Before You Start Mentoring
“So, what are we doing? We just jumping right in?”
While we encourage our undergrads to dive in and embrace a new research experience. Mentorship should not be approached with such haste. It isn’t a thing to “try out” and see if you like it. There is a human on the other end of the relationship that can be majorly impacted by your mentorship. We’ve seen students go down a path to a career in research because of good mentorship, as well as the converse. Anything that involves potential alterations in the course of a human life should be entered with care and thought.
Before you agree to or volunteer to take a mentee, we recommend
Learning the structure of your lab - knowing who holds the keys both literally and figuratively is best before you take someone under your wing
Questioning what it means to be a good mentor - we’ll walk you through a series of questions to help you process this
Considering what project(s) to give your future mentee so you set them up for both success and failure
Understanding the typical workload and expectations of VU undergrads
Thinking about different kinds of mentoring styles and where you may exist
Planning for how to balance mentee goals with your own
Work through these sections to help prepare you for taking on a mentee.
Learning the structure of labs
If you are new to being a mentor, it’s good to get the lay of the land in your lab before you try to help someone else navigate the sometimes complex interpersonal and professional interactions.
Each lab may have its own variation on this structure. Likely, you’re in one of these roles, but since you may be new, we’ll briefly go over them.
Assistant/associate/full professor - a tenure/tenure track faculty member who heads up the entire lab. This is the person who is the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI on the grants that fund the lab.
Lab Managers - this role widely varies between labs and not all labs have these. They might do anything and everything from managing the equipment to writing grants. They may mentor other lab members or not. In some way, they contribute to keeping the lab afloat.
Research assistant/associate professors (RAPs, not all labs have these) - this is a non-tenure track position that is meant to bridge a post-doc into a tenure track faculty position. Sometimes these roles become pillars of the lab for people who like academic research, but who aren’t looking to run their own lab. They often write grants, lead large research projects (and manage the post-docs, graduate/undergraduate students, and staff on those projects) and have a depth of expertise that fuels the entire lab.
Post-doctoral fellows - post-graduate research position that allows people with PhDs to deepen their skills and experience. Often, they rally the grad students and undergrads on a project, possibly the research staff. Sometimes, they work completely on their own projects and don’t intermingle with others in the lab. A post-doc can last anywhere from a few months to far too many years. Depending on the individual’s goals, they may focus on writing papers, learning new techniques, or applying to grants.
Graduate students - these are trainees who are working on their PhDs. They will often be the go-to person of an undergraduate student researcher, but this depends on the lab.
Undergraduate students - young researchers trying to get experience in a lab, often to figure out whether they like or are suited for research.
Staff scientists and engineers - these are career researchers who like the academic environment better than industry labs. They may or may not contribute to mentoring others based on the lab and the individual.
Research assistants/technicians - these are often shorter-term lab members who may take on repetitive task work or lab maintenance duties.
If you’ve recently started in a new lab yourself and are trying to get up to speed so that you can mentor others, rely on those good scientific skills you have to observe the inner workings of your lab, form hypothesis, gather data from how you see others interacting, ask questions of those you feel comfortable with or take a lab mate out for a coffee and ask them about what they do in the lab. You won’t get to the depths of each lab members’ scientific expertise in a short amount of time, but you will be able to see who the current undergrads report to, who else they might talk to, and whether that is because of the project they are working on or because there’s some hierarchy.
Some labs have very specific hierarchies, and the PI can relay all of that information more easily. Some labs let the environment be more organic, so you have to figure out who you report to and get help from before you take someone under your own wing and hope to help them grow and learn.
How to be a good mentor
While you’re figuring out your lab dynamics, you can be formulating your own ideas and philosophies on mentorship. Be open to those changing over time as you grow and learn, but you have to start somewhere.
We’ll guide you through this with a series of questions. You may want a piece of paper and pen or a blank document to write some things down.
Question 1
Start by asking yourself “What does being a good mentor mean?” We’ll wait while you take some notes.
If you read the SyBBURE Searle Program’s Mentoring Philosophy, you’ll see some of the things that we think are important to being a good mentor. While we want you to consider those things, we also find it important for new mentors to establish their own ideas.
