ME NT O RS H IP PL AN

Twelve Tips for Becoming a Better Mentor 

These twelve tips are something to reflect on frequently and ensure understanding of how to act, achieve and
respond as a great mentor would. They are designed to help reach the five goals of becoming a better mentor.

1. Characteristics of a Mentor 7. Intrinsic Motivation

 Great interpersonal skills  Intrinsic motivation is the value of enjoying a
 Setting good examples career choice/ life choice from within
 Motivates others  Engaging in a career or mentoring because you
 Values others opinions and initiatives truly find it appealing is essential to being a great
 Willingness to share skills, knowledge and mentor because you are more motivated by
expertise personal gain then extrinsic (outside)
 Enables all of the above values with compensation
professionalism

2. Professionalism 8. Role Model for Superior Emotional

 Place the interest of others ahead of one’s Intelligence
personal interests  The capacity to be aware of, control, and express
 Humanism one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal
 Accountability relationships judiciously and empathetically
 A sense of duty  Being able to model this on a daily basis or
 Respect for others whenever the opportunity presents itself is ideal
 Honesty & Integrity
 Selflessness

3. Continuing Education 9. Reimbursement

 Continuing education for respiratory therapists
can be placed into two main categories: CEU’s &
degree advancement.
 Continuing education credits are required with
evolving healthcare for upkeep on certifications
and licensure.
 Degree advancement is just as important for
current respiratory therapists. This is due to the
government seeing the associate degree as a
technical degree, the increased opportunities, and
possibilities for increased pay.
 Both educational advancements are extremely
important to continue proper competency,
etiquette, and knowledge within the healthcare
industry.
 Reimbursement is the amount a third-party payer
negotiates as payment to the provider
 As a respiratory therapist this is vital when
obtaining acknowledgment for services we
provide – charges, time spent with patients,
assisting with medical procedures, transports,
homecare, etc.
 These services we provide are essential to
department reimbursement and acknowledgement
of the department and help fund the department
for better reform
 This concept is important to remember and to
pass on to the mentee – especially preparing them
for different environments they might experience
working in within different facilities

4. Principles of Ethics 10. Professional and System Reform

  A set of moral principles, beliefs and values that
guide us in making choices about medical care –
right and wrong and our beliefs about rights we
possess and duties we owe others
 Sometimes what we do in our career do not align
with what we believe to be right – however there
are protocols that need to be followed
 It is always important to take into consideration
other’s perspectives on the issue at hand before
coming to a decision
 Not everyone is always going to agree all the
time, following these steps can help generate the
best ethical decision:
1. Recognize the issue
Is there something wrong personally,
interpersonally, or socially?
What does it do to people who have dignity,
rights, and hopes for a better life together?
2. Get the Facts
What facts are relevant and what are
unknown?
What individuals and groups have a stake in
the outcome?
What are the options for acting?
3. Evaluate Alternative Actions from Various
Perspectives
Which options will do the most good, and
cause the least harm?
4. Make a Decision and Test It
Considering all the perspectives, which of
the options is the right or best thing to do?
If you had to explain your decision on
television, would you be comfortable doing
so?
5. Act, then Reflect on the Decision
Implement then ask: how did it turn out for
all concerned and if you had to do it all over
again would you choose differently?
5.  Teachable Moments
 Unplanned opportunities that arise, which
provide a chance to offer insight to the mentee
 It is important to not only be able to leverage
these opportunities, but being able to identify
when these opportunities arise
 Knowing your mentee and what they would
benefit from best or have yet to experience is
important with leveraging teaching moments.
 Reform is to make changes in order to improve
something
 Even if a professional is not in management, their
insight on how a system is working is vital to the
functionality at a patient and care provider level
 Knowing and understanding the needs of a
facility and its population it is servicing is
important when considering reform
 Many disease management programs or
rehabilitations that are run by respiratory
therapists are continuously trying to evolve and
implement new goals and insight to better the
outcomes of the patients and the programs that
are involved
 When a new need arises, taking that need as a
serious necessity for reform is vital to the success
– whether presenting the concern to management
or hearing the concern from a managerial
perspective
 Creating goals for reform should involve
everyone who the reform impacts
 As a mentor this is another aspect to keep in mind
when educating a mentee, always be on the look
out for what can change or what can be done
better within the department or services
respiratory therapists provide
11. Build Skills for Strategic Thinking
 Not only do you want to enable your mentee to be
a strategic thinker, you must understand and
practice the skills yourself
 Analytical skills – ideate a strategy that helps
your organization reach objectives or come to a
solution based off all types of information given
 Communication skills – effectively explaining so
that everyone fully comprehends the entirety of
what is being communicated is essential to a full
understanding
 Problem-solving skills – being able to come up
 with the most effective solution, even if it is
creative and “outside of the box”
 Planning and management skills – a solution is
only half of the plan; implementation of the
solution involves planning and strategy to keep
the resolution from becoming an issue again

