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Definition of Mentoring

Mentoring is a way for more experienced technical communicators to share their experiences with new or less experienced "mentees." A mentor acts as a trusted counselor, or guide, who assists the mentee in setting and achieving goals for developing career direction and skills

By participating in a mentor/mentee relationship, mentors develop valuable skills that can further their personal and professional development as well.

The relationship between mentor and mentee^* requires honesty, openness, commitment, and effort by both individuals. If they are willing to put forth the effort, there are enormous benefits to be realized.

In a mentoring relationship, mentor and mentee:

• Identify objectives, goals, and developmental needs.
• Define and establish a plan to accomplish mentee goals.
• Meet regularly in person or via phone or e-mail to review and evaluate progress.

A successful mentoring relationship benefits those involved through increased confidence and a sense of direction. The relationship provides a risk-free learning environment in which to offer career guidance.

Mentoring relationships can develop between individuals within an organization, between individuals in two different organizations, or between students and STC professionals.

Mentoring is NOT

• Casual advice
• Necessarily for everyone
• On-the-job training
• A guarantee of a successful career
• — STC Guidelines for Mentoring Programs

^* For our purposes, we have adopted the term mentee instead of protégé. Not all lexicographers have swallowed that coinage yet, but we believe it is a matter of linguistic reality at this point. To any linguistic purists who take umbrage, deal with it! :)

Application Forms

The Orlando Central Florida Chapter of STC invites you to apply for its 2012-2013 mentoring program. To apply:

Use the following self assessment and application forms for mentor or mentee.

• Mentor/Mentee Self Assessment
• Mentor Application
• Mentee Application

Following applications, the program coordinators and chapter president will establish mentor-mentee teams that provide an optimal match of goals, skills, and styles. Your program coordinator will e-mail you your team information and invite you to the mentoring kickoff via e-mail.

Agreement Form

The mentor/mentee agreement form is designed to serve both as a preliminary outline of participant goals and as an icebreaker for a team's first face-to-face meeting.

Step 1: Download the Mentor/Mentee Agreement form and bring it to the kick-off meeting.

Step 2: You will be introduced to your mentor at the kick-off meeting. With your mentor, set your objectives for your mentoring relationship and plan some activities that will help you achieve those objectives.

Step 3: After the meeting, type your answers on the Mentor/Mentee Agreement form.

Step 4: Save form as "mentorname-menteenameAgreement2012_2013.docx"

Step 5: E-mail form to: daniel.w.voss@lmco.com and bethanybowles@gmail.com

Suggested Reading

• Lori Allen and Dan Voss, 1997. "Mentoring Pairs Experts with Novices to Promote Growth," from Chapter 12 of Ethics in Technical Communication: Shades of Gray, John Wiley and Sons. Excerpt available from Dan Voss at daniel.w.voss@lmco.com.
• Larry Ambrose, 1998. A Mentor's Companion, Perrone-Ambrose Associates, Ltd.; available at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967008301/qid%3D1060128446/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-0052852-1936917.
• Gail Lippincott and Dan Voss, 2001. "Leveraging Resources: How an STC Chapter Can Support Education in Its Community and Professional Development for Its Members," see section entitled "Instituting Mentoring Programs, Technical Communication, Vol. 48, No. 4, November, 2001, pp. 449-464 (mentoring section, pp. 457-458), available at http://www.stc-orlando.org/education/mentor/LeveragingResources.pdf.
• Rita W. Peterson, 1989. Mentoring Handbook, published online at the University of California-Irvine, available at http://www.gse.uci.edu/MentorTeacher/Contents.html.
• Society for Technical Communication, 2002. "Guidelines for Mentoring Programs," AD-109-02, available at AD-109-02.pdf.
• Bonnie Spivey and Dan Voss, 2003. "Bridging the Gap Between Industry and Academe: Orlando Chapter and UCF Launch Mentoring Program," in Orlando Chapter's Memo to Members, July/August, 2003, available at http://www.stc-orlando.org/newsletter/2003/memo_2003_08.pdf.

Contact Information for Program Coordinators

If you have any questions or comments about the program, please feel free to contact either or both of the program coordinators, Dan Voss at daniel.w.voss@lmco.com, or Bethany Bowles at bethanybowles@gmail.com.