Currently, an NIH-wide mentoring program is not actively available to employees. However, below are resources that you can use as ideas for connecting with a mentor or mentee of your own design – whether you are participating in a selective program that does leverage mentor/mentee relationships or you have simply identified and forged a relationship with a mentor/mentee of your own.
Resources
Preparatory Exercises
Review these reflective questions as preparatory exercises for participating in a mentoring relationship.
Activities for Mentor/Mentee Pairs
Review Things to Do Together in Your Mentoring Relationship before meeting with your mentor/mentee. We recommend that mentees drive these plans for discussion topics in your monthly chats.
To prepare for recurring partnership meetings, mentees can think through goal status using these Meeting Preparation Questions. Pre-meeting planning can help drive the partnership and keep goal development on track.
Mentoring Relationship Boundaries
It is important to discuss and agree on the appropriate boundaries of the mentoring relationship between you and your partner early on. When boundaries are too loose, they may be misinterpreted, and when they are too rigid, they can also incapacitate the relationship. Use this guidelines document, Setting Boundaries in Mentoring Relationships, to decide upon and confirm these boundaries.