UC Davis - Mentoring Up #2 aligning expectations

Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for STEM Disciplines
May 15, 2014
Part 2: Aligning Goals and Expectations
Mentoring Up:

Summary of Part 1
Intro to Mentoring Up; Communication
2
● Mentoring up: mentee learns to pro-actively manage their
relationship with their mentor
○ Assess your and your mentor’s communication
preferences, strengths and weaknesses
○ Apply your assessment strategically to work towards a
mutually beneficial relationship

Let’s read and discuss
the case studies
3

A common mistake is to confuse
importance with urgency
Due to this common confusion, an explicit discussion of
importance and priorities is essential.
4
importance scale
urgency
scale
high importance
high urgency
1 – most address these first
high importance
low urgency
2 – some confuse with 3,
and focus too little
low importance
low urgency
4 – most address these last
low importance
high urgency
3 – some confuse with 2, and
focus too much

When discussing priorities, work to
align goals and expectations
●Discuss and apply SMART goals
Specific – what are the specific details?
Measurable – how will we know when it’s done?
Assignable – who’s in charge of what?
Reasonable – can we actually do this?
Timely – when does it need to be done?
5

1. To succeed, my mentor needs ______ from me.
2. To succeed, I need _____ from my mentor.
3. Create a plan for moving forward:
I am going to __[goal]__ by __[date]__.
I am going to __[goal]__ by __[date]__.
6
Workshop Exercise:
Define success for you and your mentor
and determine how you will succeed

Workshop Schedule
1. Intro to Mentoring Up
Communicating Effectively
2. Aligning Goals and Expectations
3. Addressing Diversity
4. Fostering Independence
7
May 8
May 15
May 22
May 29

1
Mentoring Up:
Part 2: Aligning Goals and Expectations
Steve Lee, PhD
Graduate Diversity Officer
for the STEM Disciplines
stnlee@ucdavis.edu
May 15, 2014
Case Studies
The following case studies describe real situations. The names and identifying references have been
altered to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
1.) Navigating Between Two Mentors: Stuck between a Rock and a Hard Place
Heather is a new grad student and has recently joined a research group with Professor Roman as
her primary mentor, and was given multiple projects—including her first project, which was started by a
postdoctoral scholar in the group. She assumed that the postdoc would help her with the project, serving
as an informal mentor.
Heather began working in the lab by following instructions that were written by the postdoc, but
noticed problems with the results. When she asked the postdoc to confirm the instructions, he brushed
her off with quick answers, and said that he didn’t follow the written instructions exactly and that it
contained errors. Heather was confused by his behavior, and began to suspect that the project was taken
from him, and that he was resenting her work on the project.
To better understand her project and resolve problems with her results, she asked for a joint
meeting with both of her mentors: Professor Roman and the postdoc. In the joint meeting, she made sure
that the postdoc was given an opportunity to speak openly and confirm that he approved handing over
the project to Heather. However, even after the meeting, Heather still continued to have problems with
the instructions, and the postdoc continued to brush her off with quick and cryptic responses that didn’t
help her. Heather still suspected that the postdoc only agreed to hand over the project to her because
he was afraid to disagree with Professor Roman. Heather is frustrated, because her progress depends on
the past work and experiments that were started by the postdoc, so she is unable to proceed at a
sufficient pace. The postdoc has not been helpful, and seems to behave passive-aggressively towards her
questions and requests for help.
Furthermore, the postdoc has asked that he be given first authorship if a paper were to be
published, which Heather believes is acceptable since he started the project. But he has also started
insisting that he be given first authorship on a second paper, even though Heather would have done
most of the experimental work and writing of the paper. As Heather considered her various options, she
discussed her multiple projects with Professor Roman and began to shift her energy towards other
projects.
• What does Heather do well in this situation? How does she “mentor up” in this situation with her
two mentors?

