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Monday, August 5, 2013

Goal Evaluation

Evaluating your Mentee’s Goals

Now that it’s getting closer towards the end of your mentoring relationship, it may be a good time to evaluate how you and your mentee are doing on your goals. In the beginning of the mentoring relationship, you and your mentee wrote down three goals that you’d like to accomplish during your six months together. During your next mentoring session, try to go over those 3 goals again, and evaluate how you are doing.
Mentee Goals
The Mentoring Group recently published an article, Mentee Goals Revisited by Dr. Linda Phillips-Jones, where she discussed 5 common mistakes that are made when formulating mentee goals. Check to see if your mentee's goals fall under any of these categories.

1. Mentees avoid goals altogether - If your mentee has not yet filled out The Goal Setting Worksheet, it’s not too late. Download The Sheet, and during your next mentoring session help them set some short term goals that can be accomplished before the "Ending Celebration" in October.

2. Goals are too large or ambitious - Although we don’t want to discourage students from dreaming big, it might be helpful for you to show your mentee the smaller goals they will need to achieve first before they can accomplish the big ones.

3. Goals are too limited or boring - Sometimes students will set goals that don’t stretch themselves enough, they set goals they know they can achieve easily so that they can say that they’ve done it. Often, students don’t know what kinds of goals to set, so the goals they end up writing turn out boring, and don’t relate to the CareerPassport Program. Help your mentee set those goals that will really stretch and motivate them by checking out The Goal Setting Tips Sheet.

4. Few relationships measure progress toward goals - It’s important to hold your mentee accountable for their goals, you both wrote and agreed to them, now is the time to measure the progress that has been made, and then determine what else can be done before the Ending Celebration.

5. Pairs spend too much time choosing and then wordsmithing goals - Agreeing on a set of 3 goals should not be a difficult thing. If you find you’re spending too much time writing your goals together, then you’re working too hard. Goals should be solidified and agreed upon before the start of your first mentoring session together.
There are two pieces of advice that Dr. Phillips-Jones gives to help with evaluating and setting goals.
      1. Set SMART Goals - You may be familiar with this acronym, but goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and tangible are goals that work well. Having a SMART goal will also ensure that your mentee can get the most out of their mentoring relationship.

       2. Start Somewhere - You can always edit, adjust, and fine tune your goals throughout your mentoring relationship. The most important thing is to start somewhere. Maybe you’ve set tentative goals, but they need some editing, now is the time for that. With only 2 or 3 more mentoring sessions left, discover with your mentee where you are, and what further work is needed to get you and your mentee where you want to go.
 
      Check out the full article.
 
References: Phillip-Jones, Linda Dr. "Mentee Goals Revisited." The Mentoring Group. N.p., 06 2010. Web. 17 Jul. 2013.< http://www.mentoringgroup.com/html/articles/idea_36.htm>.