Slide deck for STC Summit 2014

1. Mentoring and Growing
Junior Writers
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

2. Mentoring
"A mentor provides you with
wisdom, technical knowledge,
assistance, support, empathy
and respect throughout, and
often beyond, your graduate
career. " University of
Washington Graduate School
Requires empathy, tact, sincerity
BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

3. Mentoring Activities
● Advice on handling situations
● Helping a mentee set professional goals and
work together to develop the skills the
mentee needs to reach those goals
● Sometimes involves setting tasks and
assessing the work
● May be for an agreed upon period of time
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

4. Why Mentor?
● Grow new hires into productive members of
the team
● Grow the next generation of technical
communicators
● Grow your own skills
● Share your experience
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

5. Growing vs Mentoring
Growing
● more teaching
● implies a more
junior person
Mentoring
● more advising
● implies a person
with some
experience
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

6. Growing Junior Writers
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

7. Acorns take time to become mighty
oaks
● Pace the process.
● Tell them about
when you were
learning
● Great truths
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

8. Patience
● Let them drive
● Catch them doing
something good
● Be a sounding
board
● Let them teach you
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

9. Don't overfill their heads
Teach them something
useful and let it rest.
Then teach them
something else.
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

10. Let them say "wait a minute"
Have a “safety word"
to allow a reset
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

11. Class 5 Rapids without a Paddle
Threw two new writers
onto a major release
During a conversion
FrameMaker to
DITA
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

12. Two weeks training
before I disappeared
for three weeks
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

13. Agile as a growing environment
● Tasks focused and limited
● Team has reasons to support the new writer
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

14. Down side
● No big picture
● Doc manager is 700 miles away
● Too many undefined tasks
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

15. Things they don't teach in school
● Counting backwards
● Writing is only part of the job
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

16. What Mentees Want
● Support and respect
● Polite and approachable mentor
● Tips and guidance
● The stuff they don't teach in school
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

17. Skills for Mentees
● Asking questions
● Listening skills
● Resolving differences
● Having realistic expectations
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

18. Final Words
Susan Canfield said
We all have the opportunity to mentor and be mentored throughout our lives. Mentors learn as much
as they teach. If we are actively engaged and are eager to learn, mentors are often available just for
the asking. You can certainly be successful in your career without mentors, but they can bring a
richness and perspective to your life beyond measure.
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers

19. For more information
● Mentee Guide http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/roles/ee/careerdev/mentoring/mentee-success.html
● Mentor-Mentee Cycle
http://www.amwa.org/default/members.only/journals/vol27.4/v27n4.169.career_block.pdf
● Duties Fulfilled or Misconstrued http://www.nickols.us/homers_mentor.pdf
● Mentoring http://www.grad.washington.edu/mentoring/
● Debunking Common Mentor Myths
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2013/01/14/debunking-common-mentoring-myths/
● How I hire: Focus on the Personality
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130923230007-204068115-how-i-hire-focus-on-personality?trk=eml-mktg-inf-
m-hih-0925-p1
● This slide deck http://www.slideshare.net/betsykent2/prgsn-growing-juniorwriters
@BetsyKentNC #stc14 Mentoring and Growing Junior Writers