Know Yourself
To get the most out of your mentoring relationships, it’s important to consider: who you are, what you value, and how you work best.
Getting to know yourself is an intentional, ongoing process that is critical to revisit throughout your career. The following tools and resources are offered as a guide for self-reflection.
Craft Your Personal Definition of Success
Mentorship can promote career and life success, but as we know, definitions of success are personal and multifaceted. One of the most important first steps in your self-reflection process is to determine what success means precisely for you. The Harvard Business Review article Success That Lasts, offers a practical, easy-to-use model.
To craft your own definition of success, watch the video below, then click on the button to download and fill in the associated worksheet. In the video, Fran Grodstein, ScD, professor of internal medicine at Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Rush Medical College, and director of Career Catalyst, explains how to craft your personal definition of success using the Success that Lasts model.
Assess Your Strengths and Values
In addition to your personal definition of success, it is important to take time to reflect on your personal strengths, preferences, tendencies, and core values. Understanding these aspects of yourself can help you prioritize your time, set goals, seek out support, and navigate your career development. To get started, consider taking one of the assessments below.
Please note that some of the activities have an associated fee. Wherever possible, we have provided a free alternative version of the assessment or tool. The assessments that have an associated cost are reputable so we chose to include them as options.
Prepare for Career Development Conversations
Getting to know yourself helps you articulate the value you bring to a mentoring relationship and advocate for the expertise and support you need to excel.
Our Preparing for Career Development Conversations document is a practical tool for sharing and applying your self-reflection. This tool guides productive career development conversations between mentees and mentors at any stage of their career.
How to use this tool:
- At the start of a new mentoring relationship (with a developmental or skills mentor, or manager/PI) to share your current work and set mutual expectations and goals.
- In advance of formal annual meetings, such as with a division chief or department chair, to highlight your achievements and advocate for resources.
- At a set frequency (e.g., bi-annually, annually) with a mentor(s) to reassess expectations and to stay on track to reach your goals.
Throughout the document, “Checkpoints” provide space for mentees and mentors to reflect, spark new ideas, and document decisions. The “Goal Setting” section allows mentees to document short- and long-term goals and advocate for resources. We recommend returning to this document and reviewing it together with mentors at a set frequency to track progress and reassess goals and expectations.