Mentoring
Trouble Shooting and the Mentoring Partnership
1. I am not getting on with my mentor/mentee.
If the partnership is not useful to both members this needs to be discussed before relations deteriorate. If the mentee and mentor can not resolve issues in an amicable way, the partnership should be dissolved. Click here for 'Dissolving the Partnership'.
2. My mentor/mentee is too busy to arrange meetings.
Making time for each other is an essential part of the partnership. Initially refer back to your agreement and see how often you agreed to meet. It may be that you are demanding too much. If the agreement is not being kept to then you need to either renegotiate it and set meetings at a frequency that suits both of you, or dissolve the partnership and start again.
3. My mentor/mentee arranges meetings but then cancels them at the last minute.
If this is happening only occasionally it may be that the mentor/mentee is currently experiencing a high workload and simply hasn't them time to interact with you. In this case you need to decide whether to put the partnership on hold while this busy period passes, or dissolve the partnership. This situation should not be allowed to happen regularly as the other partner could feel disheartened and undervalued.
4. My manager is unhappy about my choice of mentor/mentee.
The blunt answer is that this is none of his/her business, unless you are allowing your career development activities to interfere with your work responsibilities. If your manager fears a breach in confidentiality or is unhappy about your productivity you should discuss this with him/her and attempt to assuage their doubts.
5. My work is secret or market sensitive.
In this case you may find it easier to find a mentor within your own company, although your mentor should never be your own line manager as this may lead to a conflict of interest. It will be difficult to discuss your career without ever mentioning what it is you actually do.
6. I have been asked to mentor or be mentee to someone who is unsuitable.
In this case honesty is the best policy. If you enter into a partnership to be polite it is doomed to fail from the beginning.
7. My mentee/mentor has made an improper advance during a meeting.
This is a highly unprofessional act and should be reported to the Professional Standards Manager immediately. Mentees or mentors found to be acting unprofessionally will be ejected from Membership of the Institute of Physics.
To protect against false allegations, mentees and mentors should ensure meetings take place in suitable surroundings, where some privacy is ensured to facilitate privacy, but not in complete isolation from other people. Meetings should never take place in the mentee or mentor's home, although a place such as a pub may be ideal for some partnerships.
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