2
2.) Romantic relationships in the research group
Mary has always been a hard worker in her PhD program. She works 16-hr days for 6 days a
week, and even puts in 8 hrs on Sundays. Recently, the relationship with one of her labmates has gotten
sour. Her labmate has not been contributing her fair share of the group’s responsibilities and has not
been helpful when Mary asked her questions or asked for help.
Mary also noticed that her labmate and their research professor (who is married with children)
has been spending a lot of time together at work and other social activities. She hears rumors that the
professor is romantically involved with her labmate.
• What should Mary do in this situation? She wants to progress in her research, but feels trapped,
because she doesn’t think that she can approach her professor about her labmate not fulfilling
her fair share of group responsibilities.
• What would you do in this situation?
3.) Lack of honest feedback from the research professor
Richard is close to finishing a research rotation (a temporary research experience that lasts for
one quarter; these are used to test if there’s a good mentor/mentee match), and thinks that things are
going well with his professor. The professor walks through the labs several times each week, making sure
that his students are progressing in their research, but he doesn’t have formal meetings with his students.
Recently, Richard heard indirectly from another source that the professor has actually not been
happy with his work, even though he has not criticized him directly.
4.) Constantly changing projects
Dan has recently joined a research group with a junior professor, and the professor seemed to
have some new, exciting projects. He was grateful to join this group, because he had been having trouble
finding a group to join.
Dan started working on his main project, but after a week, the professor came up with another
exciting project for him. Dan dropped his work in the original project, and switched directions. After
another week, the professor said he needed to switch directions again for another project.
Dan started to get concerned. He preferred to focus on one direction, and it didn’t seem
efficient to be constantly changing directions. But he didn’t want to appear ungrateful for being
accepted into the professor’s group.
• How would you react in an opposite case? In this opposite case, the professor is very stubborn
and unwilling to change directions, even when you believe you need to change directions.

3
5.) Lack of independence
Jennifer began working in her research group with high hopes. She had an initial great meeting
with her research mentor, who seemed friendly and willing to listen to her ideas and hopes for her thesis
work. She also heard from the other grad students in the group that they were very happy with his
mentorship style.
However, as she began working under her research mentor, she began to notice that he would
brush off her ideas, and insist that she work on his ideas and plans. She brought up her ideas for what she
had hoped to focus on multiple times, but he kept insisting that she first work on an initial project.
Jennifer’s initial project has started to grow and take longer than they both first anticipated, and he has
started talking about it becoming her main proposal for her quals.
Jen began to notice that the other grad students basically did what they were told to do, and
were not given much independence in their research projects. She had been accustomed to having much
more freedom from her undergraduate research mentor, so she was finding it difficult to follow her new
research mentor.
6.) Contemplating switching research groups
April had an extremely strong start to her PhD program. She passed all of her coursework (mostly
with A’s) and joined a professor who encouraged her drive and enthusiasm for research. April also told
her professor that she has a reoccurring chronic medical problem, but she always worked around her
doctor’s visits and made up for missed time in the lab. She recently passed her qualifying exam, and it
looked like smooth sailing from there. However, April’s medical condition has been getting worse, and
her doctors have not been able to diagnose the problem, leading to additional frustration and stress.
The professor said that it was important for April to take care of her health, but has started
questioning her dedication and focus to research, because of her increased number of absences and
recent lack of productivity. April’s initial positive relationship with her professor has now become so
strained that it was stressful to be alone in the same room together. April also suspects that the professor
has been feeling stressed for her upcoming tenure review, and passing that pressure upon April.
April spoke with the head of the program, who suggested that it would be difficult to jump ship
and find another professor who would be willing to take her in their lab, given her medical issues and
probable negative reference from her current professor.
• What would you do in this situation? Would you find a new professor, which would increase your
time in grad school, or stay with your current professor? Why or why not?
• If you think that April should look for a new professor, how should she find a new professor?
Should she tell her current professor first, or contact potential faculty first?

4
7.) Cross-cultural issues
Harry has just joined a research group, where all of the other members of the group are
international students and usually speak their native language. They are friendly to Harry, but he’s been
feeling left out of informal conversations and at their social activities because they often speak their
native language. The professor is also from the same country and often speaks their native language.
Harry wants to be culturally sensitive, but wants to connect more with his professor and labmates.
• What would you do in this situation, to connect more to your labmates and professor?
8.) Compatible Work Styles (adapted from Managing Your Boss, Gabarro and Kotter, p 98)
A grad student (who had a relatively good relationship with his mentor) realized that during
meetings his professor would often become inattentive and sometimes brusque. The student’s own style
tended to be discursive and exploratory. He would often digress from the topic at hand to deal with
background factors, alternative approaches, and so forth. His professor preferred to discuss problems
with a minimum of background detail and became impatient and distracted whenever the student
digressed from the immediate issue.
Recognizing this difference in style, the student became terser and more direct during meetings
with his professor. To help himself do this, before meetings, he would develop brief agendas that he
used as a guide. Whenever he felt that a digression was needed, he explained why. This small shift in his
own style made these meetings more effective and far less frustrating for both of them.
• How might you analyze the student’s and professor’s communication preferences, from the
Myers-Briggs types?
• What is the student’s likely communication preference or type, and what is the professor’s?
Schedule
• Part 1: Communicating Effectively Thu May 8, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D
• Part 2: Aligning Goals and Expectations Thu May 15, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm E
• Part 3: Addressing Diversity Thu May 22, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D
• Part 4: Fostering Independence Thu May 29, 3:30-5 pm, SCC, Rm D

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