What does Gracious Professionalism mean in the context of mentoring?

[GreyingJay]

I think the best thing mentors can do is model positive relationships with other people. None of us are perfect. We make mistakes. There will be people -- students and other mentors! -- that we do not get along with or agree with 100% of the time. This is not just FRC but it is a fact of life in general. "Gracious Professionalism" is a perfect description of the way we need to handle people, at ALL times.

An example from personal experience - I lost my cool with a student at one of our events. Everyone's emotions were up all day due to competitive pressure and I said some things more harshly than I should have. I went to find the student a few minutes later, after we'd both had time to cool off, and I apologized. We spent the next 30 minutes or so talking it out. I can't hope or expect that to be a life-changing moment but I certainly look back on that as something that I could learn from. We talked through our problem, learned a few things about each other along the way, and I hope we are better friends for it after the fact.

I think the best thing mentors (and students) can do is use their own past experiences to guide their interaction with others. Put yourself in the other person's shoes. Have you felt what they are feeling? How would you like to be treated in this scenario? What would you have wished for? The student above was young and inexperienced and throughout the season kept hearing people talking down at him, sometimes quite sternly. I would not be surprised if mine was the first sincere apology he had ever received from an adult.

As this is my first year with FRC I was new to the team, to its processes, and to many machining skills. I am on a parallel experience, trying to find my niche on the team, trying to keep up with those who have years of experience. So I understand the frustrations of the younger students and I hope that I've been able to use that understanding to help the students find their way through the build season and ultimately through life.

I've told students "I'm not here to build a robot. I'm here to build you."