The training of scientists must encourage independent responsibility which is best fostered by effective mentoring. A key requirement is establishing good communication which can help define expectations of both mentor and trainee and help establish objective criteria for success.
Developing a Mentoring Plan:Our goal is to aid faculty in the development and delivery of mentoring plans for their postdoctoral scholars. To this end, we have prepared a proposal development aid for NSF proposals on mentoring postdoctoral scholars. In this aid, we provide information about existing resources and initiatives at Northwestern and suggest approaches to develop individual plans.A complete mentoring plan should contain information about academic as well as professional development training.Ideally, the plan should be developed through discussions between the postdoctoral scholar and the faculty mentor.Please note that the information provided is not intended as boilerplate text for proposals; rather, the following information is provided to assist faculty in preparing a customized mentoring plan tailored to a faculty member’s own laboratory and research program and to demonstrate the slate of resources available to them and trainees. In addition, the OPA has also developed a New Postdoctoral Scholar Getting Started* Checklist to assist faculty in preparing for the arrival of new postdoctoral scholars and conducting an orientation upon their arrival.
Performance Evaluation:As part of their mentoring duties, faculty mentors are encouraged to undertake performance evaluations of their postdoctoral scholars on a yearly basis. To assist in the process, an Individual Development Plan (IDP) from FASEB may be used. An IDP is a career enhancement resource for the postdoctoral scholar and can also be a performance evaluation and mentoring tool for faculty. Not merely a time management tool, when used well, an IDP works to improve planning and resource allocations, both for academic and professional development goals. The OPA delivers a quarterly workshop to postdoctoral scholars entitled ‘Manage Your Career’ , which postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to attend. We provide IDP related training and documents to interested postdoctoral scholars in this workshop. The creation, development and effective management of an IDP to help set goals and targets in postdoctoral training are explored in detail. Faculty seeking clarifications on use of an IDP can contact the OPA with questions.Additional standardized material that can be used in employee performance evaluation has been made available on the Office of Human Resources website.
Online Mentoring Resources:There is a growing body of resources to aid faculty in their mentoring of postdoctoral researchers. The following links provide to some of these resources.
HHMI Lab Management resources including a pdf entitled entering mentoring which provides some interesting tools to assist faculty develop their mentoring approach.
Guidelines for Mentoring Postdoctoral Scholars: A brief guide that developed out of a faculty-postdoc mentorship program at MIT. Includes questions that faculty mentors can ask their postdocs to get a mentor-protege relationship started.
Mentoring Standards: Prepared by the Gladstone Institutes, based largely on guidelines set by the NIH.
Mentoring and PI Productivity: Science magazine article that explains why mentoring isn't just for the benefit of the postdoc: "Excellent mentoring attracts excellent postdocs, and postdoc alumni in good careers...make a lab look good."
