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>.

WELCOME

Welcome to the CareerPassport Mentoring Blog. At the first of each month we will be posting helpful mentoring ideas, upcoming events, and more to help guide you through the mentoring program. We encourage you to follow this blog by email for easier convenience. You can do this by entering your email in the text box under “follow by email” on the right side of this page.

Suggested Mentoring Topics and Activities

Hopefully you’ve had your first meeting with your mentee, and have begun your regular monthly mentoring sessions. Summer can get busy with everyone’s vacation plans and the great holidays so we encourage you to make your mentoring sessions a priority throughout the summer. We’d like to remind you that on the website we have a list of ideas for topics and activities that you could do for each track. Here is a list of topics and activities for the Self-Discovery Track:

·        Help your mentee identify passions in life and in potential work areas

·        Discuss how your work environment affects your personal life

·        Find possible career options within your mentee’s areas of leisure interests

·        Encourage your mentee to identify his/her personality, interests and character strengths

·        Help your mentee identify entrepreneurial skills he/she possesses or may want to develop

·        Ask your mentee about his/her leadership abilities and experiences

·        Have your mentee describe their strongest skills and abilities

Click here to see the suggested ideas and topics for other tracks

Location/Location/Location

We emphasized earlier that where you meet can be very important. When you have the opportunity and availability, please meet at your place of work or another work environment at least a couple of times so that your mentee can have the opportunity to get acquainted with your job setting. Learning about the balance between career and other interests and responsibilities is also an important way you can inspire your mentee. We also encourage you to join us here at UVU for an activity or an event. It doesn’t always have to be a professional setting. Here are some activities going on at UVU in May that you might enjoy together: For more events click here

May 9                   Baseball vs. NYIT

May 10                MMA Showdown

May 11                “Trouble with Tricks”

May 14                Art of our century: opening reception

May 16                Woodturning Symposium

May 21                Business and Economics Forum

Building the Relationship

As you continue working together, remember that you are building a relationship, and relationships are built on stories. Corporate Alliance has the model, learn, serve, and grow which Jared Stewart, CEO of Corporate Alliance demonstrated with his sister in a lecture he gave at UVU in March. Try the following activity they demonstrated to help build your relationship.

Share with each other information from the three following areas:

·         Share a train, plane, or automobile story. Starting with a personal story helps plant the seed to growing your relationship.

·         Share what you are doing for a living or in your college major now, and what your future career goals are. This helps you understand where each other is coming from.

·         Share three current needs you have. In order to serve each other effectively, it’s important to know what each other really needs. As you each share your needs, try to listen carefully and decide how you can serve each other.    

Sincerely,

The CPM Team

*Corporate Alliance networking model presented by Sarah Stewart at UVU Executive Lecture Series March 21, 2013