S.T.E.P. Mentoring Program Online Training Series Starting Your Relationship & Setting the Ground Rules

Starting Your Relationship Now that you’ve been assigned to your mentoring partner it’s important that you take the time to get to know each other and establish your relationship. A great mentoring experience doesn't just happen - you have to put in the work. In this presentation you will find a few practical tips to help you get your relationship started on the right foot.

Introduce Yourself Getting to know your mentoring partner can be a daunting experience, especially when you are communicating virtually. It is important that you establish a relationship of trust and communication. Jot down a few discussion ideas before your first communication. Keep adding to your list. Share something about your personal background and interests, such as how you got interested in audiology or speech-language pathology, where you are from, and work-life balance.

Introduce Yourself Here are some conversation starters to try with your mentoring partner: Why are you interested in mentoring? How did you choose this field? What do you consider your greatest strengths? Why do you think you were paired together? What was/is your student experience like? What is your professional area of interest, Why?

Setting Ground Rules Discussing expectations and forming norms and bonds with your mentoring partner will help shape your time in the program. It is important that you take the time to establish realistic expectations at the beginning of your mentoring relationship to minimize confusion or misunderstandings.

Identify Realistic Expectations Examples of expectations for you and your mentoring partner to discuss are: Maintaining confidentiality between each other Establishing a communication schedule Establishing an agreed upon meeting time Being fully present when expected Being open and honest in your discussions and feedback

Identify Realistic Expectations Some questions to help guide you in developing your mentoring expectations include: What does mentoring look like to me? What do I want out of this mentoring relationship? Are there any boundaries that need to be established? When and how often are we going to talk? How will we hold ourselves accountable to this relationship?

This Week’s Checklist Now that you’ve learned a little about starting your relationship and setting the ground rules here is this week’s checklist to keep you on track: I introduced myself to my mentoring partner. We discussed our interests. We set a communication schedule to include how often we will communicate and the format that we will use. We established expectations for our mentoring relationship.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity! Up Next…S.T.E.P. Mentoring Orientation The S.T.E.P. Mentoring Orientation is an online chat exclusively for S.T.E.P. mentees and mentors. It will include discussion on how to establish the mentoring relationship, what the expectations are for the program, and the value of mentoring goals. Former S.T.E.P. mentees and mentors will serve as knowledge experts. Wednesday, March 15, 2017 8pm – 9pm EST http://www.asha.org/events/live/03-15-2017-STEP-Orientation/ Don’t miss out on this great opportunity!