[mathking]

This has been an issue for us at various times over the years. We are fortunate in that I have been the co-head or head mentor for the entire time of our team, and my co-head for the past eight years and I have very similar philosophies. That said, we have had somewhere north of 60 mentors work with our team and this problem does come up.

#1 suggestion: Listen first. Have a meeting with the mentors. Consider having two or three student leaders as well, but only if you think they won't be intimidated or feel like they are being made to choose between mentors. Lay out your issue, that you think that everyone needs to be on the same page as to the proper role of mentors on the team. Listen to everyone's input and try to focus on the common ground. After you have listened lay out your concerns. It is not really any different than developing a vision for the operation of any organization. If you want it to work well you need to get people to buy into it. Focusing first on the common ground is an important part of cooperative bargaining, which is a good model to try to emulate.

#2 suggestion: Keep the lines of communication open for students. They need to know that mentors will listen to their concerns.

#3 suggestion: If you feel like their is a distance between your brain and your mouth, make sure you right up your concerns before a meeting. And then talk through them at least once on your own. Or even better share what you wrote with someone not on the team who can give you feedback to see if it makes sense. It is always amazing to me how much better I feel about meetings when I prepare what I want to say ahead of time.