2. Mentoring
"A mentor provides you with
wisdom, technical
knowledge, assistance, support,
empathy and respect
throughout, and often
beyond, your graduate career. "
University of Washington
Graduate School
Requires empathy, tact, sincerity
BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
3. Mentoring Activities
● Advice on handling situations
● Helping a mentee set professional goals and
work together to develop the skills the
mentee needs to reach those goals
● Sometimes involves setting tasks and
assessing the work
● May be for an agreed upon period of time
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
4. Why Mentor?
● Grow new hires into productive members of
the team
● Grow the next generation of technical
communicators
● Grow your own skills
● Share your experience
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
5. Growing vs Mentoring
Growing
● more teaching
● implies a more
junior person
Mentoring
● more advising
● implies a person
with some
experience
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
7. Acorns take time to become mighty
oaks
● Pace the process.
● Tell them about
when you were
learning
● Great truths
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8. Patience
● Let them drive
● Catch them doing
something good
● Be a sounding
board
● Let them teach you
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9. Don't overfill their heads
Teach them something
useful and let it rest.
Then teach them
something else.
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10. Let them say "wait a minute"
Have a “safety word"
to allow a reset
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11. Class 5 Rapids without a Paddle
Threw two new writers
onto a major release
During a conversion
FrameMaker to
DITA
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12. Two weeks training
before I disappeared
for three weeks
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13. Agile as a growing environment
● Tasks focused and limited
● Team has reasons to support the new writer
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14. Down side
● No big picture
● Doc manager is 700 miles away
● Too many undefined tasks
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15. Things they don't teach in school
● Counting backwards
● Writing is only part of the job
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16. What Mentees Want
● Support and respect
● Polite and approachable mentor
● Tips and guidance
● The stuff they don't teach in school
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
17. Skills for Mentees
● Asking questions
● Listening skills
● Resolving differences
● Having realistic expectations
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
18. Final Words
Susan Canfield said
We all have the opportunity to mentor and be mentored throughout our lives. Mentors learn as much
as they teach. If we are actively engaged and are eager to learn, mentors are often available just for
the asking. You can certainly be successful in your career without mentors, but they can bring a
richness and perspective to your life beyond measure.
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers
19. For more information
● Mentee Guide http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/roles/ee/careerdev/mentoring/mentee-success.html
● Mentor-Mentee Cycle
http://www.amwa.org/default/members.only/journals/vol27.4/v27n4.169.career_block.pdf
● Duties Fulfilled or Misconstrued http://www.nickols.us/homers_mentor.pdf
● Mentoring http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring/
● Debunking Common Mentor Myths
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/01/14/debunking-common-mentoring-myths/
● How I hire: Focus on the Personality
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130923230007-204068115-how-i-hire-focus-on-personality?trk=eml-mktg-inf-
m-hih-0925-p1
● This slide deck
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers