A shared understanding of what each person expects is critical to establishing effective mentor-mentee relationships. Challenges arise when mentors and mentees have misunderstandings about expectations in the relationship, which naturally changes over time. Therefore, ongoing reflection and communication about expectations is needed to maintain positive and productive mentor-mentee relationships.
Learning Objectives for Aligning Expectations
- Effectively establish mutual expectations for the mentoring relationship
- Clearly communicate expectations for the mentoring relationship
- Align mentee and mentor expectations
- Consider how personal and professional differences may impact expectations, including differences across disciplines when working in multidisciplinary teams
Readings/Activities to complete before the session
note: links are to PDF files that may either display in your browser or download, depending on your settings
- Read the Expectation Case Study – required
- Review the Mentoring Compact Examples provided – required
optional readings which will enhance the discussion