Invention:
This is a professional development training developed by the MENTOR (Mentorship through Effective Networking, Transformational Opportunities, and Research) Institute at the University of Arizona. The purpose is to enhance mentoring practices as a means to improve outcomes such as career advancement, obtaining a great job, timely promotion, academic milestones, and graduation. This training, which was created based on expert consultation with experienced faculty and graduate students across UArizona, integrates best practices from well-established national organizations and was reviewed for inclusivity and accessibility of content by UArizona’s Disability Resource Center. This training has been designed for all faculty, postdocs, and graduate students and is focused on training both mentors and mentees. It can be completed asynchronously in roughly 60-75 minutes either online or via a Learning Management System.
Background:
Mentoring relationships of all kinds — peer mentors, mentoring communities, and one-on-one partnerships — can be extremely beneficial as mentors and mentees work to build their mentor universe but are arguably different from other workplace relationships. Mentoring program participants must understand the objectives of the program, their roles, expectations, and best practices prior to entering into the relationship. Programs that start without mentoring training and instructions usually receive negative feedback such as participants feeling unprepared and indeterminate. This leads to a poor mentoring experience and, eventually, the program fails. This facilitates the need for effective and practical mentor/ mentee training programs, especially one that can be made for each party in a mentor/mentee relationship.
Applications:
- Mentorship training
- Corporate training
- Academic/higher education training
- Leadership training
Advantages:
- Created for a range of occupations and roles
- Adaptable to many different environments (workplace, school, etc.)
- Inclusively designed
- Can be completed asynchronously
- Can be integrated in LMS systems or standalone online
