The Week Before: Questions Before We Start - Due August 21

1.     Cynthia sent an email to Rafa to introduce herself.  What is the value of sending an introductory letter or email in advance of meeting?  Is there a downside?

2.     What did you like about Cynthia’s email”  Is there anything you didn’t’ like in Cynthia’s letter?  

3.     What information would you include in your own letter?

4.     Did Cynthia share more, less, or about the same amount of personal information that you might share with your mentee?

5.     Cynthia included six questions at the end of her email to Rafa.  What is the advantage of including specific questions?

6.     What questions might you want to ask your mentee?

The First Meeting: Powering Up - Due Sept. 4th

1.  What questions would you prepare prior to your first mentee meeting?

2.  What is the value of articulating expectations early in the relationship?

3.  In what ways are your expectations the same as or different than Cynthia’s?

4.  What were the advantages or disadvantages of holding your first meeting in your office?  

5.   Where would you likely hold the first meeting?  Other meetings?

 

6.  Cynthia shared her own vulnerability experiences with Raffa.  Did that undermine her credibility with Raffa?  How might it have helped?

 7.  Cynthia described her role as a mentor.  Do you agree?  What else would you add?

What did Cynthia do to build trust in the relationship?

The Second Meeeting: Taking Care of Business - Due 9/18/15

1.  What are the benefits of a structured relationship? What are the disadvantages?

2.  How might structure help you facilitate your mentees learning?  What structures are in your current mentoring relationships?  Do you need to add more or less structure?

3. How much time do you spend talking about day to day issues versus long term goals and development? 

4.  Which agreements would you like to adopt? What other agreements would you like to put into place?

5.  Confidentiality is crucial.  How do you understand confidentiality in a mentoring relationship?  What can be shared and what cannot be shared?  Have you adopted a confidentiality agreement in your mentoring relationship?

The Third Meeting: Let's Get Real - Due 10/2/15

The Fourth Meeting: Sorting It Out - Due 10/16/15

1.     After two months, what did Rafa say he was getting from his mentoring relationship?

2.     What value would your mentees say they get from your mentoring relationship?

3.     How is mentoring providing value to you?  What can you do to increase its value to both you and your mentee?

4.     What did Cynthia do or say that pushed Rafa out of his comfort zone?

The Fifth Meeting: Straight Talk - Due 10/30/15

1.     What is the value of having written goals?

2.     Many mentors and mentees find goal setting to be a difficult task.  How challenging is it for you?  Why?

The Sixth Meeting: Holding Up a Mirror - Due 11/13/15

1.     The sixth mentoring meeting focused on checking in on the relationship.  What are the advantages of having a regular check-in?  Is that something you and your mentoring partner do periodically?  If not, what gets in the way?

2.     When told there was going to be a check-in, Rafa became worried and started to second-guess himself.  What could Cynthia have done to avoid having him get so worked up?

3.     During the course of the meeting, Rafa and Cynthia discussed several books.  What kinds of resources could you use (or have your used) to deepen the learning for your mentees?

4.      Therese was a tense moment during the meeting when Cynthia challenged Rafa about his behavior with a colleague and the expectation of apologizing.  How would you have handled this situation?  Would you have been as direct as Cynthia?

5.     Cynthia tells Rafa, “I believe in you.   You have a lot of talent worth developing.”  When was the last time  you gave your mentees positive feedback?  What did you say?

6.     Cynthia asked Rafa- pushed him, in fact- to give her some feedback about what she could do better as a mentor.  Rafa was reluctant to say anything that might negatively impact their relationship.  Have you asked your mentees to give you feedback?  What more can you do or say to encourage your mentees to give you honest feedback? 

Advice for Mentors & Mentees - Due 12/4/15

1.  What have you learned from being a mentor?

2.  Which mentoring tip do you think is the most important?

Moving the Conversation from Monologue to Dialogue - Due 1/8/16

1.  What are the five levels of conversation? 

2.  Which do you believe you are the best at?

3.  Which level did you use most with your mentee?

Strategies for Good Conversation - Due 1/22/16

1.  What is the value in using open-ended questions?

2.  Active listening is crucial.  How did you use electronic communication?

3.  Give an example of a common pitfalls in clarifying understanding?

Six Essential Mentoring Conversations - Due 2/5/16

Please give an example you encountered during your mentoring experience of each of the six essential mentoring conversations.

Conversation 1:  Building a Relationship

Conversation 2:  Establishing Mentoring Agreements

Conversation 3:   Moving from Starter Goals to Smarter Goals

Conversation 4:  Creating Learning Opportunities

Conversation 5:  Managing Stumbling Blocks

Conversation 6:  Checking in on Progress