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Patrick Melby
DOS 518-Professionalism
August 5th, 2016
Effective Mentoring
Mentors provide an alternate route for young professionals to be able to become
proficient in their field of study. Only so much can be learned from book work and studying.
Some criteria need to be met by both the mentor and the mentee in order to create the most
effective relationship. Mentors need to be patient, supportive, and allow the mentee to think and
grow for him/herself, while mentees need to actively pursue mentors in order to succeed.
Multiple mentors should be used to achieve separate goals of an individual that can be to
improve aspects in the workplace, school, or even lifestyle.
In the workplace, students will hopefully be surrounded with multiple people in which
they can consider to be mentors. These mentors can help to communicate techniques, skills, and
processes to the student in a specific and concise manner that makes it easy for the student to
pickup. One of the most important traits in which a mentor should try to obtain is patience.
"Student needs to be able to have the time to experience some failures for him/herself" (C.
Brogan-Raasch, CMD, oral communication, August 2016). This can be one of the most difficult
attributes to find in a mentor. This is one area in which I have personally been able to see the
benefits. Being able to work through my own issue and to have mentors around me that will
give me a direction to follow, without just giving me the answers.
This brings up another important trait of a mentor of allowing the mentee to think for
him/herself. A good mentor should not expect the mentee to do everything exactly how they do
it. Instead, they should provide examples and criticism for the student's learning to thrive and
allow them to develop their own personal style. An easy way for to develop a mentee's personal
strategies is for the mentor to think out loud while teaching.1 Give the mentee reasons why they
choose a certain method, explain what other things they had tried in the past, and how they came
to their solution. This allows the mentee to develop their own strategies of what to try in a
similar situation.
Support is another trait that an effective mentor needs to have. Mentees usually have a
mentor in an area that is either new to them or in an area that is a weakness. Because of this,
they can be easily discouraged if their mentor is not encouraging and doesn't support their
efforts. In my past experiences, it is very difficult to stay determined and continue to pursue
your goal if the main people that are influencing you are not supportive.

As I mentioned earlier, usually multiple mentors are needed in order to achieve your
ultimate goals. An ideal mentor has all of the qualities and specialties in which align with
personal goals, but this is rare to find.2 Because of this, it is important for the mentee to always
be searching for multiple mentors in specific areas of their life to help them succeed. (A. Lamm,
oral communication, August, 2016). Multiple influences will help to shape a mentee into the
best style that fits them. It is extremely important for a mentee to actively pursue mentors who
will help them to achieve and maintain their goals. The mentee needs to be able to reflect on
areas in which they need to improve. From this assessment, the search for the appropriate
mentor can begin to achieve this goal.2
Overall, it can be seen that in order to have an effective relationship between a mentor
and a mentee, both sides contribute to the overall success. The mentors need to continue to be
patient, supportive and allow the mentees professional thoughts to develop, and the mentee need
to reflect on him/herself and actively pursue those in which would be a good mentor. If these
traits can be achieved, the possibilities for succeed will be greatly improved.

References
1. Lenards, N. Mentoring.[SoftChalk]. La Crosse, WI: UW-L Medical Dosimetry program; July
8, 2016
2. Tsai P, Helsel B. How to build effective mentor-mentee relationships: Role of the mentee. The
J Thorac Cardiov Sur. 2016;151(3):642-644. doi:10.1016/j.jtcvs.2015.10.017

Appendix A
Mentoring Interview with Colleen Brogan-Raasch, August 7th, 2016
Q: How would you describe a mentor?
A: Someone that the student observes, and guides the student in the right direction. Someone
who encourages them to learn new skill of techniques without criticizing them. They help to
increase a student's confidences until they can master it on their own.
Q. What skills/attribute creates a good mentor?
A: 1) Most importantly patience. 2) Be kind and respectful to the students, and have a
willingness to let the students fail, make their own mistakes and not take over once they do fail.
Dont be so hard on them to get across a point. Put yourself in the students shoes.
Q: What skills/attribute creates a poor mentor?
A: Mentors need to know what they are talking about and be able to effectively communicate
that to the student. They cannot just fake it
Q: How have your mentors influenced you?
A: I've had good and bad one, and I have probably learned more from the bad ones.
Q: Do you think mentors are important in a healthcare career?
A: Absolutely, Dosimetry specifically is a very technical field. Good mentors can make it easy
to keep up on what is new in the field
Q: Do you think it is beneficial for the mentor to be a mentor?
A: Yes, it keeps them honest. They can't pretend to know everything. Plus as a mentor it helps
you to stay on top of the new technologies that are coming out. Without teaching and mentoring
someone, you can fall into always using old habits, whether they are good or bad.
Q: How do you find a good mentor?
A: Being observant and asking lots of questions.

Appendix B
Mentoring Interview with Anna Lamm, August 3rd, 2016
Q. How would you describe a mentor?
A. I would describe a mentor as a "teacher" in the field of study that one is currently in.
Although, there are many of us who have mentors outside of the work realm as well who we may
look up to for their behavior, drive and success.
Q. What skills/attribute creates a good mentor?
A. Confidence, Communication, Honesty, Integrity, Humility, and Self-Discipline
Q. What skills/attribute creates a poor mentor?
A. You essentially can take those above and put a "lack of" in front of them and that would
make up a poor mentor.
Q. How have your mentors influenced you?
A. I would say that the mentors that I have had in my career thus far have
been extremely influential in who I am today. I am more confident, outgoing, quick witted (to an
extent) than I ever had before I encountered those who I call my mentors. I would also add that
they have influenced me to continue in the career path in sales.
Q. Do you think mentors are important in a healthcare career?
A. I think mentors are extremely important in any field. I don't think mentors should
pertain specially to just one profession.
Q. Do you think it is beneficial for the mentor to be a mentor?
A. I think this would all be dependent upon if the mentor "knew" they were being a mentor for
others. I think being a "trainer" in a field is much different than actually being a mentor to
someone. Yet, you don't specially ask someone if they will mentor you (in most fields). I think
this is a role that people fall into that are natural leaders and have the drive to help others succeed
as much, if not more than themselves. Overall, yes- I think this is beneficial for those that realize
they are mentors-especially if they are doing a good job.
Q. How do you find a good mentor?
A. This is a tough question. Not everyone is able to find a mentor within their job category or
even within their building if that. I think everyone should take it upon themselves to find people
in their lives who they look up to. This could be for financial, family, lifestyle, etc. reasons. It is
up to the "mentee" to keep their eyes and ears open for an opportunity to learn and grow as an
individual.