Professional roommate conversation
Early on, mentor-TC partners have found it highly beneficial to have an explicit conversation in which they get to know each other’s hopes, preferences, and work styles. The name “professional roommate conversation” comes from an experienced mentor who launches each year with a TC this way! Consider starting this conversation as early as possible – even before the school year starts if you wish. You may also want to revisit some of the topics you discuss later in the year.
Getting started:
- Below, we share several questions that you might discuss. A day or two before your conversation, scan through and decide together what would be most useful for you as partners to discuss.
- Take a few minutes to think through or write out your own responses.
- Give yourselves at least 30 minutes to discuss, or break the conversation into multiple smaller parts.
Possible questions:
• What are our professional goals for this upcoming year, individually and together?
• How does each of us prefer to work? What do we need to do our best work or thinking?
(You might use the linked “work styles” resources to self-assess, then discuss.)
• How do we want to refer to each other and define our roles with students? With colleagues?
• What kinds of conversations do we want to make sure we have? When and how frequently might these different conversations happen?
(Consider looking through the program timeline together as part of this.)
• How does each of us prefer to give and receive feedback?
(Check out the linked feedback preferences questionnaire to dig in here if useful.)
• What are each of us most excited about, or nervous about this upcoming year?
• What kinds of situations tend to make each of us stressed? How could we support each other in these situations?
• Is there anything else we should know about each other?
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