FAHA: Communication between mentors

[Richard McClellan]

I've worked with or been around quite a few teacher sponsors throughout all of my FIRST and other robotics experience and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. My guess is that this teacher you're working with doesn't want to end up as just a figurehead sponsor who doesn't really run the team. Robotics is cool, and it's probably something he wants to be a big part of. I'm guessing that's why he reacted the way he did to your email.

I'm kind of like you, I'm the lead mentor for the current team that I'm with, and I like to lead the team. Our sponsor is different though in that he really doesn't have a big leadership role in the team, but he does have a good spirit about robotics, and is good at recruiting new members and stuff because of it.

Sometimes, however, I do wish that I was not left with so much of the responsibility to organize the logistics for every single team event that we have. This season I'm going to be solely in charge of coordinating kickoff, two full day training workshops (programming and CAD), every single team meeting, the team building location, all the tools, construction of our practice course, helping out three new rookie teams that have just started up, and not to mention being the primary mentor for building the actual robot. (Wow, now that I list all that out it's kinda daunting...). Plus I'm a 3rd year student in college, so I'll be managing schoolwork at the same time.

So, I understand how you like to lead everything, because I'm the same way, but you should use his interest in leading to your advantage. Try and meet with the sponsor regularly and discuss the details for everything, and ultimate, try and delegate the administrative stuff to him, because, you really don't want to be worrying about that anyways. "Mentor" this teacher along the way extensively since you have the FIRST experience, but if you delegate and let him do it, it'll ultimately relieve you of some of the stuff you really don't need to do, AND it will ensure team sustainability in the long run if you can get the sponsor doing a lot of the work.

Hope that helps, just remember, communicate as much as possible with the teacher, that's the best way to help clear things up.

[JaneYoung]

I've been thinking about this for a couple of days. Two things have come to mind.
Respect for different styles of mentoring.
The importance of communication.

If I read this correctly, you are a young mentor for the team and a take charge kind of person. You have a lot of information, experience, and knowledge that you can share with the students and with the teacher. How you do that will be helpful or will cause obstacles, blocks in communication.

Time spent with the teacher discussing the different roles and outlining your goals, individually and together, would be time well spent. You are quickly moving into Kick Off and build season. This year can be looked at as a year of growth and development as a team, learning how to work together and to communicate with each other. Mentors should have times that they meet together and discuss different aspects of the process, esp. if there are areas that require some attention.

Teachers spend a lot of time listening as well as sharing knowledge. Good teachers offer opportunities for development and learning. If this is the teacher's first year in FIRST, there is going to be a huge learning curve involved and will require patience on your part.

Learning to work together as a team takes time. Bringing in new mentors, new students, new parents takes a lot of work, it doesn't happen 'automagically.' The students will see you working together as mentors with common goals and as role models. That is why it is important that you learn to communicate with each other and to respect each other's mentoring styles, having defined your roles within the team.

All the best in 2008,
Jane

[Sunshine]

The most important thing you can do is sit down with him and express your feelings in a positive way. Do it NOW. Do not wait. If you have these feelings now things will only escalate.

He may feel threatened by your expertise. You may be over reacting. You will not know until you talk things out.

Don't let things just happen. Having a discussion about job responsibilities and who does what is healthy.

Starting the season off with these pent up emotions is not healthy for anyone. The kids will read right through and possible problems between mentors.