An 8-Step Primer for Students and Post-Docs to Develop Contextual and Impactful Mentorship of Others

Mary C. Frazier; Yiqing “Skylar” Yu; Carah D. Holesovsky - Student SIG

Undergraduate and other research assistants play key roles in the academe as “a continuum of knowledge production, from knowledge new to the learner to knowledge new to humankind” (R Willison & M O’Regan, 2007). The responsibility of mentoring undergraduate and other research assistants often falls to graduate students, post-docs, and early career researchers. For the mentee, a successful mentorship relationship results in the development and honing of skills important for their future vocation and self-growth. Ideally the relationship is bidirectional, with the mentor also benefiting from strengthening cultural humility, deepening professional development skills, enriching practices in connection, and learning new perspectives. Patience is a foundational element of effective mentorship. Mentoring others requires an investment of time and energy in the beginning to have long-term, sustainable impact.

To guide this investment, we offer an eight-step primer:

1. Practice Intentional Communication

Communication is key to every relationship, especially mentor-mentee relationships. To practice effective communication, it can be helpful to first learn of and how to engage indifferent communication styles (De Vries et al., 2013). A key part of communication is listening, and active listening can be transformational in both connecting with the mentee and understanding their needs for support. Active listening often includes asking open-ended questions, paraphrasing what is shared to demonstrate that it is heard, reflecting feelings of the mentee, verbally checking assumptions, and showing nonverbal immediacy by being fully present. When communicating, it is important to be cognizant of possible communication and cultural differences as well as a potential power dynamic, all which may contribute to impeding effective communication and bidirectional understanding.

2. Co-Create Clear, Upfront Expectations

Establishing upfront expectations is an important premise for effective mentorship and reducing errors (Strand, 2025). To co-create tailored expectations and clarity, begin by defining base expectations (e.g., established institutional and/or lab expectations) using accessible and specific language in a document. Mutually beneficial expectations for a mentor-mentee relationship can be built upon these base expectations with consideration of how personal and professional discrepancies may impact expectations. These mentorship expectations can begin simply, such as by completing the exercise of the mentor and mentee each writing down and then discussing two expectations they have of each other. These mentorship expectations can then be added on to a copy of the base expectations document. Remember, co-creating mentorship expectations is ongoing – it is important to be intentional, check in frequently, and practice openness to shifting expectations over time.

3. Structure The Mentor-Mentee Relationship

From the time of first on boarding a new mentee to transitioning to new research projects, it is essential to maintain a structured framework for the mentor-mentee relationship. This structured framework may include implementing regular check-in meetings (e.g., weekly project or mentorship “huddles”) to provide clarity on research roles, timelines, goals, and expectations. Such structure also helps track responsibilities and promote accountability. 

4. Engage Mentees in Comprehensive Research

An impactful mentor-mentee relationship includes exposure to each stage of research. Engaging the mentee in discussing the development of the research project can strengthen the mentee’s competencies, confidence, and creativity in research by connecting specific processes to big picture questions. 

5. Set Individualized Goals

Integrating the goals of the mentee into goals of a research project is one of the ways that mentorship may be distinguished from supervision. A person-centered approach allows mentors to tailor guidance based on the mentee’s background, interests, and future aspirations. For mentees who intend to pursue a research vocation, particularly in the same field, mentors might consider co-setting goals that focus on deepening specialized skills and content knowledge. For mentees who are still exploring their interests or intend to pursue research adjacent vocations (e.g., health professions), mentors might consider co-setting goals that emphasize transferable skills such as professional communication,literature review, and general methodologies. By creating individualized mentorship goals,mentors can support both research productivity and the mentee’s personal and career development.

6. Provide Positive, Constructive Feedback

Important to individualized goals is cyclically providing feedback on progress and individual development. Before providing feedback, it is important for the mentor to pause and reflect on possible assumptions and biases and consider how these may influence behaviors or the interpersonal dynamic. Some useful checks include:

a) Define the feedback – is it specific and descriptive?

b) Determine the purpose – is the feedback helpful and necessary?

c) Set a time – determine a time best for feedback (e.g., during structured check-ins or huddles);

d.) Gauge interest – “would you be open to some feedback?” The mentor can further bolster their practice in providing positive, constructive feedback by integrating other steps in mentorship, such as structure, communication, and goal setting.

7. Shift towards Autonomy

Although it is important to begin the mentorship relationship with clear expectations to promote reliability and progression of research goals, it is also important to gradually shift towards more mentee autonomy. As mentees become more confident and strengthen the irreliability, mentors might grant more autonomy by providing them with new responsibilities. These responsibilities might include managing specific project components, training others, writing up a procedure or literature review, or leading a project. Gradually increasing responsibility is valuable for cultivating independence in the mentee and preparing them for leadership roles in the future.

8. Continuously Create an Environment of Well-being

To create an environment of well-being and belonging, a mentor might not only verbally promote and create opportunities for mentee well-being practices but also model active well-being practices and resilience behaviors. Mentors can model practices such as asking for an extension on a deadline, pausing for bio-breaks, declining new opportunities when lacking capacity, taking days off, and so on. Mentors can further promote well-being in their mentees by verbally encouraging help-seeking activities (e.g., speaking to a therapist),sharing resources for mental health support; creating opportunities for mentees to talk about their mental health if they wish and let them have that moment; and be willing to listen and offer a supportive ear. Mentors may also benefit from seeking out and completing trainings that improve their inclusivity and ally-ship competencies or help them learn how to assess urgency and response, directly connect their mentees with resources, and become aware of potential crisis services.

Mentorship of others as a trainee or early career researcher is not only an integral responsibility but also a rewarding opportunity to develop professional skills and build connection to people who may be future colleagues. While this 8-step primer provides new mentors with tools for effective and impactful mentorship, it is important to note that each mentorship relationship will be unique according to the mentor’s and mentee’s intersectional experiences and environment. Just as context matters to our research endeavors, understanding the context of our mentees and working to meet them where they are is key to developing an impactful relationship – for both the mentee and mentor. To mentor is to model practices we wish we had internalized as a new researcher; to live and work in the way we envision the future culture of research at large.

For additional resources, check out SBM's Mentorship Toolkit: https://www.sbm.org/training/mentorship-toolkit

References:

1. De Vries, R. E., Bakker-Pieper, A., Konings, F. E., & Schouten, B. (2013). The Communication Styles Inventory (CSI): A Six-Dimensional Behavioral Model of Communication Styles and Its Relation With Personality. Communication Research, 40(4), 506–532. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650211413571  
2. R Willison & M O’Regan. (2007). Undergraduate research and teaching assistants: Effects on learning outcomes. Studies in Higher Education, 32(5), 395–406. Strand, J. F. (2025). Error Tight: Exercises for Lab Groups to Prevent Research Mistakes. Psychological Methods, 30(2), 416–424. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000547