You don’t need to make some exhaustive list here, but rather you want to capture your immediate response. What is the baseline, fundamental view you have of being a good mentor?
If you found it hard to answer Question 1, think about this next question.
Question 2
“Why do you want to be a mentor?”
Maybe here you are answering things like “I want to help younger researchers” or “I never had good mentors, so I want to help others” or “I want to give back” or “I can accomplish more with a team than on my own” or “I want to run my own lab someday, and it’s important to learn to be a good mentor.”
Mentorship is inherently altruistic, and your internal driver for wanting to mentor can give you a starting place for what being a “good mentor” means to you.
Two caveats to note:
You don’t actually want to be a mentor. We’ve touched briefly on the fact that sometimes in research, we’re forced into mentoring others. If you find yourself inescapably in that position, here’s an alternate question to ask yourself. “How can I make the best of this situation?”
Your desire to mentor is only for your own benefit. Both you and your future mentee can gain through your mentor/mentee relationship. It doesn’t have to be a situation where only the mentee gains. But, it should NOT be a situation where only YOU gain. This is not mentorship and should be correctly classified as a job. Calling things what they are helps everyone involved, sets expectations correctly, and helps avoid sticky, unpleasant situations. Some young researchers will benefit greatly from task-based duties as a part of student employment, and we encourage you to go that route if your reason for wanting to be mentor is something like “I want to move this project forward, faster” or “I need more hands to run all these tedious, repetitive experiments” or “I need someone to wash all of my glassware.”
Back to presuming your reasons are at least in part altruistic…Now that you know your core rationale for being a mentor, move on to the next question.
Question 3
“What are the characteristics of a good mentor?”
Go back to the piece of paper or document you’ve been answering questions in and make a list or a word cloud of everything that comes to mind when you think of “good mentorship.”
If we were naming a few:
Valuing the mentee’s contribution
Supporting the mentee
Good communication
Transparency
Camaraderie
Treating the mentee as an individual
Patience
etc.
Hopefully, you have some good things on that list. You might have missed some things that later you realize were important, so save your paper or document and add to it later. Let’s move on to the next question.
Question 4
“What would make ME a good mentor?”
You have to take into account who you are as a person to answer this. What are your unique strengths and weaknesses? You can circle or highlight any of the characteristics you jotted down from Question 3 and note any specifics of how you might need to tailor some aspect of being a good mentor to suit you.
For example, if “good communication” is something you wrote down in Question 3, but you are a quieter person, then how can you leverage your strengths, perhaps with written communication, to be a good communicator? You can send a daily email to check in with your mentee or a text. Or maybe you realize you’re both gamers and want to communicate through discord.
If you struggle both with oral and written forms of communication, then having good communication with your mentee will be a reach goal for you. Make yourself a gradual plan for improvement that allows you to prepare in advance for any interactions. Build time into your schedule to think about and check in with your mentee. Think about any person in your life with which you feel you have good communication. Consider borrowing what you do with that person if applicable to a mentor/mentee situation.
If you know you need help, ask a lab mate, your PI, or reach out to us. We’d be glad to help you formulate a way to be the best mentor you can be.
None of us are perfect or ideal mentors. Such a thing does not even exist. The key is to be self-aware, always try to improve, and care about being a good mentor. This exercise led you through formulating some ideas about what good mentorship looks like. Hopefully, this can serve as a foundation for building your mentoring skills.
Formulating projects
The ideal project for a mentee depends on many factors. You may be considering projects on which a student can work before you’ve identified the student, so it’s good to have a few ideas in mind before having initial conversations with the potential mentee. They may come with more or less experience or skills or interests that might make them more suited to one project than another.
In the SyBBURE Searle Program, we encourage labs to provide students with graduate level projects where they can eventually take ownership. This type of real research experience is the best way to let a student figure out whether research is something they want to pursue long term or not. Depending on the mentee, this drastic exposure to research may not be ideal. It can even scare them off of research.
Some students benefit from ramping up to that level of project. We’ve seen labs successfully give students starter projects or have them work through learning a variety of protocols and techniques before immersing them fully in a true research project. Some labs prefer to start the student out on a big project that’s too risky to give a grad student and let them progress incrementally. Some labs give students multiple projects at a time, one that’s more straightforward and one that’s incredibly complex. Each of these styles suits different labs and different types of students.
