To ensure the mentoring experience starts off well, your clinic should ensure there is a plan in place before the Mentee's arrival. A checklist to guide your preparation is available in the Resources section below.
A mentoring agreement ensures all parties have clear expectations of the relationship. Clinics can create a template agreement that can be customized by individual mentor/mentee pairings. It is important that the mentor, mentee, and management team have input into the final agreement and mentoring plan to ensure that expectations are well-defined for each party. See an example of a checklist for mentee arrival in Resources.
Creating a Mentoring Agreement (see Resources section below for a template)
The mentoring agreement should include three sections:
1. Outline the Mentoring Framework
Identify primary mentor and mentee
Set timeline of formal mentorship
Rules for terminating the mentoring relationship
2. Identify responsibilities of mentor, mentee, and clinic management team
Include agreement for confidentiality
Recommend including Safe Mentoring Pledge (from the AAHA Mentoring Toolkit)
3. Mentoring Plan
Schedule of mentor meetings and template agenda
Frequency of Formalized Feedback from Mentor and Mentee
Planned scheduling progression in the clinic (i.e., type and length of appointments), if applicable)
