’s time.A clear challenge makes it easier to define project goals, agree on action steps and roles, and measure progress.

• Think about your personal or work purpose.• Identify some critical goal to achieve OR• Identify some roadblock to your success.• Describe the challenge in writing and be descriptive.

DEFINE THE CHALLENGE

What

Why

How

Step 1

The second step is to share the challenge with your mentor.

Sharing the challenge includes more than simply describing a problem or goal as you understand it. You also need to help you mentor understand the challenge from his/her viewpoint.

Mentoring is not simply giving advice.

An effective mentor wants to expand your perspective, build skills, help you see and understand others’ viewpoints, and also prepare you for typical obstacles you might face as you take action.

• Give the mentor your written description of the challenge.

• Explain why you defined the challenge the way you did.

• Answer questions to expand the mentor’s understanding. Share relevant facts, other people and their views, potential roadblocks, and possible resources.

SHARE THE CHALLENGE

What

Why

How

Step 2

MENTORING ROADMAP

The third step is to contract for success.

Contracting is a conversation to define how you and your mentor will work together. A mentoring contract isn’t anything legal or complex, it’s simply a written statement that describes your goals, roles, activities, measures, and boundaries.

A well-designed contract provides structure and direction for your conversations. It also defines specific responsibilities for each person.

But remember, the contract is a tool and should never become a roadblock. You can revise it together as needed.

• Think about one or more specific goals for your mentoring project.

• Think about how you would measure success on those goals.

• Review the sample mentor and mentee expectations.

• Talk with your mentor and agree on mutual expectations.

What

Why

How

CONTRACTINGStep 3

MENTORING ROADMAP

The fourth step is to think together.

Mentoring conversations are more than one person talking while the other listens. Most conversations will lead to some new action. And, we believe that effective action starts with sharing ideas, practicing new skills, and preparing to take the action. And then, after you act, the next step is to discuss what you learned.

Thinking together is the step where most of the learning occurs in a mentoring process.

When you think and plan together, you not only achieve better results, you get insight into what works, what doesn’t and why a different approach is necessary. This insight leads to growth.

• Describe the situation to your mentor - goals, actions, reactions from others, etc.

• Ask and answer questions about your experience.

• Discuss the situation together and develop ideas about your next steps.

• Practice the approach together, and agree on when and where you will take action.

What

Why

How

THINK TOGETHERStep 4

MENTORING ROADMAP

The fifth step is to act, debrief, and think again.

This is the step where you turn new ideas and approaches into action - independently of your mentor. There are two equally important goals for this step – address your challenge and practice the new perspective and skills developed through your mentoring conversations.

Effective mentoring is about developing another person’s ability for independent action.

The ultimate goal is not simply to address this first challenge, but to prepare you to apply your new approach in any situation where it may be useful.

• Take the actions as agreed with your mentor.• Take notes about what happened – what worked as expected, what didn’t,

how you felt, how others reacted, etc.• Share your notes with your mentor, and help your mentor get information

you may have overlooked.• Plan your next steps.

What

Why

How

TAKE ACTION, THINK AGAINStep 5

MENTORING ROADMAP

The sixth step is to address any conflicts.

There is always the potential for some conflict when people think together. But, in collaborative relationships, you don’t ignore conflict. Instead you use it as an opportunity to learn. You discuss your different views and then jointly address the issue. And sometimes your mentor needs to identify and help you resolve an issue you don’t see.

Surfacing and managing issues together may be the key factor for any successful collaboration.

Remember that conflicts aren’t bad. Conflicts are simply the result of people with different views having to work together. And, some conflicts will occur simply because the mentor should and will have a different viewpoint from yours.

• Recognize when different viewpoints are blocking progress.• Describe the specific conflict – values, goals, methods, or information.• Share viewpoints and listen with empathy.• Propose new approaches that could help you both achieve your interests.

What

Why

How

ADDRESS CONFLICTSStep 6

MENTORING ROADMAP

The seventh step is to evaluate progress.

Measurement starts at contracting when you define the change you want, and describe how you will know it when you see it. If you are building skills, you may ask a friend to describe the change in your style. But, if you want to solve a problem, you and others will need to look for a change in your results.

Measuring progress is a critical, but often overlooked, step in mentoring.

Since collaborative mentoring is more than giving advice, it is critical to see how the mentee was able to put the new approach to use. But remember, evaluate doesn’t always mean numbers. You can see progress whenever you take effective action in a situation where you were previously stuck.

• Jointly review the measures from your contract and update if needed.• Ask others for their observations about your performance on new skills,

and the effect of your actions.• Measure a change in results on any valid quantitative or qualitative measure.

What

Why

How

EVALUATE PROGRESSStep 7

MENTORING ROADMAP

The eighth step is to close the project.

During the closing, you should jointly review your goals and measures, and determine if your project is complete. In most cases you will find your challenge has been addressed. In a few cases, you may decide that you need to do some additional work, maybe even with a different mentor.

An effective closing conversation helps you determine if your challenge has been met and if the process is complete.

• Review and discuss the results of your evaluation.• Jointly decide if your challenge is addressed.• Thank your mentor for his/her help.

What

Why

How

CLOSE THE PROJECTStep 8

MENTORING ROADMAP