As you attempt to decide what bucket you may fall into or what new version of an experience you wish to create, consider the journey of the student. If they never fail, it’s not a real research experience. If they never question why they are doing something, it’s not a real research experience. If they never have to redo experiments because they messed up or the results don’t make sense, it’s not a real research experience. Research projects do not immediately work (in like 99% of cases). Part of learning whether it’s for you is experiencing those struggles and deciding whether you crave that complex, iterative, often tedious work that when finally comes together can feel like magic. It’s easy to want to protect a young researcher from the frustrations that come with research, but through that protection, they are robbed of the joy of seeing something come together.
When you ask yourself what projects you should give a student, start merely with what needs done. What questions, if answered, would lead to your work being augmented? What work can you carve off for a mentee for which you can, at least eventually, give them ownership? Once you’ve identified a few starting points, consider the potential need for a ramp, a starter project, or a set of trainings that might allow the student to build experience, skills, and confidence. With that confidence built, you will feel comfortable expanding the project scope and allowing your mentee to take the ownership they need to have a true research experience.
Overview of typical workload and expectations of VU undergrad
Students at every school are special in some way, Vanderbilt students included. Unless you did your undergrad here and know first hand the type of environment Vanderbilt is and the pressures that come along with it, it’s worth spending time level-setting your expectations and assumptions.
Vanderbilt students exist in a pressure cooker filled with expectations and comparisons that lead to a high level of imposter syndrome campus-wide. There is also an interesting wealth divide between students who come from affluent homes and those that are here through opportunity Vanderbilt. There are plenty of students that fit in the middle socio-economically as well. This causes not only financial and resource divides but also experience divides.
As a side note: It is easy to look at a student who has had a plethora of research experiences leading up to college and not want that more experienced student. Consider the lack of opportunity that other students who may be just as smart and capable of learning have had. In the SyBBURE Searle Program, we consider all aspects of a student before admitting them. We seek to create a group of students from a variety of backgrounds, with a range of experience (including none), and a mix of interests and opinions. By doing so, as well as by generally supporting the students’ research training, we offer you a vetted group of potential mentees from which to select. Even if you don’t come to us for all your student needs, we encourage you to consider the students you recruit and your reasoning behind it. Everyone deserves a chance and multiple chances at that.
Because of the unique context or microenvironment, if you will, of Vanderbilt students, it is important to understand the priorities of each student. For instance, engineering students typically have problem sets due in every class, nearly every time they have class. They are told that for every one hour of class, they should expect three hours of work outside of class. If they take 5 classes at three credit hours each, that’s 15 hours a week in class and 45 hours outside of class for a total of 60 hours. Fitting research in becomes a complex, tetris-y tangle that leaves even students with good time management skills frazzled. We didn’t even count hours in here for eating, sleeping, socializing, and extracurricular activities, which they all either have to do or want to do.
We expect students in the SyBBURE Searle program to do 8 hours of research per week during the academic year and 30 hours per week in the summer. You may have different expectations of the time commitment and should share that information with the student. We support the amounts we support for a reason. It is hard for most students to successfully put in more hours. We could list many students who could successfully do far more, particularly as seniors, and far less, also as seniors. There is a wide range of capacities that students have, and it takes time to figure out what that is. It’s often not a static amount to complicate this further.
Especially in the beginning, be prepared for a student not to show up, not to have gotten everything done, and to not meet your expectations. They can and will get better, but it takes some strategy on their part to do so (and it’s even better with your advice). Here’s what we recommend:
We encourage students to limit what they are involved in, especially involved in simultaneously. Often that looks like classes, research (and SyBBURE program activities), and one other thing of their choosing. By limiting the overall number of things, they spend less mental energy juggling and context switching.
We encourage students to plan for larger blocks of research in their schedule when selecting classes. If they can have a dedicated 3-hour block instead of 3 single hour blocks with classes or student org meetings in between, they can do focused work that’s better for them and you. Before they are able to do these larger time blocks, it’s worth sitting down with the student, talking through how long different protocols take, and helping them piece the work they need to do in the lab into their schedules. If you do this a few times, they’ll learn and be able to do it on their own.
