Section 3: Building Relationships With Mentees
Relationships Matter
At the heart of effective mentoring are the relationships formed between mentor and mentee. Creating positive relationships with your mentee should be an intentional process and not left to chance. Effective mentors create positive relationships by establishing trust, using clear communication, and providing social-emotional/wellness support. Relationship building begins with getting to know the mentee and allowing them to get to know you.
"Getting to Know You" Conversations
Take a moment to watch the video on the right. As you watch, consider the following:
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What attributes of the get to know you conversation were effective?
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What might you do differently?
You can use "A Guide for the First Mentor/Mentee Meeting" for planning your first meeting with your mentee.
Permission to use content pending
As you begin to build positive relationships with your mentee and establish rapport, consider your own cultural beliefs and how they reveal themselves in your relational work.
Pause & Reflect
Directions: Pause and reflect on what you learned. Use the questions below to guide your thinking and record your thoughts in your Module 2 Companion Guide.
An important factor of building relationships is understanding your communication style and how it might impact your work with your mentee. Communication styles are described in myriad ways in the literature. We have selected just two tools here to help you think a bit more about your communication style.
Take the My Communication Styles Self-Assessment (Forced Copy Google Sheet or use this PDF version). Then watch the video "How to Improve Communication Skills at the Workplace."
As you think a bit more deeply about how you communicate with others, revisit the Interrogating Self and the Reflective Mentoring Model tools you completed in Module 1. Reflect on the following questions:
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What is your communication style? How might this impact how you communicate with your mentee(s)?
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What might be one goal you could set for communicating with your mentee based on the inventories above?
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What cultural influences impact your communication style? How do these influences shape how you will build relationships with your mentee(s)?
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How does the national, state, local, and school community context inform how you will build relationships with your mentee(s)?
Please look in your Module 1 Companion Guide if you linked your own copies there. Otherwise, you should be able to locate these documents in your Google Drive or saved on your computer. If you are unable to locate these documents or did not complete them in Module 1, return to the pages below to create new copies of these documents.