Effective mentoring relationships don’t just happen — they benefit from deliberate planning, facilitation, assessment, and recalibration. This toolkit includes resources and proven strategies to help you maximize your mentoring relationships. Both mentors and mentees will benefit from reviewing these materials which are organized around the different stages of a mentoring relationship.

Many of the materials found within these pages is original or slightly adapted content available from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER).

Virginia Shapiro, Ph.D.

Effective mentoring relationships are critical to developing our next generation or research scientists. Both faculty and students identified the need for improved mentor mentee relationships within the graduate school. Through your participation in mentor training new mentors will become good mentors, and good mentors will become great mentors.

Virginia Shapiro, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development, Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

The stages of mentorship 

The mentoring cycle requires deliberate attention in the preparation and initiation stages, while cultivating a productive relationship requires both deliberate attention and thorough evaluation.

We’ve organized resources around these four stages with the understanding that many of the resources may be relevant and useful across phases.

You may find it most helpful to review/access resources based on the problem you’re trying to solve. 

Individual sitting at a table in a coffee shop

Prepare stage

Understand mentoring expectations and responsibilities and reflect on your own motivation to participate in training the next generation of researchers.

Initiate stage

Learn more about the five elements of a successful mentoring experience and possible questions to discuss during the initial meeting.

Nurse Practitioner or Physician Assistant Gastroenterology and Hepatology fellow speaks with a faculty member at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
A faculty mentor with a trainee looking at paperwork in the lab

Cultivate stage

Effective communication will help mentors and mentees identify action steps and resources to accomplish well-defined objectives.

Evaluate stage

Recognize successful mentoring strategies and quickly address any challenges before they turn into more complicated issues.

Individual presenting to a group in a conference room

Group picture of faculty and trainees in the lab

Why serve as a mentor?

Mentoring is a powerful way to learn and maximize the potential within the organization.

Mentoring enhances learning by providing the mentee a touch point with an experienced mentor, which can deepen the mentee’s knowledge and commitment to development.

The mentoring relationship allows for focused and individualized mentee development with increased accountability.

Benefits of being a mentor

Benefits of having a mentor
  • Professional growth by learning through others for exposure to new ideas
  • Satisfaction through helping others develop and reach their goals
  • Advancement of the workforce of the future by engaging talented individuals
  • Contribution to Mayo Clinic’s mission
  • Facilitates integration into the organization
  • Accelerates professional development
  • Enhances visibility and exposure within Mayo Clinic
  • Increases learning opportunities
  • Provides a “sounding board”
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