We encourage students to make their lab their home base. Instead of going all the way back to their dorm room, go to lab. When you get done with classes for the day, go to lab. If you don’t start classes until later in the day, get breakfast, then go to lab. This lets them get mentally engaged in the lab’s research and culture, helps them build relationships with lab mates, and, even if they are studying or doing homework while they’re there, they reap the benefits of looking invested in the lab. Everyone will treat them differently merely because of their commitment of presence, and this results in a better experience all around. It also helps them figure out faster whether research is for them or not. It does require you to have space to give an undergrad to occupy semi-regularly and not all labs have that space availability.
For your own sanity, set a low bar with a new student. Meet regularly with them. Force some time management help on them. Be prepared for each week to bring new challenges–tests, colds, roommate troubles, etc. all disorient students who are new to research. The key to dealing with workloads, priorities, and expectations is to ensure you build commitment into the foundation of your mentoring relationship. Commitment goes both ways, and as the senior person in the mentor/mentee relationship, you must be the one to always uphold your commitment.
Different kinds of mentoring styles
Mentoring styles are like personality types–every other person has established their own set of styles, and that set is the end all be all of mentoring styles. There are quizzes you can take, lengthy descriptions to read, and endless related content.
Within the SyBBURE Searle program, our mentoring philosophy is centered on what the mentee needs and being flexible to try to meet those needs. Not every mentor can take on this mentoring style either based on experience or personality.
As you consider your mentoring style, we recommend starting with our How to be a Good Mentor activity. This activity helps you think through and assess what being a good mentor can look like for you.
Once you have that foundation, you can consider your mentoring style.
Note: Mentees can easily confuse mentoring style with your personality. Are you quieter or more outgoing? Demanding or patient? Distracted with your own things or focused on them? It certainly helps a new mentor/mentee relationship if personalities mesh well, but it isn’t a necessity. Relationships change over time, which can allow both of you to overcome personality differences providing you communicate regularly to avoid misunderstandings.
Here are a few examples of Mentoring Styles to get your brain going:
Grasp
Grasp uses a quadrant diagram to represent mentoring styles.
Look back at those criteria you wrote down for How to be a Good Mentor. Do you notice any trends in the qualities that are top of mind for you?
Here are their descriptions:
“The Motivator: The Motivator will use storytelling and task setting to inspire and challenge their mentee. They’re full of high energy and optimism – and they’re highly proactive when it comes to their mentorship.
The Sponsor: The Sponsor is similar to The Motivator, but is focussed on connecting and advocating for their mentee – ensuring their network expands to help their career growth.
The Anchor: The Anchor is the empathetic mentor, who is there to listen to their mentee and is oozing emotional intelligence. They’ll help their mentee thrive, not just survive, when faced with tough situations.
The Master of Craft: The Master of Craft is full of knowledge and skill and is ready to impart their learned experiences with their mentees. These people are usually short-term mentors, and help their mentees hit professional goals in a short span of time.”
Together
The Together Platform uses similar styles with different language and has a set of questions associated with each to help guide you
1.“The advisor: Mentors who are advisors often direct their mentees on the right course of action. They use their experience and expertise to offer advice. An advisor is ideal for mentees looking to follow the same career path.
You are an advisor if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you feel that your experience entitles you to indicate how problems need to be solved?
Do you believe that reasonable solutions can be difficult to find, so you insist mentees follow your advice?
Do you define mentoring as offering solutions to problems?
2. The protector: A protector is a mentor who creates a safe space for the mentee. They are often supportive but can be overprotective. They are ideal for mentees who are in a state of transition, which can be stressful.
You are a protector if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you feel that your mentee needs you to step in and problem solve for them because they are overwhelmed?
Do you offer solutions for your mentee's problems because you feel they lack an understanding of the big picture?
Do you feel obligated to provide a safe space for your mentee to take risks?
3. The coach: Mentors who feel more like a coach are good listeners. They’ll be able to identify possible challenges that mentees will face. When they notice good attributes in mentees, a coach will point them out and encourage them.
You are a coach if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you like to let your mentee do most of the talking while you pinpoint ways to solve their problems?