6.  Adult learning theory 12. Stretch Goals

 Understanding how adults learn differently then
children and teaching accordingly
 A preference for self-directed learning
 An ability to draw on life experience to assist
with learning
 A willingness to learn when transitioning into
new roles
 A focus on immediately applying new knowledge
to real life situations and problems
 A tendency to be internally motivated (intrinsic
motivation)
 Stretch goals are targets or goals beyond the
normal in the existing work capacity
 Stretch goals keep a business, department, person,
etc. from staying stagnant and continuing to be
better
 Identifying and creating stretch goals is an
excellent way to continue to better whatever the
goal is referring to
 Pursuing stretch goals can be a hard and
demanding task, and the upkeeping of these new
goals – learning and teaching this skillset is
essential in continuing to better yourself as a
mentor

ME NT O RS H IP PL AN

Goals for Becoming a Better

Mentor 
These goals are continuous and will evolve as healthcare does – however the tips
are important to remember as an aid to achieving some or all of the goals. Many tips
will fall in multiple categories or can be applied to more then one goal.

1. Prepare for Opportunities

Opportunities, whether big or small, are extremely important to take advantage
of for yourself as a mentor or for any other opportunities that arise to show a
mentee how you would approach, handle or solve a situation. Being prepared for
the spur of the moment opportunities can be challenging, so it’s always best to
be overprepared all the time, then under prepared at the right time.

 Continuing Education
 Teachable Moments
 Adult Learning Theory
 Intrinsic Motivation
 Role Model for Superior Emotional Intelligence
  Reimbursement
 Professional and System Reform
 Build Skills for Strategic Thinking
 Stretch Goals

2. Enable a Positive and Open Environment for Mentees to

Learn
The only thing worse than an environment that does not allow growth and
opportunity, is an environment that is not positive and open to the possibilities of
enabling other’s growth, learning and opportunity. Mistakes are inevitable,
nobody is perfect, but being open to mistakes happening and correcting them in
a positive way is the best approach for a mentee.

 Characteristics of a Mentor
 Professionalism
 Principles of Ethics
 Teachable Moments
 Role Model for Superior Emotional Intelligence
 Reimbursement
 Professional and System Reform
 Build Skills for Strategic Thinking
 Stretch Goals

3. Understanding and Responding Appropriately to Different

Learning Methods - Inclusiveness
The importance of seeing everyone as individuals and seeing them for who they
are, what their personal strengths and weaknesses are, and how they process
information is essential for comprehension when communicating. Inclusiveness
and learning different methods of mentoring that work best for your mentee need
to happen for the best responsiveness from your mentee.

 Characteristics of a Mentor
 Professionalism
 Principles of Ethics
 Teachable Moments
 Adult Learning Theory
 Reimbursement
 Professional and System Reform
 Build Skills for Strategic Thinking

4. Become Involved with Reform

Reform can be the business aspect of continuing to engage and become better as
a whole. Becoming involved encourages new opportunities, growth, and
bettering the system you work with and for, it’s an opportunity to be apart of
something bigger.

 Professionalism
 Continuing Education
  Principles of Ethics
 Teachable Moments
 Intrinsic Motivation
 Reimbursement
 Professional and System Reform
 Build Skills for Strategic Thinking
 Stretch Goals

5.  Have a Mentor/ Reflect with Mentee

Having a mentor that reflects most of, if not all, the twelve tips above may be
hard to find – but most certainly would be worthwhile. Continuously learning
from someone who continues to learn themselves will only advance both of your
knowledge, understanding, growth, and relationship. This will also give you
insight on how you may want your mentee to feel when they come to you.
Understanding from their perspective and what you do and don’t like from your
mentor.

 Characteristics of a mentor
 Professionalism
 Continuing Education
 Principles of Ethics
 Teachable Moments
 Adult Learning Theory
 Intrinsic Motivation
 Role Model for Superior Emotional Intelligence
 Build Skills for Strategic Thinking
 Stretch Goals

Lastly – people will remember how you made them feel above all else. For a quick refresher on how you want to achieve great
mentorship: RT Mentor/Mentee Relationship: Growing Careers - AARC.