Mentors Celebrated on #ThankYourMentor Day!

Support. Advice. Inspiration. These are just a few of the words used to describe mentors by those who participated in the annual #ThankYourMentor Day campaign to celebrate National Mentoring Month. On January 31st, several Argonne employees shared stories, videos and photos to demonstrate the power of mentoring through simply saying “Thank You.”

These stories were shared across all of Argonne’s social media platforms letting our followers know the value we place in shared experiences and growth. We encourage you to see for yourself! Follow the links below and engage with your colleague’s expression of gratitude. There are few main take-aways from these stories.

Mentoring is valuable at any stage of your career. Whether you are a high school student learning how to become a researcher, a postdoc learning how to become independent and take that next career step, or a professional learning how to navigate a new workplace and build skills to be successful in current and future roles, mentors can make a big impact.

Mentors benefit just as much as mentees in mentoring relationships. As you will see from these stories, mentors learn just as much from their mentees as their mentees do from them. Mentors find personal satisfaction and joy from sharing their experience and continue to hone their skills through mentoring.

Mentoring happens in many ways. If you think of your personal and professional journeys and the people who have been influential to your learning and success, you will find that many of your mentors were not necessarily called “mentor” at the time. Mentoring happens organically through our professional networks. It can also happen formally through mentoring programs such as the Postdoctoral Mentoring Program, the Argonne ACT-SO Program and the EGS-SA Mentoring Program. One question to ask of your colleagues when you are interested in advancing your learning is, “Who would you recommend I talk to?” This simple question can lead to finding a mentor even if the connection is made informally.

Want to learn more about mentoring at Argonne? Follow the Argonne Mentoring Blog for tips and stories from mentors and mentees. Watch for upcoming Meaningful Mentoring workshops from the Leadership Institute and check out materials from the 2019 Meaningful Mentoring Workshop Series. And look for ways to say “thank you” to your mentors throughout the year. The Core Values Shout Out Program offers a quick, yet meaningful way to tell your colleagues how much they mean to you!

LinkedIn Post

Flickr album

Twitter

Facebook #ThankYourMentor Video

Instagram #ThankYourMentor Video

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Kristene Henne

Kristene “Tina” Henne is Argonne’s Postdoctoral Program Lead for the Argonne Leadership Institute. In this role, she facilitates the postdoc appointment process, postdoc career development, mentoring, advises the Postdoctoral Society of Argonne and serves as a navigator for postdoctoral issues.
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