Do you find yourself pointing out weak and strong traits in your mentee?
Are you aiming to help your mentee solve their problems?
4. The connection broker: A connector provides growth opportunities for mentees. Once they find out what areas their mentor wants to develop, they’ll connect them with experts in those areas.
You are a broker if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
If you recognize a shortcoming in your mentee, do you try and connect them with experts in that area?
Do you look for learning opportunities that will benefit your mentee?
Do you have an extensive network that you can call on to help your mentee develop?
5. The challenger: Challengers are focused on helping their mentees develop strong problem-solving skills, and they often use tough love to do it. These types of mentors should be matched with mentees looking for someone who is a straight shooter.
You are a challenger if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you enjoy playing the devil’s advocate to challenge your mentee?
Do you encourage your mentee to aim high?
Do you like to push your mentee further to help them develop independence?
6. The clarifier: A clarifier is more like a companion for a mentee. They will use their knowledge to help mentees better understand the organization. A clarifier is best matched with independent mentees who don’t need much direction.
You are a clarifier if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you help your mentee learn organizational values and politics?
Do you allow your mentee to solve their problems?
Are you slow to offer your opinion on how a mentee should handle a challenge?
7. The sponsor: A sponsor is a mentor who advocates for their mentee through their position in the company and their vast network. Mentees who are looking for some help advancing at the organization would do well with a sponsor-style mentor.
You are a sponsor if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
Do you find yourself recommending your mentee for promotion?
Do you use your network connections to help your mentee get ahead?
Do you suggest possible career opportunities to your mentee?
8. The affirmer: Affirmers are great listeners for mentees. They are happy to talk through tough situations and feelings. Mentees looking for someone to offer support will do well with an affirmer.
You are an affirmer if you answer ‘yes’ to these questions:
If you see your mentee is worried about something, you spend a lot of time talking about it.
Do you find yourself having a deep understanding and empathy for your mentee’s situation?
Are you ready to offer support and a listening ear whenever your mentee stops by?”
Pollock 2018
If you tend to discount information from non-scientific sources, check out this chapter on Mentoring Styles that, while aimed at surgical mentorship, has wide applicability for mentorship.
The author uses mentoring “style” to represent more the format of the mentorship, but list excellent characteristics of mentors. Consider this excerpt.
“The ideal mentorship style involves several transcendent features. Responsiveness, expertise, integrity, availability, confidentiality, sincerity, the ability to actively listen, knowledge of the profession, emotional intelligence, wisdom, the ability to empathize, humility, lack of ego, ability to enthusiastically motive others, deep commitment to the mentoring process, and broad respect by junior and senior colleagues alike are all characteristics that have been identified as stylistically key to effective service as a mentor [4, 5]. The mentor seeks to “inspire, to support, and to invest” [6]. To inspire implies that the mentor recognizes the potential of the mentee and encourages the mentee to fulfill their personal promise. To support suggests that the mentor engenders a sense of belonging and positive orientation in the arena of professional activities. To invest means that the mentor challenges the mentee to exceed their personal horizons by holding them responsible for their own autonomous development; it also implies the active role of imparting information and perspectives. Other mentor investments in this relationship include the gifts of time and energy, which suggests that the mentor holds the mentee as worthy of inclusion in their professional ranks.
The style of the mentor is as a role model who commits to providing advice, support, protection, guidance, and teachings about professionalism, ethics, pathfinding, and balance. As such, mentorship style is critical to the ultimate success of the process as a whole. The key features of the exemplary mentoring relationship style include “reciprocity, mutual respect, clear expectations, personal connection, and shared values” [3]; it is a relationship rather than a set of activities per se. This implies working off of a shared, mentee-driven agenda, active listening that includes reiteration, and asking for clarification of what was heard as well as what was decided as a course of action, open and honest feedback, all in the context of safety and candor.”
You likely can see where many of the characteristics here fit into the classification systems of Grasp and Together.
If you are brand new to mentorship, there’s no need to box yourself into a particular style. Rather, awareness is key. The best mentors help a mentee figure out what they need and try to meet those needs either themselves or by encouraging the student to find additional mentorship. You need not and cannot be everything to your mentee. Remember this early and often. Having an “ideal” mentoring style is an aspirational journey that requires you as the mentor to get feedback from your mentee and adjust as needed.
