Mentor Description
When I was in high school, I was lucky to have a very nice person as my Math tutor. Apart from teaching me math and helping me build up my knowledge, my tutor inspired me and was an influential role model. The two personal characteristics I might identify in my mentor were fairness and approachability. When dealing with organizational difficulties and discipline in our math classes, my tutor was always fair. He strictly adhered to the set rules of behavior that he followed himself and expected me to follow, too. At the same time, he was easy to approach with any kind of problematic issue, which he was willing to help me resolve or encourage me to resolve on my own.
The two mentoring practices my tutor used when working with me were the encouragement of reflection and pursuing creating clear goals. In our communication, my tutor often requested my reflection on the difficulties I encountered when preparing the tasks and the ways I considered when solving them. In such a manner, I was developing a sense of independence and confidence in my decision-making capabilities. Also, at the beginning of each learned topic, my tutor asked me to write down a list of goals, at which I was aiming. At the end of each topic, we checked what goals were achieved and what areas needed improvement.
In such a manner, from my mentor, I learned about the importance of being organized in setting the same example to others. Also, I learned that building relationship that has trust and care on the one side and subordination and adherence to acknowledged rules on the other. In my mentoring career, I will develop a clear relationship pattern to empower and motivate my mentees. I will apply techniques and practices similar to those my tutor used to facilitate self-monitoring of my mentees’ performance and effectively encourage their goal achievement.
Goals Description
There are some short- and long-term goals related to my mentorship career, which I intend to implement in my current work. Commonly, mentors encounter such challenges as establishing productive relationships with their mentorees and achieving understanding despite psychological differences (Bonczyk and Wonderlick 23). The same issues concern me, which is why my first goal for the next two years is to attend a workshop on the improvement of effective relationships with mentorees. My second short-term goal is to apply for an online course on people skills facilitation to obtain more theoretical and practical insights into the opportunities for better communication skills. Once completed, the achievement of these goals will contribute to my professional expertise and improve my daily work with teams.
Similarly, long-term goals are related to the improvement of professional growth areas to grow. According to Beaumont, mentorees often face problems with increasing mentorees’ accountability and alignment of their responsibility areas with the team goals. As for my long-term goals, firstly, I plan to develop strong leadership skills by regularly attending training interventions and reflecting on my experience. Secondly, my plan for the next five years is to improve my public speaking skills and ultimately give a presentation for a numerous audience of mentors at a conference. The achievement of these goals will allow me to become a more skilled and professionally developed mentor.
Works Cited
Beaumont, Susan. “Myth Busters-Supervision.” Susan Beaumont & Associates, 2020, Web.
Bonczyk, Jamie, and Mary Wonderlick. “Developing a Mentor/Mentee Relationship.” Mentoring Exchange, 2016, pp. 23-25.