Mentor Roles

[BeardyMentor]

Every team and every mentor has a different style of mentorship. Some teams have the mentors completely hands off and only there to assist and push forward a completely student driven approach. Some teams have the students hands off and the mentors build and "inspire".

More often though, is it a hybrid of the two extremes where the students have a seat at the table with the mentors in determining direction, strategy and design. An entirely student driven approach often lacks direction. Having a mentor there to make comments and help gently guide the discussion is very helpful. An entirely mentor driven approach usually lacks creativity and passionate involvement from the students. Personally, I use a persuasive method when I see someone going far down what I think is the wrong path. I first give them a chance to explain what it is they think they are trying to achieve. Many times this is enough. They either convince me that I was mistaken or, the act of enunciating their idea is enough for them to hear what their mistake was. If that does not work some strategic questioning usually convinces those who still dont see what is going wrong. The question that everyone should be asking all the time is: "how does what I am doing right now contribute to on field and off field strategy?"

[MrForbes]

Sounds like a tough situation, although I've sort of been there in the earlier years. After a while at this, I've figured out that the reason that I keep coming back year after year is that I really enjoy the engineering process, and working with a team of students to design and build a robot in 6 weeks is about the most fun an engineer can have. And I let the students know that being part of the team, them letting me do stuff, is what keeps me coming back. I don't have any interest in sitting around watching other people do stuff.

As suggested, you all need to sit down and talk about your roles on the team, and the status of your engineering project (the robot). There are two weeks left, and a few teams have already demonstrated that you can build a robot in three days....but it takes a cooperative effort by everyone on the team. Let them know that you want the team to succeed, and you're concerned that if things keep going as they are, that won't happen.

Mentoring is a tough game.

[mathking]

As many others have said, every team has a different culture. I have found that the best teams have a commonality, that their is a feeling of partnership in the process. My first question would be how many other mentors are there and what are their views of how things are going? If this is a school based team, talking to the teacher in charge (for some, the teachers are mentors, for some teams the teacher really acts more as a business manager and HR director but isn't as involved in the robot building, for some the teacher is the person they have to have around to have a team in the school) is also a good idea. Ultimately if you want to be successful as a team the team has to develop a good working culture in which people know and are willing to accept their roles. Some of our mentors do more and teach less, some teach more and do less. We try to let the students learn how to do everything we do, but we all pitch in when things need to get done.

I would not put too much stock in what one stressed out student says. Everyone involved is part of the team. I have been doing FRC since 2000 and with team 1014 since we started in 2003. I also coach track and cross country. That experience comes in handy a lot more than you might think. Building a good track team and building a good robotics team share a lot of similarities.

If you want more specific suggestions feel free to send me a PM.

[T3_1565]

I will just chime in to say that sometimes students and mentors have different pictures to look at.

For some students all that matters is the years in which they are students whatever happens before or after doesn't matter to them. For mentors, its about improving on past success and continually growing for many years to come. These pictures sometimes will not match or work well together.

I treat mentoring as though I'm a coach (I come from a sports background lol). As a coach I can lead students only as far as they are willing to be lead.

I will do everything I can to teach them to find their own flaws and I consistently ask them whether their approach is correct (regardless if its the "right" answer or the "wrong" answer) to stimulate their thought process and their ability to see their own mistakes.

BUT, there will ALWAYS be a point where tunnel vision takes over and they will choose a "wrong" direction. After that happens I no longer treat the option as "wrong" and will do everything in my power to make there choice succeed.

This way they see that I'm not trying to over power them but if their choice fails dispute our efforts to make it work, they will remember that there was other options available to them that maybe they should of listened to. And should they succeed, then everyone learned something that we previously thought wouldn't work, and we grow from either result.

Example: Say your team wishes to do a Holonomic Drive this year. Most people here would say that was not the right choice of drive, and when you discuss this with the students have them lay out the pros and cons with some assistance from you. When they decide to still choose this drive after you do your best to show the flaws in the choice, Your job becomes trying to make their choice work. Maybe you have to double up on wheels to make sure things don't break as easily. Something. Should it work, your almost guaranteed to have some fame from other teams, students will be thrilled etc etc. Should it fail, the students learn first hand why that process doesn't work the way they thought.

Either way you helped them through the whole process and they will appreciate you.

Just my (long) 2 cents

[Jon Stratis]

One thing I haven't seen addressed is the definition of success and failure. Depending on the team, these can have hugely different definitions. Simbotics wouldn't produce a basic kitbot with no manipulators and call it a success. But rookie teams (including teams that, while not rookies, might as well be due to turnover or other issues) would.

As an LRI at competition, I define success as getting every team in the field with something that moves. It doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't have to be able to manipulate game pieces overly well, but it needs to get out there and move. Just moving on the field is enough to let your team contribute to the alliance - herding balls, helping with defenses, playing defense against the other alliance... These are all things that can be done with a basic kitbot with no additions. And that robot can be put together in a day - I've seen it happen before practice day at competition, believe it or not.

So yes, you may be behind schedule. Yes, you may not get your manipulator done and yes, you may not play the game as effectively as you want. But if you have faith, work with your students, and show up to competition with something that at least drives you will make it to the field to compete.. It may not be what you consider a success,. But it may help inspire the kids for next season, or inspire some changes in the team structure. Trust me, I've been there. My team did not have what we consider a successful season last year. Our robot did not perform well at all, not nearly up to our standards. But it has inspired the entire team for this year, and things are looking very different right now than they died at this same point last year.

I recommend sitting down with the students and asking them to come up with a priority list. What do they want to get done? What do they want their ROBOT to look like? What is the most important part of the robot that absolutely HAS to be finished?. Do that and you can ensure that your robot can at least move and do SOMETHING at cocompetition, even if it doesn't do EVERYTHING the team wants it to do.

[runneals]

This year is my second year mentoring a FRC team (first year mentoring my alma mater that I was on in 2013). I have found a unique analogy from one of my classes that I TA'ed in college where my professor (Dr. Corson) said, "Think of it like a ride at Disney Land, you're the track and the students are the car. They can move freely about (within reason), but the track prevents them from getting too far off."
And for me, it has been kind of hard to step back and let the students run the team, but I feel like I am slowly transforming from a mentor that likes to do hands-on stuff to a mentor that is more of a facilitator and provides guidance and suggestions while letting the students use their skills to solve the problem.