Facilitating Entering Mentoring

What is Entering Mentoring?

Entering Mentoring is an evidence-based, interactive mentor training curricula that engages mentors in collective problem solving and connects them with resources to optimize their mentoring practices. Mentors engage in learning communities through activities, assignments, case studies, and facilitated discussions to solve mentoring dilemmas and share successful mentorship strategies.

The books, Entering Mentoring  and Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers are available from Macmillan Learning.

What is the role of the facilitator?

Facilitating mentor training is not the same as teaching it. The role of a facilitator for our process-based Entering Mentoring curricula is to enable participants to take ownership of their own learning by helping them engage in self-reflection and shared discovery and learning.

The central aim is to build a community of learners working toward the common goal of becoming more effective in their mentoring relationships. Thus, the facilitator’s role in the group is to help others to work through their thoughts and ideas; it is not the facilitator’s role to be the expert on mentoring relationships.

Facilitators may walk a fine line between facilitator and participant. Group members will look to the facilitator for guidance and structure. The facilitator’s own experiences and ideas should enhance the discussion, but not dominate and become the focus of the discussion.

How do you facilitate Entering Mentoring?

Entering Mentoring is available for faculty, staff, or administrators who are committed to implementing research mentor training at their institution or organization for the mentors of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty.

We encourage those interested in becoming a Trained Facilitator to attend the two-day Entering Mentorign Facilitator Training offered at colleges and universities, research institutes, and governmental organizations in person or online.

During this workshop, participants become familiar with the Entering Mentoring curricula, practice facilitating training components, and develop a plan for implementing the training at their institution or organization.

Some people choose to forgo formal facilitator training and instead download our free Entering Mentoring curricula. Our complete curricula include detailed facilitator instructions for leading activities and discussions as well as participant materials.