You may find that some of these behaviors come more easily to you than others. For instance, you might struggle to connect your mentee with others who can mentor them more specifically around a given topic. This may be because your own network is limited. Before you can help your mentee this way, you need to learn and grow yourself.
You might also find that what you try isn’t working for your mentee either by getting feedback from them or by sensing some tension. Likely, this means the mentee needs a different style than what you may be offering. The more you can have open dialogue with a mentee, the better your relationship will be, in the long run. If your mentee has lived a fairly closed off existence thus far in life, they may be resistant at first to the openness you are offering. The more aware and adaptive you can be, the better. This is easier said than done, particularly when stress creeps in and overtakes your life. Be honest with your mentee when those times occur or at least tell them that your schedule is packed so they can possibly know what to expect or not expect from you.
No matter where you lean in mentoring style and natural characteristics or what’s ideal for your mentee, if you remain committed and communicative, you can work through any challenges that arise. We are here to help guide both you and your mentee when these challenges arise. Take advantage of our experiences and insights to help you be the mentor you want to be and provide your mentee with a great experience.
Balancing mentee goals with
your own
Wherever you may be at in your career, becoming a mentor can be a tremendous addition to life as well as a distraction. Mentees, particularly undergraduate researchers, need your time and attention. It can feel great to help other people achieve their goals, but what about your own? Do they take a back seat? There is no easy answer here. What complicates this further is that it’s not uncommon to burn out on mentorship.
We hope that you are here because mentoring students (and becoming a good mentor) is one of your goals. Having that initial alignment will help no matter what other balancing act needs to be performed. What has worked for many of us is to do periodic goal check ins and use the semester system to assess and update. Here’s our process:
Write down your professional, personal and research goals at the beginning of the semester. Really think about making these actionable and quantifiable.
Have your mentee do the same (Hint: we already have SyBBURE students do this).
Talk through them and see where there’s alignment, particularly within that research category, and potential conflicts.
Make a plan. Say your mentee is applying to grad schools at the end of the fall semester, and they’ve asked if you’d read and give feedback on their essays. Discuss due dates and timelines with your mentee, and see how that fits with your schedule. If you need a draft a month before their deadline because you have a goal to finish a paper that same month, tell them sooner rather than later and let them work around your schedule just as you are working around theirs. Make sure you put some notes in your calendar or block off time to give them feedback so you don’t have to waste mental energy remembering.
Know that the plan will change on both ends and be prepared to shift things around. Over the time you work with your mentee, you’ll ask them to change their schedule as many times as their requests of you may need you to change your schedule. Having a strong relationship will make it easier to not be bothered by these changes. Remembering that all the planning in the world can’t make things happen the way that would be most convenient for you will also help.
Say ‘no’ when you need to, but know that impacts your relationship. You cannot endlessly be there for your mentee. You may realize that you have too many obligations to help the mentee with a particular goal they have. There is no shame in telling them you have limitations on what you can do. We’ll cover setting boundaries in more detail in another section, but know that while it is perfectly acceptable to say ‘no’ and the mentee will understand, it can alter your relationship on a deeper level. The mentee may become less likely to come to you for help in the future. This is a trade off to maintain your own life and sanity.
At the end of the semester (or part-way through or some other interval), check in on how the goals are coming along and write new goals for the next semester/summer. If you keep moving your own goals forward in time and not accomplishing them, you need to do some deep thinking about where you’re headed and how you spend your time. We’ve seen plenty of mentors take a step back or reduce their number of mentees so that they have more time and energy to accomplish their goals. We’ve also seen mentors modify their goals to include their mentees more or change their goals entirely because they realized their motivations were different than they thought.
Your career is a journey not unlike a long road trip. If something isn’t working (i.e., bad snacks, wrong travel companions, your battery), you have to address it. Setting goals and checking in on them is a great way to take the pulse on how things are going for both you and your mentee. If you can take a short detour and help your mentee get where they want to go, you will benefit from helping someone else. If the detour is substantial, you may need help from your own mentors to ensure you stay on your desired path (or range of desired paths).
