Article by Russell Lyons (Q16)

Collaboration is a key aspect of the QUEST community. Part of collaborating with others is acknowledging that you do not have all the answers. The new Alumni Mentor program began taking form last spring when a pilot of the program was launched. After learning from the pilot the official program launched this fall. A kickoff event for mentors and mentees was hosted in the beginning of September. The goal for the night was to give the pairings of students and alumni a venue for establishing their relationship. Whether it is a mentoring relationship or another type of collaboration, such as a student project team, there are several requirements for achieving success. I learned these requirements from Dr. Bigio through taking his Lean Six Sigma course, which I strongly recommend to any younger QUEST students. The requirements are: Relationship, Commitment, Vision, Structure, Action, and Completion. So how would each of these requirements be fulfilled for a mentoring relationship?

Relationship: understand why everyone is getting involved in the program. Why did each other sign up to be a mentor or mentee?

Commitment: declare what each person’s level of commitment is. How often would the other person like to meet, and is it sufficient for each person to get what they want out of the collaboration.

Vision: establish what goals you and your mentee/mentor want to achieve. Where are we starting and what will be the path we need to take to get to the goals?

Structure: state what responsibilities and actions are expected of each other. How will meetings be planned? If a meeting has to be cancelled or postponed what will be the process for that?

Action: accomplish the tasks desired to reach the goals set out in the vision by each other by following the structure that was set up. What was produced from the action and how will it be documented?

Completion: acknowledge what was accomplished and how it differed from what you set out to achieve; learn from your experience and find aspects of collaborating with others that you can use to improve future endeavors. Is there anything that has been left unsaid through the duration of working together?

Following these requirements can help guide you through your mentor/mentee relationship or any other collaboration you might be involved with. It’s not about having all the answers as I said earlier, but learning from others so next time you might.